I've been working as a director & designer since graduating from the Maine College of Art in 1992. I started out in print publishing, and due to the fact that I was at the right place at the right time (San Francisco), quickly moved into digital media at the onset of the Internet boom. I was in start-up before 'start-up' was even a catch phrase. I've seen this industry up, down and sideways...and I'm still with it. I've branched back into print over the years as at times...it is nice to hold something in your hands. However, I still love the immediacy and constant change that comes with the digital realm. Below is my story, my path, from the beginning to now...if you'd like the short synopsis, email me and I'll send you the resume.
WIRED MAGAZINE: DESIGNER
Andrea
started at Wired Magazine as a Designer in the infamous South Park neighborhood of San Francisco. Working for Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalf the original founders, and designers Plunkett & Kuhr. Andrea's duties included the design of sections: Deductible Junkets,
Street Cred, Table of Contents, Crop Circles, Idees Fortes, and
Reality Check and maintained what was referred to as THE WALL: the
monthly feature well, sections and ad placement tracking system.
(I wrote sometimes too. Here are 2 font articles from Street Cred: Housework and DingBat
Derby.) You can even spot Andrea on the cover of the January
1994 issue, which carried the much acclaimed Microserfs story written
by author
Douglas Coupland who used to hang with us in the Wired offices.
[Cover models are all Wired employees: Andrew, Elizabeth, Me, Andy &
Ed. Doug is in the center with the bike shirt.] And if you're really
Gary Wolf's book: Wired: A Romance.
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CNET: SR ART DIRECTOR
In March of 1995, Andrea left the print world of Wired Magazine
to pursue a position at CNET:
The Computer Network. Here she designed the first version of their
Web site: CNET.COM, which launched in June of 1995.
After
2 years, 8 new Web sites were spawned out of CNET.COM. As Senior Art Director of
CNET Online, Andrea's duties included the overseeing of individual
site design teams, maintaining the CNET identity between sites,
controller of daily published content/design for CNET.COM,
aiding in the creation of new sites and teams, as well as lecturing
on the design process at CNET. It was the very beginning of the the Interent 'start-up' phenomenon.
http://www.cnet.com/
MICROSOFT: CREATIVE DIRECTOR: San Francisco Sidewalk
| Andrea then joined Microsoft's
Interactive Division, as Creative Director for San Francisco
Sidewalk: a searchable arts and entertainment guide to San Francisco
and the Bay area. Andrea designed the look and feel of the A&E site
for San Francisco for it's initial launch in October 1997, after much
media fanfare. As Creative Director, she established design
and production workflow process and built a publishing staff of
designers. She was the main liaison between the local editorial
producers and creative, as well as the local contact for Microsoft
corporate Sidewalk design/content teams in Redmond. In addition,
Andrea worked directly with the promotions and marketing department
on all on-line and off-line promotional/partnership materials. |
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BUYDIRECT/BEYOND:DESIGN DIRECTOR
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In October of 1998, Andrea became the Design Director at
BuyDirect.Com, an e-commerce site dedicated to software sales direct
from the manufacturer, where she focused on online retailing concepts
and the information design of the point of purchase areas on the
site. By February of '99, BuyDirect was acquired by another software
retailer, Beyond.Com and Andrea was charged with combining two design
departments & integrating all design staff and creative assets
from one company to the other. Beyond.com was eventually acquired
by Digital River. And-no-I had nothing to do with the 'naked
guy' commericals. |
LISTEN.COM: DESIGN DIRECTOR
By May of 1999, MP3s and streaming audio were all the rage on the
Web, and Andrea accepted a position as Design Director at
Listen.Com, a digital music directory, led by Rob Reid, and with
such notables as Chris Blackwell on the board, Andrea managed the
design team for site UI & design, marketing and business development
projects. Straight from the Multimedia Gultch to Audio
Alley! Listen.com
was acquired by RealNetworks in 2003.
BANDWIDTH
CREATIVE: CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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By
June of 2000, it was time for Andrea to move on. But this time it
was to her own business. With a good ammount of sweat equity, an
awesome logo designer (thanks Carl
Mazer) and the most loyal supplier of internet connectivity
(thanks Carl
Steadman), Bandwidth
Creative was born. Here
she worked with a variety of clients: Carat Interactive, Emode,
Comedy World and The Kids in the Hall, building web sites, or lending
creative in-house design support. A highlight during this time was
being interviewed by the New
York Times. Business was fab for 2 years, until the tragedy
of 9/11, at which time Bandwidth Creative scaled back to a smaller
freelance pool. |
AUTODESK: SR ART DIRECTOR: DESIGN STANDARDS & PRODUCT IDENTITY
Andrea
and her dog Indie (due to corporate dog policy) were then offered a job at Autodesk.
As Sr. Art Director, Andrea's first role was to expand and
update the corporate design standards for worldwide marketing and
to train marketers in Europe on usage. After a year, she shifted
to managing the print production and electronic identity components
of all software packaging, her final role was managing the production
of all marketing materials for the Manufacturing Solutions Division.
MAJOR
LEAGUE BASEBALL ADVANCED MEDIA: SR INTERFACE DESIGNER
| With a switch of coasts, Andrea is currently working as a Sr.
Interface Designer in NYC on MLB.Com,
creating designs for various online marketing and sponsorship needs, and annual baseball
events such as the All-Star Game. Andrea also manages the daily visual design for the Red
Sox and the Mets team sites. |
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