Resume
Skills
Practical Skills
- Interface Design
- Wireframing & Prototyping
- HTML, CSS, & JavaScript
- User Testing & Research
- User Workflow & Process Analysis
- Video Production
- Photography & Lighting
- Document Layout & Design
- 2D Animation
- Creative Direction
- Multimedia Illustration
- Technical Illustration
- 3D Modeling
- Persuasive Writing
- Technical Writing
- Public Speaking & Presentation
Design & Production Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Premiere
- After Effects
- Illustrator
- InDesign
- Photoshop & Lightroom
- Animate
- Dreamweaver
- Axure
- 3D Studio Max
- Microsoft Office
- TechSmith Morae
- Avid Media Composer
Experience
User Experience Designer | Leidos
March 2020 to Present
- Create screen mockups and workflows to demonstrate program functionality
- Interface with subject matter experts, developers, and product owners to simplify workflows and reduce user workload
- Review developer work for usability and for adherence to style guide
- Update, expand, and maintain product style guide documentation to cover new functionality
- Create and update icons and other graphic elements
- Check prior work against current standards and update as needed
- Work with subject matter experts to assist in development and implementation
- Designed and programed interactive multimedia applications for web-based delivery
- Optimized content for client system performance, including re-creating content in web video formats
- Created HTML5 animations
- Created and updated technical illustrations and diagrams of parts and processes
- Created and analyzed Javascript functionality for web-based training applications
- Created, updated, and edited 3D models and animations, including models of machine parts
- Assisted in the research, selection, and modification of training content to meet learning needs
- Updated project graphics standards to improve typography, presentation, and readability
Freelance Design & Production
Self-Directed Work
- Game design, illustration, and layout for Roar of Alliance tabletop board game
- Illustration and layout for The Man and the Stag tabletop roleplaying game
- Created the Homunculus Assembly Line tabletop roleplaying game art zine
- Project Management from ideation to physical and digital delivery
- Managed and art directed a remote team of illustrators
- Created illustrations and page layouts
- Art direction, illustration, and layout for the Turn tabletop roleplaying game rulebook
- Illustration and layout for Of the Woods: Lonely Games of Imagination
- Filmed, produced and edited the YouTube series Leading With Class
Client-Directed Work
- Video Editing and Production for Bully Pulpit Games
- Brand and collateral design for Platonic Solids and Off Guard Games
- Illustration and layout consultation for the Into the Dark tabletop roleplaying game
Web Manager | Washington & Jefferson College
October 2012 to March 2020
- Updated and approved website content through Content Management System
- Monitored site traffic using Google Analytics, and adjust page SEO as needed
- Managed implementation of redesigned site on new CMS platform
- Configured site architecture for new CMS implementation
- Oversaw homepage redesign process with outside design firm
- Conducted content audit of the college website
Senior Production Specialist | SAE International
January 2012 to June 2018
- Analyzed process workflows and identified where automation could be used to drive cost and time savings while decreasing potential for error
- Led the selection process for a new enterprise-wide content services platform
- Defined content and metadata models for implementation of digital asset management system
- Created an internal site to allow employees to search and understand the corporate taxonomy
- Provided updated templates and batch scripts to enable automated publishing of 3rd-party documents, resulting in significant cost and time savings
- Managed & troubleshooted XML to InDesign publishing workflow
- Laid books & technical papers, including complex papers passed over by other publication specialists
- Managed product templates, focusing on brand compliance and user satisfaction
- Provided technical assistance and training to publication specialists
Technical Illustrator | HEBCO, Inc.
March 2010 to January 2012
- Completed high-volume document scanning project ahead of schedule
- Helped to manage a database of technical illustrations
- Reproduced technical images and illustrations using Autocad, Illustrator, and Photoshop
- Provided training to other Technical Illustrators on new features of Adobe Creative Suite programs
Broadcast Journalist | U.S. Army
April 2005 to June 2011
- Served as Senior Editor for AFN-Iraq from July 2006 to June 2007:
- Produced & edited over 100 episodes of a daily, 10-minute newscast called Freedom Journal Iraq
- Created the short-form 1-minute news update product Iraqi Freedom Minute
- Traveled independently to produce multiple news and feature packages for the Pentagon channel and Armed Forces Network
- Managed the technical work of field reporters
- Produced the Multi-National Force’s year-in-review video for 2006
- Awarded the Joint Service Commendation medal for exemplary quality of work in conjunction with other forces
- Trained other broadcast journalists on editing and design, including higher-ranked personnel
- Provided Adobe Illustrator training at a unit level
Education
MSc
Media Arts and Technology
Duquesne University
BSc
Graphic Design
Art Institute of Pittsburgh
ASc
Art
Community College of Allegheny County
MOS
Broadcast Journalism Qualification
Defense Information School
Testimonials
Steve Segedy, Bully Pulpit Games
"John has saved the day for us on several occasions, taking on video editing projects at a moment's notice and producing excellent work. He has an instinct for what we need, and is able to quickly and patiently work through our feedback to give us more than we hoped for. We'll definitely be working with him again!"
Jeff Johnston, Nunchcon
"When I needed a t-shirt design for a local convention, I had a strong visual idea but zero experience in art direction. John was able to decipher my instructions, suggest improvements, communicate reliably, respond to changes, and deliver a striking and popular design on schedule."
Stras Acimovic, Platonic Solids
"Working with John was great. He incorporated my ideas with his own style in timely fashion. I'll be using the results for many years."
Portfolio
Digital Design Gallery
A looping technical animation showing how aperture generates bokeh.
UX Design Process
User experience design is about far more than interface design. The design of any product or service from conception to delivery should be a continuous process of UX design, in which the design is constantly tested by potential users, improved, and evaluated according to its purpose.
The Tabletop Game Night app was a school project for a scheduling app project to help busy adults find common openings in their schedules and fill them with opportunities to get together and play games.
The Concept
The inspiration for this application came from difficulties trying to schedule events with extended friend groups. The app is named specifically about tabletop games, as many other kinds of activities and gatherings have predefined schedules (e.g., sports watching parties), or fewer scheduling difficulties (e.g., playing video games is often done online, and therefore more flexibly scheduled).
Independent brainstorming and interviews with other tabletop game players generated an initial feature list. With those features in mind, potential users were surveyed, and initial design ideas sketched.
User Research
John’s analysis of the survey results, and the resulting user profiles, user goals, and tasks can be found in the Executive Summary. It also contains more in-depth problem analysis, and developed task flow diagrams and user experience maps.
Use Case Scenario Designs
After consideration of the user tasks and use case scenarios, John sketched thumbnails of different app screens and interface elements.
Wireframes and Prototypes
After feedback on the thumbnails and analysis of the survey data, initial functional wireframes with placeholder assets were built.
You can see the initial testing prototype here in HTML.
User Testing Procedure
User testing was conducted in two groups: a group of users (3) from the Duquesne University, and a group of users (2) from outside. Each group saw a slightly different version of the prototype, due to differences in the versions of Axure available at each location (7.0 at home, 8.0 at the school). In both groups, John read a written introduction out loud to them, then provided a written list of tasks to be performed. The user interactions with the prototype were recorded via the Techsmith Morae software, which recorded the user via webcam while recording the screen and user inputs. When the user was satisfied that they had completed the tasks, recording was stopped and the user responded to an electronic survey about the interface they had just experienced. The users then filled out a short paper survey that allowed more open-ended responses.
You can view the test script and paper survey.
User Testing Results and Analysis
Most tasks were completed with little difficulty or confusion, and under 2 minutes average per task. Lack of appropriate feedback in one case led a user to believe they had correctly completed a task when they had not. Task test results are graphed below. Task 1 was signing up and creating an account, task 2 was setting their personal availability, and task 3 was creating a new event.
Results of the electronic survey can be downloaded here, and the completed paper surveys can be viewed here. Several users noticed that in the testing prototype the home page calendar and the other calendars presented in the app are cosmetic in nature and do not respond to user interactions or updates. John did this to limit the amount of programming involved in the prototype, but it led to user difficulties as they attempted to interact with those elements and looked to them for feedback.
Feedback-Based Improvements and Future Testing
Multiple changes are required to help resolve the issues observed during testing and mentioned in the user feedback. The images below show some of those feedback-based improvements. See the Executive Summary for more information on this project.
Informational Videos
Leading with Class
This educational series written and presented by Brie Sheldon aims to teach leadership practice and theory using roleplaying games as a metaphor and for practical exercises. John helps to edit the scripts, and is responsible for the filming, editing, and on-screen graphics.
Diversity & the Tabletop Roleplaying Community
This ethnography collects personal testimonies from members of the tabletop roleplaying community (focusing on those in gender and racial minorities), and juxtoposes their experiences with guidance from leadership and diversity experts.
Steve Mumfort—Combat Artist
Shot in 2006, and originially broadcast on the Pentagon Channel and the American Forces Network, this story covers an independent artist's trip to Baghdad to illustrate scenes from the lives of people living there.
Kickstarter Videos
The Warren
The Warren is a game of survival horror where players take on the role of rabbits in a dangerous world. The game was successfully Kickstarted by Bully Pulpit Games in July of 2015. John made the video on a budget by taking advantage of free and open license media to supplement the provided narration.
Night Witches
John got involved with this video project when Bully Pulpit Games discovered their footage had significant exposure problems. In the course of grading and fixing the footage, John also assembled it into the final cut that helped launch the successful Kickstarter campaign in October of 2014.
Brand Design Gallery
Print Production
Illustration Gallery
Photography Gallery
Published Works
Of the Woods: Lonely Games of Imagination, 2017, illustration and layout
Let Me Take a Selfie, 2017, layout
Into the Dark, 2018, illustration
Turn, 2019, illustration, art direction, and layout
Towns Like Ours supplement for the Turn RPG, 2020, illustration and layout
Homunculus Assembly Line, 2020, writing, art direction, illustration, and layout
The Man and the Stag, 2021, illustration and layout
Roar of Alliance [beta], 2021, game design, illustration, art direction, and layout