Work experience
2009 — Now
Freelance content and visual design
• Completed a content audit and preliminary style guide for 1VALET.
• Completed a month-long UX review project of a new employee self-serve intranet, in March 2021, for the IT services group of the New Brunswick provincial government. This included writing and rewriting sections, microcopy on the SharePoint site, and making roadmap recommendations for further improvements.
• Wrote web copy and blog posts for the Royal Canadian Mint’s Medium site.
• Served as an art director and designer for a variety of print and publication design clients, including trade publications for the Canadian Association of Journalists and the National Golf Course Owners Association.
• Contract position at publisher of Ottawa Magazine, Where Ottawa; duties included ad composition for various clients, layout and production tasks for various books.
• Tools used: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, InCopy, Acrobat); SharePoint; Microsoft Office tools, Google Suite.
2022 — 2024
UX designer/content designer at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Working with design and delivery team on the long-term transition to an integrated digital experience for applicants to Canada. Focus on developing language standards for digital products, integration into a design system, and supporting product teams with UX writing requirements.
• Tools used: Microsoft Office tools, Microsoft Teams and Outlook, Azure Dev Ops, Notion, Figma, Mural, Miro, Slack.
2022 — 2022
Content designer/UX writer at 1VALET
I worked across both Product and Marketing as a UX writer and content designer, collaborating with the main product design team, product managers, chief product officer, and marketing team.
• Wrote interface copy for two main digital products: a cloud-based property management dashboard, and resident app.
• Wrote help copy for Intercom self-help.
• Wrote release notes for major feature releases.
• Managed translation workflow for product.
• Wrote and edited marketing copy, including social posts.
• Worked on a copywriting style guide to govern written content for the entire company.
• Tools used: GSuite, Figma, Jira, Confluence, Intercom
2018 — 2020
Technical writer at You.i TV
• Contributed as a writer and editor of software documentation in the Product segment of the company.
• Collaborated with product management, various development teams, and technical writing colleagues to write release notes, technical and product documentation.
• Involved in the efforts to reorganize the information architecture and improve the quality of the online documentation portal, including writing user tests to validate the IA, and work to standardize the writing and presentation of content on the portal.
• Wrote cross-platform strategy document as student practicum project.
• Tools used: MadCap Flare, GSuite, Optimal Workshop, JIRA, Confluence, SourceTree, Atom, command line tools, GitHub.
2014 — 2015
Store graphic artist at Whole Foods Market
• Created hand-drawn and other signage to promote in-store events and products, maintaining corporate brand.
• Trained employees in signmaking software and in effective display of signage.
• Proofread and edited written copy from marketing manager; wrote marketing copy for hand-drawn signage.
• Tools used: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat), Access Via signage software, Microsoft Office, chalk markers.
2009 — 2013
Graphic artist at Banfield
• Coordinated with account representatives, art directors, and designers toward the completion of design and production projects; managed multiple projects and deadlines.
• Prepared files for print and web, including large format signage, online advertisements, electronic signage, annual reports, packaging, point-of-sale signage.
• Tools used: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat).
2007 — 2009
Designer/production artist at Hill Times Publishing
• Executed layout and design for The Hill Times and Embassy newsweeklies.
• Collaborated with ad representatives, classified department, and editorial staff.
• Served as production manager during the times that he was absent.
• Tools used: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat)
Professional Writing
2022
Writing these documents was part of the Product side of my job. This is inline help that guides the user of their property management dashboard in the use of the product.
2018
Hired to produce a blog post for the Royal Canadian Mint's Medium blog. I conducted interviews and wrote the piece, which was unchanged from what I submitted.
2018
Student practicum project was to develop a cross-platform development strategy guide. This encompasses the bulk of the current Plan section, except for the Streaming, DRM, and Captioning, and Roku Cloud Solution sections.
Note: as of June 2023, site is no longer being maintained by Warner Bros. Discovery, but content is still available online.
Certifications
2022
Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner from IBM (completed Practitioner level)
Education
2017 – 2018
Graduate Certificate in Technical Writing at Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ottawa
Completed a graduate certificate, with Honours.
2004 – 2007
Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design at Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ottawa
Three-year graphic design diploma, with final semester in print stream. Completed with Honours.
2000 – 2002
Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, New Jersey
Three-year long sculpture apprenticeship, spanning stone division, mold making, wax preparation, and metal chasing departments.
1993 – 1996
Bachelor of Fine Art, minor in art history at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax
Bachelor's degree in art, spanning fine art (sculpture, painting, photography) and craft courses (ceramics, jewellery, textiles), and art history studies, including a renaissance art history course run by Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, in Venice, May 1994.
Side projects
2010
Masters Course in Typography at School of the Visual Arts, New York
Two-week masters level course in Typography, conducted in Venice and Rome, during May to June 2010. I completed a book project in the first week—including photography, writing, design, and assembly of a finished book—and studies for a typeface in the second.