Since Gannett corporate is requiring The Star to join the Metromix network, we’re reimaging indy.com as a content aggrevator and social networking platform. Users will be able to control exactly what content is on the page and where it is placed. Heck, they’ll even be able to pick the color scheme the want - how very iGoogle-ish.

v2 is being build by my ace designer Erik Goens, so my design role is primarily art direction. We’re going for more of a minimalist approach than we did with v1, concentrating on making the site as nimble/scalable as possible.

We’re very early in the build stage so this won’t be launching till the end of the year.

Launched in the fall of 2007, Indy has been home to The Star’s entertainment-related content. It’s built on Ruby on Rails and hosted locally in Indianapolis. Traffic-wise, the strength of the site has been its photo galleries, which were built by our awesome developer (and now development manager) Chris Vannoy.

Launched in the Spring of 2008, IndyStar.com was rebuilt as part of Gannett’s global redesign effort. For those not familiar with our CMS, IndyStar.com is built using Saxotech Online and Pluck and is hosted in Maryland at the corporate server complex. Saxotech is a closed system that required a ton of of javascript to get Pluck integrated, which results in very heavy page loads. Our Saxo expert, Justin Hill, worked as much magic as he could, but there’s only so much you can do with a closed CMS.

Our moms-centric social networking site, conceived, designed and built by our I&D department, revolutionized how newspapers thought about digital audiences. After 2.5 years, the site boast more than 25,000 users and nearly 2.5 million page views per month.

Director - Innovation & Development

Company: Star Media Group
2008 - present
In my current role as the director of the Innovation & Development department, I manage a team of nine designers and developers. Our mission is to conceptualize and execute plans to increase the digital reach of the Star Media Group. Essentially, we identify demographics that are underserved by the print components and build digital platforms to attract them - focusing on increasing personalization and incorporating user-generated content.

Digital Design Manager - Innovation & Development

Company: Star Media Group
2006 - 2008
As Digital Design Manager in the Innovation & Development department, I led a team of three designers and worked with a team of four developers. Our mission was to improve existing products/processes and develop new sites that leveraged the print resources of the organization and also incorporated user-generated content. On my watch, our market presence has improved to from 18% to 32% - which is the best in Gannett. We won several awards during this time, including best news site (AP - Midwest). Latest update: Indy.com won the 2008 Eppy for Best Entertainment Site.

Online Design and Operations Manager

Company: The Indianapolis Star
1999 - 2006
During my tenure as ops manager, I led a team of four web designers/multimedia specialists who produced The Indianapolis Star’s web sites - including IndyStar.com and INtakeWeekly (now Indy.com). My team was responsible for not only updating the site on a daily basis by posting hundreds of articles, but also for coordinating with various departments within the organization to produce multimedia, advertising, and marketing materials as well. While in this position, IndyStar.com grew from 6 million page views per month to over 35 million.

Graphics Editor

Company: The Indianapolis Star
1997 - 1999
As the first Graphics Editor at The Indianapolis Star, I supervised a team of five artists/illustrators. I was responsible for organizing workflow for the team as well as doing my fair share of the daily work. It was a great time in my life as I had management responsibilities for the first time. We won dozens of awards during my tenure as Graphics Editor, a fact that I take great pride in.

Sr. Info Graphics Artist/Illustrator/Page Designer

Company: The Indianapolis Star
1995 - 1997
While relocating back to the Midwest gave me the opportunities to reconnect with my family, it also opened a new chapter for me with a new company. It was rocky at first, joining a department that had a lot of individuals who had been with The Star for many years. I won them over with my helpful attitude, ego-free approach and my great respect for their talents. The Star gave me so many opportunities to try new things, from laying out the front page of the newspaper, to illustrating complex stories to creating dynamic info graphics.

Artist/Illustrator/Page Designer

Company: The News Tribune - McClathy Newspapers
1988 - 1995
I was responsible for creating informational graphics for the newspaper. For example, when they were demolishing a building in Tacoma, I illustrated a step-by-step diagram of how the structure would be brought down. We were a mid-sized paper competing with larger Seattle papers, but we held our own in design competitions won numerous local and national awards.

Education

Associates Degree: University of St. Francis

Tech skills

CSS 2.0 - Expert
ExactTarget newsletters - Expert
Flash - Intermediate
HTML/DHTML - Expert
Adobe Illustrator - Expert
Adobe PhotoShop - Expert
Infographics - Expert
Javascript - Intermediate
Keynote/Powerpoint - Expert
Management/Team Building - Expert
OAS/Helios (ad delivery/tracking) - Expert
Omniture (site tracking) - Expert
PHP - Intermediate
Project Management - Expert
Ruby on Rails - Novice
Saxotech object scripting - Expert
Subversion - Intermediate