Client Needs

• Needed an illustrated landscape that had recognizable Chicago elements but not pull the  focus away from the page’s actual content.
• Needed the design to be clean and to the point because the page’s purpose is to simply give a quick description, feature list, and link to the neighborhood sites.

Outcome

This site established a great brand image for this venture and successfully connects all the neighborhood websites. It was designed to work with wordpress as a content management system which will allow me to scale the site in the future if there is a need.

Client Needs

• Needed a modern, user-friendly design to make it fast and  easy for the public to find information about their property or our office.
• Completely rebuild the navigation and information architecture.
• Use of ASP.NET Masterpage templates to make it easy for developers and content managers to work with the website.
• Create space for advertising.
• Quick answers built into the website’s interface so that when a user may not understand a particular term they can hover over the question mark icon to get answers instantly, without navigating away from the page.
• Coordinate with each of the office’s departments to gather the requirements for their particular sections on the website.  Then, create and implement those pages.

Outcome

The new Cook County Assessor’s Website allows users to quickly accomplish tasks & learn assessment information without having to visit the office in person. Some of tasks users can accomplish include the ability to file an appeal, apply for an exemption, and check the status of your current & past appeals or exemptions. All the assessment information is easy to find. Some of the topics include: How Property Is Valued, Understanding Your Assessment, Calculating an Estimated Tax Bill, and 7% Expanded Homeowner’s Exemption.

The website was built with Usability, Orientation and Expandability high on the priority list. The site is expandable to the effect that we can add new navigational links and content to the site without having to lose old content and without compromising the overall layout of the site. Also, the main features that most users come to our site for are the most prominant on the page to help guide the focus of the user. The entire site’s design can be changed relatively quickly via a single ASP.NET Masterpage & CSS. The source code of all the pages are commented well within the actual pages to allow for easier and more efficient designing & development in the future.

The user will always know where they are at with the breadcrumb trail toward the top of the site and all content on the pages is straight to the point, void of any unnecessary clutter. All the content from the old site was successfully transferred over to the new site but was reorganized to allow users the choice to view it or leave it hidden rather than showing it to them all at once which adds to disorientation and takes attention away from the page’s most important content.

Most importantly, the user’s experience is much more enjoyable. Users can get in and get out. The new site’s layout directs the user where they need to go quickly by limiting the amount of content being displayed at once. Even so, the entire site’s content is easily accessible within no more than a few clicks.

Client Needs

• Needed a fresh image that fit his music.
• A way for the client to update the website on their own.

Outcome

The new website is a a great addition to Dave Tamkin’s online marketing and is used as a powerful tool that allows him to easily connect with his fans.

• Wheat bagel with lite cream cheese

Lunch

• Plate of Indian Food … not sure what it was I ate.

Workout

• Exercise                        SuperSets *  Reps
                                               [dagger]
  
  Barbell Curl ^                    4          5+8+6
  
  Lying Triceps Extension ^         4           15+8+6
  
  Preacher Curl                     3          15+12+10
  
  Triceps Pressdown                 3          12+10+8
  
  Incline Dumbbell Curl             3          15+12+10
  
  Two-Arm Dumbbell Kickback         4          15+12+10

Dinner

• Turkey and chicken sandwich
• Pretzels and humus
• Mozzarella string cheese

I’ve been creating web sites since 1997, specializing in small business web sites since 2002 and have worked on a larger government website since late 2007.

Feel free to take a look at my Resume.

Education

I received my B.A. From Columbia College Chicago in 2007 with a major in Interactive Multimedia and a Minor in Management.

Activities

I have participated In athletics my entire life. I love all different sports and have learned a great deal from both team and individual sports. The best athletic moments I’ve had were shared with teammates. I also run marathons, play chess, and absolutely love traveling to new places.

Core Values

1. Balance

2. Harmony

3. Empathy

4. Passion

5. Knowledge

6. Humility

7. Variety

Please ask for address
Chicago, IL
chris@chris.ag

Objective

To develop long-lasting relationships with people & establishments that have unique vision and encourage professional and educational growth, innovation, and creativity.

Client Needs

Once the season’s episodes started airing Kenley’s E-mail became flooded with requests from fans of her work. Kenley’s dilemma was she didn’t have a way to sell her fashion pieces online.

• She needed an e-commerce solution,
• Needed to be able to update her website on her own,
• Wanted an elegant design to complement her creations and
• The site had to be created ASAP in order to capitalize on the national exposure she was already receiving from Project Runway.

Outcome

Kenley’s website was created and launched within 2 weeks of the initial consultation. The site achieves all the needs & wants listed above. Giving her fans immediate access to order online proved to be a great success.

Static

This conceptual project provides a visual to the idea that we as a public are caught in a cycle of propaganda. Within this project, religious and political videos play on the right screen while commercial videos play on the right screen. The person staring into the middle screen symbolizes the public being consumed by the media and not taking much notice to the beauty that surrounds them.

Client Needs

• Desperately needed a new design & layout to make finding information easy within the vast amount of articles and pages.
• The old site’s content was uncategorized so I categorized similar content to make it easier for the user to find information.
• An easy way for multiple users with different access privileges to update the website.
• An easy method for uploading & displaying new picture albums.
• An easy way to upload pictures to individual article posts.
• Ability to comment on individual articles.
• Ability to contact via an online form rather than a email link.
• Embed Google maps easily to show run locations.
• Easy to use Event Calendar with Upcoming Events listings.
• Integrate PayPal donation and payment services.
• Provide a forum that individual members are allowed to post announcements and have general chat.
• An easy way to view all past posts, neatly organized to allow for quick reference no matter how much information the website accumulates.
• RSS Feed capabilities.

Outcome

The new Chicago Hash House Harriers website was a vast improvement in regards to usability & orientation of the user. Also, the website is now scalable, which allows its authors to add as much content as they’d like without harming the site’s layout. Finally, because the website redesign was for a social group and they rely heavily on new membership it was imperative to make the design quality, clean and have the information be to the point. The social group loved their new website.

Client Needs

• The creative flexibility offered by a full Flash website yet with the same features of a complete Content Management System.
• Multiple site authors with different user access levels.
• Multiple photo/video galleries with multiple albums.
• Team pages with ability for team presidnets to update their own page.
• Display the latest news.
• Allow students to e-mail any of the team presidents via one contact page.
• Streaming Music.
• Training Videos.

Outcome

The website acted as a great tool that made communication easy for those overseeing all athletics on campus. It also established a great marketing presence for athletics at a liberal arts college… making it known that it is possible to be balanced in your life with creativity and athletics/personal wellness. The number of interested students shot up by the hundreds once the website launched.

Client Needs

• Creative & Unique Layout
• Minimalistic design
• Showcase my skills in Adobe Flash

Outcome

This was my website that showcased my portfolio right after i graduated college. It served its purpose considering I was hired quickly after graduation and my boss let me know that my portfolio was the main reason why I was hired over the 19 other candidates. Ultimatly, I decided that I wanted to consolidate my multiple online presences into one location to allow myself to more easily establish my identity online. That is why this website is now my past portfolio.

Client Needs

• Wanted to show off their successfull season in a short, exciting, entertaining 30 second clip.

Outcome

The team had just earned some major respect considering that they went from the worst in the league to winning their division, beating the Northwestern Wildcats for the Wisconsin-Illinois Baseball Conference (WIBC) championship. However, most of the campus was unaware that the college even had a baseball team due to the fact that it’s an Liberal arts college. This was a great way to let students know exactly how successful this club baseball team had become without them having to scour a website’s content to figure out if it was not legitiment or if it was an actual team.