Ross Howard - Designer Resume & Portfolio
Email meI am Ross Howard, a graphic designer currently living in Wellington, New Zealand. I work for Shift, one of New Zealand’s leading web agencies.
After spending some time traveling around Asia over the years I decided to live in Japan to learn from its language, people and creative culture.
Recently, I have returned to New Zealand to be close to family, and have taken up a full-time position at Shift in Auckland.
About Me
| + Design Experience | ||
Shift - 2004 › 2006 I currently work at Shift, where I focus on creating compelling online experiences through user-focused design. My responsibilities include taking projects from the initial requirements phase, through creative concepts to final implementation I also worke directly with clients and often represent Shift at
presentations and awards. |
Analog Media - 2001 › 2004 In 2001 I co-founded Analog Media, which grew to become of New Zealand’s leading boutique web agencies. My roles included creative direction and design, business development and project management. Our clients included Auckland University of Technology, Skycity and a number of large New Zealand companies. |
Wanganui School of Design - 1999 During my study, I focused on interactive media, and interface design. Working as a student I was also involved in a number of public design projects and internships. My Honors thesis Information Graphics and the Realtime was a based on applying Edward Tufte’s laws of information graphic design to realtime data streams and visualisations. |
UCOL School of Design - 2005 I act as a recognised industry
professional for Graduates from UCOL School of Design by reviewing
their final projects and moderating their degree grades for the
New Zealand Qualifications Authority. |
Media Design School - 2005 As an industry professional, I have been able to work closely with staff and students at the Media Design School in Auckland. I have provided industry seminars to students and in 2005 I was invited to judge and award their Graduate’s final work. |
Wanganui School of Design - 2000 I worked at Wanganui School of Design as a Postgraduate Tutor Aide, where I focused on Time-Based Media and Type in Motion classes. Working alongside international visiting lecturers I was able to learn from their experiences, and was also able to expose them to New Zealand’s unique design culture. |
| + Awards & Scholarships | Presentations & Publications | Qualifications |
Webby
Awards 2006 Webby
Awards 2005
TUANZ Interactive
Awards 2004 TUANZ
Interactive Awards 2004 TUANZ
Interactive Awards 2004 Top Graduating Student 1999 Wanganui School of Design Akoranga Scholarship 1998 |
Boxes & Arrows New Zealand Design
Camp - 2005 Alistapart.com - 2005 The Art of Conversation - 2005 |
Bachelor of Design
(Honors) A Bursary (Scholarship)
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| + Skill Set | ||
I have over 8 years experience in the
following applications |
I have over 5 years professional experience
in the following programming languages: |
I have considerable experience in the following methodologies: - Information Architecture |
Web Design
| + New Zealand Trade & Enterprise | Aichi Japan Expo 2005 | Design, xHTML, CSS, Flash |
NZT&E required a website to complement their amazing New Zealand Pavilion at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan. The site was primarily for the Japanese visitor but was also available English. It was designed to focus on the Expo’s central theme of "The wisdom of nature" I decided to base the design around the aesthetics of Sumi (oil painting)
utilising white space and single bold use of colour along with abstract
organic animations. I developed the creative concept, and continued through
the design, flash production and XHTML development. |
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| + Tourism New Zealand | Lifestyle Module | Design, HTML, CSS, Flash |
Tourism New Zealand wanted to develop a rich presentation of epicurean delights offered in New Zealand. The aim was to leverage the exposure of their Gold Medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, but continue to be compelling afterwards. I developed the idea of famous New Zealand experts touring the food, wine and garden highlights of New Zealand. This project forms part of the Webby Award winning NewZealand.com |
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| + Inland Revenue Department | Website | HTML, CSS, JavaScript |
The IRD is the New Zealand Government’s tax agency. This project involved producing an extremely rich user interface and information architecture within the New Zealand Government’s strict Web Guidelines for web accessibility. The final result was a standards compliant site for all users that
still allows for a rich and compelling design. |
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| + Sir Peter Blake Trust | Website | Design, xHTML, CSS, Flash |
The Sir Peter Blake Trust continues the vision of this great man through ongoing initiatives. I worked with the Trust founders and identity creators DesignWorks|Enterprise IG from the outset to develop the creative concept for the site. From this we create a rich and compelling site which encourages action in initiatives and also serves as the official archive for Sir Peter Blake. This site was both a finalist and formed the body of work that won
the Overall Craft Award at TUANZ 2004. |
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| + Shift | Snow Globe - Xmas 2003-2004 | Design, HTML, CSS |
Shift wanted to create a compelling Christmas promotional that demonstrated Shift’s approach as ‘Useful fun’. We decided to create an interactive 3D Snow Globe that we would send to clients and friends. In turn, they could build their own snow gloves and send these friends along with a greeting. I worked on the creative concept, design, Flash animations and XHTML coding. It proved to be a great hit with thousands of globs being created and sent around the world. This project was both a finalist and formed the body of work that won the Overall Craft Award at TUANZ 2004. |
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