Samples of my work

Writing

USA Today: “Electronic ink may rewrite book publishing industry” — one of these days, people are going to own electronic books (from 2006)

The Roanoke Times: “A down-to-earth way to heat schools” — how schools were turning to geothermal energy for heating and cooling — and saving a ton of money

USA Today: “Owning music and movies may soon be a thing of the past” — someday we won’t buy CDs or DVDs, but will all keep our media on the Internet… aka, “the cloud” (from 2007)

Commonwealth: “Signs of life” — the numbers are clear, even if pundits aren’t; the housing recovery is here

Commonwealth: “Watch Your Step” — scams and cons are targeting the real estate market; here’s how they work

Magazines


And more: Two-bit fill-in Designer

We needed drink tickets for our convention, and I wanted something that was memorable (which helps reinforce the quality and value of the event) but not expensive. So I went with, essentially, full-color business cards, which are extraordinarily easy and inexpensive to print.
Instead of printing several (well, more than several) individual flyers for events and information for our convention, I created a single, simple black-and-white guide that contained it all. That allowed us to print it on demand on site for attendees who didn’t want to use our app or website. Bonus: It only took me about four hours to create. (Click here to see the whole thing as a PDF.)
OH NO! We need a logo for a game we’re running and we only have a hour to get it to a printer! Whip something up!
Our membership application was long and unwieldy — a barrier to entry, you might say. We simply asked for too much information and too much detail.
My solution: Simplify the form to collect the basics, then ask new members to “complete your profile” and fill in the rest.