Hi – I’m Karen.
I’m a print and web designer living in Portland, OR with a major crush on front-end web design/ development & CSS. I work with WordPress and concrete5 web sites.
I still do a lot of print work, but I’ve spent the last 7 or 8 years focusing on building my web design portfolio and so far, it’s going great.
Abit of history: I have 15+ years experience as a graphic designer. I got my start in graphic design at Libin & Associates in Tallahassee (now Adventures in Advertising/AIA Creative Services). I learned the print design trade while there, and have been adding web skills all the time. I worked with AIA until 2004, except for an 18-month stint in England.
Why England? I grew up in the historic market town of Ross-on-Wye before moving to USA after graduating college. In 1999, I went back for a hefty dose of the Motherland and was hired as New Media Director at Welland Valley Newspapers. I was headquartered in Stamford at the Stamford Today newspaper. At the time, the chain had no websites to deliver its news. Working in collaboration with the Peterborough Media Department, our media team got six fledgling news websites up and running.
I returned to the US in October 2001 and picked up where I left off; returning to work at AIA Creative Services as a print and web designer. In 2004 I decided to take the plunge and go out on my own. So far, it’s been great and I am looking forward to the future.
Thanks, Karen
Hi Karen
On a bit of a trip down memory lane one rainy afternoon in England! Delighted to read that your design business is flourishing. I left JP in 2005 when they moved the Internet team up to Skegness – I didn’t fancy the move, had just had my first baby and had been offered a chance to do some media teaching, so it was a natural time to go. I dabbled in a bit of freelancing but decided I liked the stability of education, did my teaching qual, and am now a co-ordinating lecturer at University Centre Peterborough and Peterborough Regional College. Milly is now 7 and Ivo is 5 and I’m trying the ignore the urge to do a phD!
Claire Swales nee Northen