Hello!
I’m a dad and Creative Director based Vancouver, BC, Canada, and I build family-friendly creative content devoted to STEAM education, and social impact. I love what I do. Finding ways to make learning fun for kids is fulfilling work for me.
Art and science are HUGE passions of mine. As someone who grew up with a learning disability, I understand the challenges that come with outcome based education. My mission is to help break down barriers to learning through accessible design, support educators and help kids find joy in life long learning in a way that works best for them.
Certified Member
of the RGD
As a certified member of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, I am part of Canada’s largest association of professional graphic designers. The RGD advocates for business best practices and ethical standards, accessible design, sustainability, and more for designers and their clients.
I’m a proud member of this association, which is Canada's only accredited body of graphic designers with a legislated title (Bill Pr56) and the second such accredited body of graphic designers in the world.
On Design
Leadership
Build a Design-Centric Business
Design-centric companies typically outperform those that are not. Think Apple, Amazon, Google, Disney, or Nike. All apply empathy-based design practices to their businesses, proving that design thinking and creative play an essential role in business decisions.
Coach Thinking Over Triaging Behaviour
Leadership isn’t only about taking a team from one deadline to the next. A team of creatives want more. One thing I’ve seen great leaders do is inspire change in how people think. New behaviour on old thinking doesn’t inspire change, new ideas or innovation. Behaviour is the expression of thinking, and coaching thinking is where growth lives.
Go To Where The Value is Added
The Japanese business practice of going to the ‘Gemba’ pushes the importance of leadership understanding what is happening at every level of the business. This is the difference between building company culture by design vs. by default.
Celebrate The Impact You Create
Good work is about more than what you make – it’s also about the impact you create. This is where inspiration, creativity and design flourish. As French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood […] but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea”.
On Design
For Kids
Learn Through Play
We play in a world of pure imagination. Storytelling and activities designed to encourage full-body learning helps children navigate the world around them. They explore how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to solve conflicts and to speak up for themselves
Design With Empathy
Understanding needs, interests, and challenges is essential to the design thinking approach. What is often overlooked for kids are cultural or socioeconomic factors in what makes engaging content for kids a relational experience. This is why developing a strong, diverse set of voices at the drawing board is key.
Don’t Talk Down To Kids
Respecting cognitive level is important as there is a stark divide between younger, literal-minded kids to older, more critical thinkers. But regardless of how your messaging is delivered, don’t assume kids won’t understand - they comprehend more than we credit them for.
Be Bright & Bold But Not Busy
Younger children are attracted to bright, bold colours while older children skew towards more sleek and mature design. What remains the same is chunking of information so it is clear, concise, and relational to their age, thus avoids overwhelming their cognitive load.
Be Accessible
I grew up in a space that didn’t fully understand neurodiversity as well as we do now. Accessible design plays a key role in helping kids become life-long learners and teaches greater empathy towards others. As we enter more digital spaces like VR we should continue to challenge assumptions on legibility and sensory experiences just to name a few.
Representation Matters
Kids want to see themselves in the media they consume. Despite recent progress, we still see less than 35% of female characters, less than 26% BIPOC characters, and less than 1% of characters representing the disabled. We can do more, and do better in the kids’ character design space.