My two-year old loves music. He especially loves being in control of the music; when he discovered how to play the demo songs on our digital piano, we had to listen to The Entertainer on repeat for weeks.
His taste is a lot more varied than that, though! So I thought it would be a great idea if we could start an album or playlist on Spotify, then hand him the controls so he could skip back if he wanted to hear a song again, or skip forward, etc. However, the actual Spotify app interface, as intuitive as it is, is a lot more complicated than that. I did some shopping around for kid-friendly mp3 players, or apps that did something like this and found nothing. What to do? GUESS I HAVE TO BUILD IT MYSELF.
the App itself, playing one of the titular Doot’s favorite songs
So, I dug into the Spotify Web API and brushed up on my RESTful knowledge and AJAX skills to make a simplified remote control. It doesn’t stream music directly, but that’s actually even better for our particular use case: mom and dad can be playing the music on their phone, without having to hand it over to the toddler! The main goal was to design a User Interface so simple that a two-year-old can figure it out–which is actually incredibly challenging, when you’re dealing with so much information.
was conceived, designed, and coded by me! I built a custom WordPress theme from the ground up; the idea was to create something that could serve as a showcase for my coding skills, without being fancy just for its own sake. It still had to convey information effectively and allow users to interact intuitively.
The animated transitions are all handled in CSS, using JavaScript only to trigger them at the right time when necessary. The one-page layout responds organically to any viewport size, feeling right at home on desktop or mobile.
I hope you enjoy your visit!
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg
Front page of carynmirriamgoldberg.com
For this project, Caryn had a very specific vision for how she wanted her site to look and feel, and needed some help achieving those goals.
With Caryn’s go-ahead, I researched and recommended new hosting for the site, installed WordPress, and migrated her previous site over to the new.
Caryn found a pre-made theme she liked, but that wasn’t quite where she needed it to be in terms of functionality, so I spun-off a child theme to add the customizations needed we needed. I also helped improve workflow on the back end, implementing custom post types for listing her live events, and site-editing tools to free up more of Caryn’s time to create the content of the site. See the final result at carynmirriamgoldberg.com
Coal City Review and Press
the all-new coalcity.org
This was a complete site overhaul for a fantastic literary journal and publisher that had let its web presence slacken a bit.
website before updates
Brian Daldorph, the brains behind Coal City, entrusted me with full creative control of the website’s new look, so I took the opportunity to dive in and create a custom WordPress theme from scratch!
The finished result is fully-responsive, and includes huge workflow improvements on the back end, such as using the Pods framework to create standardized entry for all titles, and implementing eCommerce. Check out the live site to see more of the great work Coal City Review & Press is putting out.
State Library History Slides
These images are part of a slideshow that runs on an HD monitor in the State Library lobby, providing some history of the space in which visitors find themselves.
Digital banner image promoting Kansas Notable Books 2017official poster
These materials I designed for the State Library of Kansas/Kansas Center for the Book, to help promote the list of 15 outstanding (or, if you will, notable?) books written by/for/about Kansans.
With the caveat that all materials are intended to be printed by individual libraries across the state rather than professionally printed, I turned to the Bauhaus school of design for inspiration how to create something minimal and inspiring, that I could be reasonably confident would look okay no matter the print settings.
front page of brochure
For the electronic version of the graphic, I was able to realize my original vision a little more closely due to the wider palette that digital provides. Printable versions live on the State Library website, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Promotional Images for the State Library
digital signage promoting new audiobooksFacebook banner promoting literacy event
Here is a selection of images I’ve worked on to promote the various services the State Library provides. These were created in Adobe Photoshop for display on the State Library website, facebook, and/or digital signage inside the library itself.
The State Library already had a printable pocket constitution when I came onboard, but new amendments necessitated an update and therefore new layout. The unique format—four miniature pages to a sheet, two-sided, folded—came, naturally, with a unique set of challenges. Check out the finished product on the state library website!
facebook banner promoting printable constitution
Inscape 2018
I had the honor of designing the 2018 issue of Inscape, Washburn University’s Literary Journal. I made three different versions of the cover for the editorial board to choose from, all with fantastic artwork from Inscape contributors. I was equally proud of all three, so I’m including the mockups here as well!
Inscape 2018 final cover design, original artwork by Michael YoungInscape 2018 Cover Mockup #1, original artwork by Justin MarableInscape 2018 Cover Mockup #2, original artwork by Daniel W CoburnSample Page layout from Inscape 2018
Mother-Ghosts book cover and layout
Leah Sewell is a phenomenal poet, and herself a talented designer, so I was honored that she asked me to handle design on her own full-length debut of poetry.
Working from Leah’s original concept, I adapted Ashley Laird’s original artwork into the cover you see before you, with colorization and typography. You can pick up this fantastic book from Woodley Press.
I also had the chance to exercise my retouching skills, in getting the full version of the cover art to a print-ready state from the file I had.
Final Cover Designsample page layoutcover artwork file, before retouchingCover artwork file, after retouching
Kansas Notable Books 2017
Digital banner image promoting Kansas Notable Books 2017official poster
These materials I designed for the State Library of Kansas/Kansas Center for the Book, to help promote the list of 15 outstanding (or, if you will, notable?) books written by/for/about Kansans.
With the caveat that all materials are intended to be printed by individual libraries across the state rather than professionally printed, I turned to the Bauhaus school of design for inspiration how to create something minimal and inspiring, that I could be reasonably confident would look okay no matter the print settings.
front page of brochure
For the electronic version of the graphic, I was able to realize my original vision a little more closely due to the wider palette that digital provides. Printable versions live on the State Library website, if you’re into that sort of thing.
State of Kansas Pocket Constitution
Sample of page layout for the pocket constitution
The State Library already had a printable pocket constitution when I came onboard, but new amendments necessitated an update and therefore new layout. The unique format—four miniature pages to a sheet, two-sided, folded—came, naturally, with a unique set of challenges. Check out the finished product on the state library website!
to become so beautiful that pictures of myself
fill me with a moment of involuntary hatred
to sculpt my body with the chisel of sweat and self-abasement
to make of my perfect quiff a piggy bank
for to keep the patina’d copper pennies of time I could have spent on making poems
could have spent on making love but spent instead on making myself
a different self a useless self that sits on a shelf looking beautiful
to swagger so hard that the world swaggers with me
to drag the depths of swagger and find some forgotten bauble to call my own.
to suck swagger through a straw from all the way down the block
a swagger so thick it gaunts my cheeks to suck it
to be the billion-dollar remake of my father.
to remember his beard and his hard face his thrift store clothes
and think yeah that was good but what if
it had more CGI explosions what if it had more tits
to dole out drips of clickable wisdom
one hashtag at a time: tips for living your crispiest life
to discover something bloodier than diamonds
and discover something more than an arm and leg to charge for it.
to bathe in champagne or the blood of the innocent there is no difference
when you know you’re on your grind—when you’re really killing it
11 Weird Home Security Lifehacks You Can Try Right Now
1.
Never lock the front door. Let it swing
unfettered as a show of confidence.
2.
Keep your piece loaded and easily accessible
on a coffee table or a night stand.
Keep guns out of reach of children:
lock the children up.
3.
Label medications
incorrectly
to confuse thieves into overdosing if they make it
past the bear traps in your foyer.
4.
Keep to the old ways:
a young lamb’s blood
smeared across the doorway will spare
your firstborn the fury of he who is called I Am.
5.
These are desperate times: always be
the most desperate guy in the room.
6.
[animated .GIF of Jack Nicholson as
The Joker asking where does he get
those wonderful toys?] [.JPG of recent issues of Guns and
Ammo spread out on camo-print sheets]
7.
Unburden your young soul by blood-letting
at regular intervals; a laden heart creeps
too slowly when the heaving beasts approach.
8.
Never trust a liberal over three or a conservative
over thirty. Reserve judgement
for the Lord in all other instances.
9.
Wave goodbye to someone
imaginary inside every time you leave your home—
loneliness strikes when you least expect it.
10.
Be born into the middle
of an epoch you idiot never
at the beginning and for god’s sake never at the end.
11.
[animated .GIF of Leo
DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby lifting a glass and looking
you directly in the eye smirking knowingly
as fireworks explode behind him]
7 Mindblowing Facts You Didn’t Know About John Wayne
John Wayne was gay
for one man: Uncle Sam.
Their turbulent affair spanned several decades,
until John Wayne’s death. He died in Sam’s arms.
If John Wayne went a day
without riding, his horse
would cry in the bathroom, wonder
what it did wrong.
Uncle Sam would later describe
John Wayne as “the one
that got away, heh” before turning
his face from the camera and ending the interview.
John Wayne owned an Arby’s franchise
for over 30 years, but would never
say which one: he wanted it to stand
on its own merits.
John Wayne wore special shoes
not because his feet were freakishly tiny
but because they were made of antimatter
and could kill us all if not contained.
This also explains
The Duke’s signature walk:
he had the full fury of the unknown universe
exploding underneath his every step
John Wayne did kegel exercises
24/7. That weird cadence to his speech?
Between each word, he was flexing
his pelvic floor.
Feather the brake pedal like a confident jazz drummer lays out
during someone else’s solo.
This is the skid’s solo. Turn into the skid. Accelerate.
Accelerate. Accept that this is happening.
Don’t think about:
Your kid is sick, delirious;
Your lack of bachelor’s degree;
Carbon emissions from your car’s exhaust;
Income inequality;
How you could have let your high school sweetheart down more gently.
There is a time to think about these things.
This is not that time.
This is the time to turn into the skid.
Turn into the skid like a young magician turns his assistant into
a deceit of lapwings by mistake, wonders where the doves have gone.
Don’t wonder where the doves have gone.
Ask the young magician to send you thirty, forty seconds back,
let you slow down on the slick like you know you should have done,
like Marianne will say you should have done when you make it home.
If you make it home.
Focus on where you want to go, not what you want to avoid.
The barriers are coming, whether you want them to or not.
Accelerate. Learn to love the skid. Visualize:
The smooth arc of your tires on the ice as your mother’s smile;
Your mother’s arms flurrying to encircle you like a pitying of turtledoves;
You are not above becoming misty, in this instant.
Do so as the need arises.
The young magician whisking you and your mother to the curbside.
Don’t wonder where the young magician comes from.
Avoid understeering as your arms go limp.
The importance cannot be overstated of feathering the brakes.
and each assassin’s hands shake
as he reaches for his glass each unsure
of the other’s intentions even now
that nothing could harm them.
Theirs is an unease unknown
to most—when you have killed
a killer all four walls resent you
even those your picture should be hung from.
And behind the bar I pretend not to notice
the meeting taking place—faces
snub-nosed and immediately familiar
the low words they intone between them—
I take comfort in the Cobra tucked away
in my coat pocket. I clean the shot
glasses overturn the stools to the bar-top’s smooth surface.
It is otherwise a slow night and I’d like to go home as soon as I can.
and you’re pretty sure you’ve seen it around so you click confirm
but when you finally see it at the bar that night with some mutual friends
you realize that you really only recognized The Apocalypse
from photos these friends had posted that you had only ever seen it
around your news feed and does that count as Knowing Each Other?
This becomes the humorous facet of modern life
that you and The Apocalypse start a conversation over.
So now it doesn’t matter. But this isn’t funny enough as an anecdote
about how you and The Apocalypse met to get this story told.
As far as anyone knows you and The Apocalypse have always been friends
and soon you realize it has been a very long time since anyone has asked you How do you two know each other?
and soon you realize it has been a very long time since anyone has asked anyone How do you two know each other?
and soon you realize it has been a very long time
