Intro

Who is this guy? What does he do? What does he want? Why should I spend the next several seconds of my life reading about him? All of these questions and more will be answered here, in the Intro.

I'm Aaron Karp, a 35-year-old Gemini with some Photoshop tricks up my sleeve, a knowledge of HTML (in the biblical sense), an intrinsic understanding of the delicate sciences of usability and interface, some code-fu hiding in the dusty corners of my brain, a lot of e-commerce experience, and too much time on my hands. I also have experience with 3D modeling software, specifically in the area of environment and prop design for video games. All of this adds up to a deep interest and lots of experience in computer-based creative endeavors. And yes, the 16-bit fella to the right does look more than a little bit like me. I'm not quite so blocky, though.

I'm looking for a job that will allow me to use my current skills while encouraging me to build new ones. I'm a fast study, and I enjoy few things more than coming up with solutions for "unsolveable" problems. I'm looking for a place where I'll be called upon to do just that, learning all the while.

I've been working in web development and design for 15 years, beginning in New York at a web shop called Internet Group, Inc. I was their Assistant Web Master, 1996 - 1997. The job consisted mainly of HTML coding, with some graphic work and simple tweaking of scripts (JavaScript and Perl). After moving to Atlanta and doing my time as a phone monkey in Tech Support, I started working for MindSpring Web Design.

At MindSpring, I held the position of Senior Web Programmer from 1998 - 2000. This title is a little misleading. Sure, I did quite a lot of programming, using HTML, JavaScript, Perl, and a little PHP, but that wasn't all I did. I designed sites, built them out, and trained their proud new owners in proper care and feeding. E-commerce was also my responsibility, using Intershop and Mercantec's SoftCart. I became known as "e-kommisar" for my integration of various web tools and technologies to make commerce packages do things their tech support called impossible.

After MindSpring merged with EarthLink, the web design department was eliminated, and I found myself being bounced around the company as they tried to figure out where I would do the most good. Initially I was placed as a Technical Communicator in the Operations Documentation department, 3-2000 - 12-2000, due to my interest in writing. While I did write manuals, it wasn't long before I was called upon to do web work for the group. MindSpring put all of their documentation on the web, while EarthLink had been creating only paper documents. With the rest of the Atlanta half of the Documentation group, I worked to move all of their material onto the web, using single-source and content management systems we built from the ground up.

Eventually, the company realized that the web-centered Atlanta Documentation group could do wonders for the corporate intranet, and I was once again officially in a web department. As the Senior Designer (12-2000 - 9-2001), I was primarily responsible for creating the overall aesthetic of the intranet. I also assisted heavily in all programming tasks taken on by the group, working in HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, and XML/XSL.

Through a series of ill-planned but serendipitous reorganizations, I moved from being Señor Designer to a new role - Interface Designer. Despite the change in nomenclature, it was something of a promotion. All of a sudden I was basically 50% of the intranet usability group. I worked with an information architect to create site flows, prototypes, lo-fi mockups, and finally fully realized interfaces, taking into account the results of user studies along the way. We also worked to introduce a usability component to the tool development process which, prior to our meddling, had seen usability as a "prettying-up" measure to be taken days before the tool rolled out. We added usability and interface topics to almost every step in a project, from requirements gathering all the way through testing and rollout. Through this process, we were able to rework several of EarthLink's most critical internal tools into much more user-friendly and intuitive forms.

EarthLink eventually eliminated my position along with those of most of my coworkers. For several months after the layoff, I looked into the possibility of starting my own business, but my lack of startup capital and the souring economy led me to seek other opportunities. I spent a year doing graphic design for Rapid Sign Systems, a vinyl sign company (the site design isn't mine). I designed and produced signs, banners, and the occasional business card.

While the sign shop kept me fairly busy, the work wasn't the most interesting in the world. I was eager to get back into design and development, so I started looking for possible contract positions. Through a friend of a friend, I came in contact with Spa Sydell. They were looking for someone to overhaul their web site, and I fit the bill. What was originally planned as a contract job became a permanent position almost immediately, and I took on print and advertising design in addition to the web work. I honed my PHP and MySQL skills while completely redeveloping the site in the excellent osCommerce environment. I also learned quite a bit about design for print, as well as system administration.

After leaving Spa Sydell in July of 2005, I accepted a position as one of the two webmasters at Creative Loafing, publisher of alternative weekly newspapers in Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa, Sarasota, Washington, DC, and Chicago. As webmaster, I was responsible for regular updates and maintenance of the papers' sites, as well as the creation of sites and applications to service special events and contests, graphic design and interface planning in support of new initiatives, and quite a bit of exploration of new web-based opportunities. I created and starred in Ed Loves Bacon, CL's first regular podcast, and helped create and produce several others. I assisted heavily in transitions between publishing platforms and the interface overhauls that went along with them, and served as the administrator and theme developer for all of the company's blogs under Wordpress Mu, which gave me ample opportunity to sharpen my CSS skills. Unfortunately, alternative newsweeklies are famously advertising-dependent, and the economic downturn, coupled with the migration of advertising from print to online, hit Creative Loafing particularly hard. My position was eliminated in September 2008, and the company filed for bankruptcy protection less than a month later.

Following my departure from Creative Loafing, I took a contract position with Qoppa Software. Qoppa's original product line consisted of programming libraries that provided PDF-related functionality in Java. With the introduction of their PDF Studio software, however, they needed to reach a different audience - end-users. I was brought on to overhaul the PDF Studio portion of their web site in order to appeal to this new market. I designed a new look for the PDF Studio pages that still worked within the existing graphical style, and recoded the entire web site from tables-heavy HTML to standards-compliant HTML/CSS, resulting in a file size reduction of 50% or more on most pages. I also created several custom interface icons for PDF Studio and converted the product's JavaHelp documentation to several new formats using RoboHelp.

After completing the Qoppa contract, I joined Atlanta Metropolitan Publishing as a Web/IT Specialist. In this role, I implemented a major redesign of planyourmeetings.com, their flagship product. The site is powered by Wordpress, and I wrote a lot custom code to add all of the necessary functionality. While building the site, I also served as on-site technical support, troubleshooting software and hardware issues for the all-Mac shop while also administering the OS X Server and the phone system.

While I've been working in web design all these years, I've remained keenly interested in other forms of digital art, especially video games. That interest lead me to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Game Art & Design at Art Institute of Atlanta. I've learned all about 3D modeling and animation, as well as plenty of new coding and interface design tricks and ideas. The bulk of my work has been in Autodesk Maya, using supplemental programs like Headus UV Layout and Crazybump, typically with the goal of importing the models into Unreal Tournament 3 and the Unreal Developer's Kit. While my work has been game-focused, I'm capable of creating 3D assets for all sorts of applications, and have even incorporated them into my web work where appropriate.

Examples of my graphics, coding and game-related work can be found in the portfolio section, while a summary of my skills can (surprise!) be found in skills. If you want to learn more about what makes me tick, check out interests. Contact will put you in touch with me, and links just shows that you can really judge a man by the URLs he keeps. References are available upon request.

I like competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, a fun workplace, and long walks on the beach. I'm looking for that special someone who can make me utter those four magic little words... "I dig my job."