Multi-disciplinary graphic designer and educator creating work that investigates social and cultural systems.

I am interested in the way meaning is constructed by the intentional combination of verbal and non-verbal elements in a pursuit of visual and intellectual agency that reflects or records the human condition. I see this practice as a specific segment of social design inspiring change through tangible messages presented as advocacy, activism, documentation, education, experiential frameworks, storytelling, visual narrative or visual rhetoric.

I focus on meaning and message over style or medium. This focus has allowed me to develop a multi-disciplinary relationship with graphic design, working with talented clients, organizations, colleagues and students across industry and topic.

I began my career as a visual journalist creating editorial design for the Chicago Sun-Times News Group suburban bureau. I then turned my interest in the human condition toward social design and worked in-house at a not-for-profit organization. From there, I founded and worked in a small social design studio in Chicago, serving a variety of inspiring organizations and missions. Ultimately, this led to the founding of my own social design studio, Heart Giants. All of these experiences have been united by a need to elevate humanity through communication.

Since 2010, I have been sharing this experience and instigating young designers to find their own agency and impact through graphic design. I have found that my talents and passion are best served by inspiring students as a professional educator.

I hold a Master of Fine Arts, M.F.A., in Visual Communication from Northern Illinois University. I hold a Bachelor of Arts, B.A., in History with a minor in Studio Art from Northern Illinois University.