Senior Interactive Art Director
Greater Denver Area
- Current
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- Senior Web Community Art Director at Gaiam, Inc.
- Creative Director, Interaction Designer, Owner at Wavelength Media
- Past
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- Product Manager at Specular International
- UI Designer, 3D Modeler/Animator, QA Lead at Specular International
- Director - CKC Laboratory at University of Massachusetts at Amherst
- Education
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- University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Mount Wachusett Community College
- Recommended
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- Industry
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- Websites
Jackson Carson’s Summary
I’m a social media savvy UI and interaction design guru who’s been combining striking design with usability since the dawn of the World Wide Web. I’ve got deep experience in interaction design for online communities, ecommerce/database-driven sites and web applications. As a social media enthusiast, I pride myself in designing functional and beautiful environments - with the user in mind at all times. I enjoy large and complex creative challenges and I relish the moment when the needs of all key players on a project have been met.
Currently, I am Senior Web Art Director at Gaiam, Inc. where I design web sites, Flash apps, user-centered web application UI and much more. I have two decades of electronic media experience and have run my own successful new media and traditional creative design business (Wavelength Media) for fifteen years.
Prior to Wavelength Media, I taught graduate level 3D and 2D animation at the University of Massachusetts. During that time, I designed the revolutionary animation interface for the award-winning 3D application, Infini-D. My breakthrough "timeline" interface spawned a usability revolution: time-based animation. The UI features event marks and bars representing change through time. This interface was the first true time-based (and event-based) animation interface and has become what Adobe now calls an "industry standard". First adapted to Adobe After Effects, my interface can now be found in Swift 3D, Lightwave 3D, Cinema 4D, MindAvenue AXEL, Anark Studio, and many, many other popular animation and 3D applications and even Photoshop.
Jackson Carson’s Specialties:
User-centered UI design, web design, interaction design, interactive media design, 3D and 2D graphics and animation, print design, brand development, logo design, computer graphics, music, sound, video, motion graphics, effects, new media
Jackson Carson’s Experience
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Senior Web Community Art Director
Gaiam, Inc.
(Public Company; GAIA; Health, Wellness and Fitness industry)
2007 — Present (2 years )
Gaiam, Inc. initially hired me to elegantly migrate the UI of their newly acquired Zaadz online social network to form the new Gaia Community - without pissing off the existing membership. The challenge included brand development, a thorough Web 2.0 user interaction revamp and user flow improvements to increase member registration. The migration was flawless, receiving applause from the community. With my new front-end design and interaction flows implemented, visits to the sign-up page increased 283% within 90 days,contributing to Gaia Community reaching ROI goals nine months early.
I continued to contribute my expertise in Web and interactive UI design for a number of other internal customers. As web design team lead, I guided the creative work of junior designers and freelancers, and collaborated with developers to meet marketing, business and usability requirements. I directed the design of marketing and communication assets such as emails, brand identities and online and print ads. Using BEML (Brightcove’s proprietary markup language), I developed custom media players featuring Gaiam’s extensive online library of media assets.
Additional accomplishments for Gaiam:
• Designed a landing page and email combo that generated the biggest pre-sale return we’d ever had for a new product launch
• Advanced the growth of our online business strategy and improved user retention and overall customer experience for over a dozen Gaiam web sites
• Effectively promoted Gaiam as a cutting-edge online media company by designing, developing and maintaining interactive Flash applications
• Commandeered email creative to positively impact our bottom line in the new economy -
Creative Director, Interaction Designer, Owner
Wavelength Media
(Privately Held; E-Learning industry)
January 1993 — Present (16 years 11 months)
Designed application user interfaces, interactive media programs, 3D and 2D graphics and animation, user-friendly web interfaces (hand-code XHTML and CSS), creative marcom and print campaigns, visual IDs and brands. Managed design teams, engineers and contractors in development of user-centered web applications and interactive programs. Built virtual 3D architectural and medical models for use in documentary films and instructional videos. Designed GUI elements for cross-platform applications such as CreekPath Suite (storage resource management software), Emperative (network provisioning software) and handicap-accessible interfaces for interactive museum kiosk installations and interactive CD-ROM programs. Notable clients include Activision, The Gillette Company, Penguin-Putnam, USWest, United Way, Salomon.
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Product Manager
Specular International
(Computer Software industry)
1992 — 1993 (1 year )
Designed the intuitive graphical user interface for award winning 3D animation software, Specular LogoMotion. Managed development of LogoMotion from concept to release. Coordinated usability tests and managed QA and beta teams. Managed schedules for engineering and marketing departments during development. Coordinated marketing and press coverage for product launch. Created StageHands 3D scene components. Wrote user manuals.
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UI Designer, 3D Modeler/Animator, QA Lead
Specular International
(Computer Software industry)
1991 — 1992 (1 year )
Designed the revolutionary event-based Sequencer animation interface used in Specular Infini-D, awarded Best 3D Software for Macintosh by MacWorld Magazine in 1992. The widely adopted timeline interface can now be found in such popular animation apps as Adobe AfterEffects, Swift 3D, Anark Studio, MindAvenue AXEL, and others. Created design mockups for intuitive user interfaces during early development of Infini-D. Designed and produced Specular Replicas 3D clip art models and animations and wrote manuals. Produced 3D demonstration and promotional animations for the marketing department.
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Director - CKC Laboratory
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
(Higher Education industry)
1988 — 1992 (4 years )
Administrated the Center for Knowledge Communication Lab and taught graduate level 3D and 2D computer animation for seven semesters. Coordinated teams of animators. Directed, produced, and edited complete animation productions from storyboard to completion. Additional work included design and development of a custom 3D modeling and ray tracing application. Conducted usability tests of Specular Infini-D.
Jackson Carson’s Education
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University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Bachelor of Arts , Computer Graphics and Multimedia - GPA: 3.75 , 1988 — 1992
Coursework included an aggregate of undergraduate Computer Science, graduate Electrical Engineering, 3D application development, 3D and 2D animation, arts and music. Skills acquired: GUI design and HCI fundamentals, animation and multimedia production, software development, visual and audio design, C, Pascal, LISP, ADA, data structures.
Administrated the Center for Knowledge Communication Lab and taught graduate level 3D and 2D computer animation for seven semesters. Coordinated teams of animators. Directed, produced, and edited complete animation productions from storyboard to completion. Additional work included design and development of a custom 3D modeling and ray tracing application. Conducted usability tests of Specular Infini-D.
Taught beginner fencing through the UMass physical education department.- Activities and Societies:
- CKC Animation Lab Director, BDIC, UMass Juggling Club, UMass Outing Club, WMUA Volunteer, UMass Fencing Club
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Mount Wachusett Community College
Assoc. , Biology , 1986 — 1988
Additional Information
Jackson Carson’s Websites:
Jackson Carson’s Interests:
GUI design, interactive media design, web design, motion graphics and animation, 3D and 2D graphics, graphic design, new media design, traditional media design, print design, brand development / visual identity design, marketing and communications (marcom), photography, music, humor, hiking, camping, skiing, progressive thinking, spirituality, sustainability, etc.
Jackson Carson’s Contact Settings
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