Consulting & Production
Past consulting & production work:
Summer 2011: Trend analysis and future-casting on emerging ubiquitous computing protocols for the London-based "co-creation agency" Face as part of multiple research packages prepared for various industry-leading companies.
Fall 2010: To aid in programming an interactive display space, Mission Specialist is acting as a liaison between selected members of the Toronto digital arts and humanities community and the organizers of the DIY Citizenship 'Critical Making and Social Media' conference.
Summer 2010: Mission Specialist begins an ongoing relationship with the Toronto Media Co-op to assist in production of The Spoke, a daily broadsheet published around the G8/G20 summit in Toronto.
Spring 2010: Web presence for American creative collective Curious that included an online portfolio, blog and community index. For this shoestring-budget multimedia archive we rejigged the Basic Maths WordPress theme to set up a clean, two column layout and developed an idiosyncratic typographic identity to match this dynamic organization.
Spring 2010: The "visual thinking" company Derivative approached Mission Specialist to help develop a strategy for promoting their collaborative venture with musician Richie Hawtin. To aid in promoting a related contest, we developed an extensive categorized contact list of music, design and digital art blogs for Derivative to approach – and helped them tailor press kits for each category.
Fall 2009: Libertas Post is a political blog and online community platform. Mission Specialist was approached to develop the information architecture and publishing workflow underpinning this site. The publishing system features numerous content types that are accessible to several distinct roles (bloggers, columnists, editors and feature writers).
Summer 2009: Mission Specialist was enlisted to develop a new web presence and e-commerce platform for Noise Factory Records. A site was developed to archive the label's ten year discography, provide on artists and releases and to usher the imprint into the era of DIY digital distribution. Noise Factory folded in early 2010 and this platform was not extended beyond the prototype phase.
Spring 2009: Recent MIT grads Jegan Vincent de Paul and Jason Rockwood required a "broadcast platform" to publicize the activities of their new studio in early 2009. A no-nonsense, type driven site was developed to match the Counter graphic identity and special attention was paid to developing a publishing framework with optimal search engine visibility to help the studio maximize their exposure.
Winter 2009: Marketing oriented site to tie in with the branding of Spring 2009 recruitment campaign by the Los Angeles-based Fremont College. This walled-garden site required a lead form for collecting information on potential students as well as several custom personality tests which paired results with academic programs.
Spring 2009: Mission Specialist was approached by Taylor_Smyth Architects to act as a new media consultant to provide input for a team preparing a proposal for a new Ontario College of Art and Design facility specializing in digital technology. Mission Specialist conducted research on data visualization, sensor technologies and interactive systems to inform the resulting design scheme.
Fall 2008: In the Air is an ongoing research project investigating atmospheric data visualization initiated by Madrid-based architect Nerea Calvillo. Mission Specialist prepared the initial web presence that documented the production and display of this work as well as related environmental information.
Fall 2008: Targeted web-marketing campaign for Reigo & Bauer, a boutique Toronto architecture firm. A selected project was packaged into a "blog friendly" press kit and directed towards key online design-related publications. Approximately 33% of the blogs contacted opted to publish the material making for a very efficient micro-campaign.
Summer 2008: InfraNet Lab is a Toronto based design research collective who wanted to develop a publishing platform for their project. We advised them on how to structure their site, helped them get started with WordPress (slightly modifying the popular Modicus theme to provide cohesive look and feel) and optimized their workflow for search performance.
Spring 2008: SEO and web-presence consulting stint with the Los Angeles Institute of Architecture and Design. This campaign yielded an increase of 34% to visits, 23% to pageviews, 18% to new visits, an 8% increase in search related traffic and a 52% increase in backlinks across the web over a six-month period.
Spring 2008: In late 2007, award-winning Toronto creative firm Messenger called upon Mission Specialist to help produce promotional materials for OurStage, a website for up-and-coming musicians with a grungy but hip aesthetic. As the site grew we produced internet ads, stationery, CD packaging, SXSW swag and even gingerbread men…
Summer 2006: PaCuBox is a small scale modular gallery system ideal for deployment in urban settings. The project was conceived and designed by Tom Kuo and Rachel Vuillens at the Canadian Film Centre's Interactive Art & Entertainment Program (IAEP). Mission Specialist was brought on board to provide technical illustration for fabricators and prepare documentation for potential investors.