Kevan McGowan

About Me

Hello, my name is Kevan McGowan and I design and build websites. I strive to create highly usable, creative and enjoyable online tools. I've successfully worked in a variety of work environments including: freelance, in-house, startup, large ad agency and more. I have a Master of Arts in Industrial Arts with an emphasis in Visual Communication. During my studies, I touched on a variety of design-related topics and recognized the vital role that the design process plays in producing successful solutions. Currently, I am an Interactive Art Director with skills across many disciplines. Here's how they break down:

Interface & Visual Design

Most of my professional work has focused on the visual and interactive aspects of website design. While attaining my Masters Degree, I chose to focus on visual communication. Towards the latter half of the program, I found myself drawn to website design and subsequently pursued a career in the field. Since then, I've designed for many different audiences on sites like clorox.com, scoopaway.com, glad.com, safeway.com, and movabletype.com.

Web Development

Many years ago, I completed an XHTML/CSS class and began building out my own designs. As my skills evolved, I began taking on significant engineering roles including a full-time role as an Interface Engineer at Tribal DDB. Using primarily XHTML, CSS, and Javascript, I create clean, search-optimized, and compliant code that works across all major web browsers (IE6 included). I also have experience working with ActionScript 3, Javascript libraries like jquery and prototype, and PHP.

User Experience & Interaction Design

As a Graduate student, I joined The Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction (SIGCHI) and devoted a semester-long internship to the study of User Experience Design. I aim to create efficient and graceful user experiences that cater directly to a user's needs. Professionally, I have contributed substantial UX work towards projects like the Volkswagen concept car touchscreen interface, e-commerce experience of CourseSmart, and SmartyCard's parent account experience.

Offline

When I'm not churning out comps or feverishly coding you'll probably find me exploring wine country, at the grocery store collecting ingredients for my latest recipe or throwing discs at the local Disc Golf course.

Testimonial

"I really can't say enough good things about Kevan. He's a completely focused, dedicated and meticulous personality with a fantastic attitude and a superhuman ability to get things done on time and surpass expectations. He's remarkably creative, has a great sense of narrative and audience and understands product design and development and marketing creative equally. Kevan is also technically gifted, organized and genuinely cares about making sure all his projects are of the highest possible quality. I managed Kevan directly for over a year and a half and he was an absolute gem on our team. His laid back demeanor is a cover for his protohuman ability to work incredibly fast and effectively. He takes direction really well, gives great feedback and art direction, asks all the right questions, and on top of that is an incredibly nice person. I would love the opportunity to work with him again in the future."