On Technology

Artists and engineers form bonds that are the basis of innovation in our society.  Think Apple’s Jobs and Wozniak, Pixar’s Catmull and Lasseter, or the Disney brothers Walt & Roy.  But even for great partnerships, it can be a challenge to find a common vocabulary to connect with the outside and promote a venture.

Partnering with technical organizations, I work to make stories sing (not just tweet!) in a forest of full of competing messages.

Engineering is about solving our problems, and art is about understanding our emotions.  Brought together, they generate tremendous social impact.  And that’s the world we live in now:  a place where writer/artists like myself can promote solutions on a vast ecosystem of social platforms.  Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WordPress – these are just a few that I have helped manage, but it’s my understanding of how they help us connect and interact that makes me more than a social media specialist.

Making the transition from analog synthesizers (e.g., Moog and ARP) to digital design tools helped me foster deep connections with the engineering world, and I’ve been privileged to help many talented engineers communicate the value of their creations.

Now I regularly use digital tools like AdobeCC (Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop, primarily) but I also dig deep into Word, Excel and (yes) PowerPoint to explore and explain technical subjects.  There’s joy in seeing connections and finding metaphors to bridge the gap between a science-based solution and a reader’s understanding of its implications.

It will be my joy to make your technology accessible to a wide audience.