Profile

I have been working in the field of web design and development for over four years, my most recent position having been an E-commerce Web Designer at MonsterCommerce / Network Solutions in Belleville, Illinois. Prior to that, I worked for over two years as a web designer, then creative director at Captiva Marketing, a web design and SEO firm in St. Louis, Missouri.

This site highlights the broad range of work, both web design as well as a little print design, that I have created throughout my career.

Currently, I am expanding my knowledge and experience in other directions by volunteering in my community. Offering my time and skills to the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Midwestern Braille Volunteers is not only beneficial to the undertakings of those organizations, but allows me an opportunity to discover new areas of interest and witness the amazing work being done by volunteers and professionals in St. Louis.

Prior to working at Captiva Marketing, I was an independent contractor, and received my first major project to redesign the website for the Art & Design Department of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, my alma mater. The site, though it has evolved and been updated by several others since its creation, still bears the graphic framework and navigational architecture of my original design. For this first contract project, I owe much gratitude to my brother, Joe Schicker, a web designer and developer, whose knowledge and patience laid the foundation to all I know now about web design.

The story of how I landed into the web design field begins at SIUE in a class called Graphic Design 311 (a course I later ended up teaching for two semesters), where I was immersed into all the basics of print design under the tutelage of Professor Bill Klingensmith. Later courses I took in graphic design were heavily print-based; I took one summer course that focused entirely on Macromedia Flash, though other than that and a few minor projects in Dreamweaver, I had little instruction in web design. Ironically, it wasn't until after graduation, when I received a contract from the SIUE Art & Design Department to re-design their site, that my career training as a web designer first began.

Upon graduation at SIUE, I had received two degrees – a Bachelor of Arts in Art Studio and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History – in a time span of four and a half years, and graduated Summa Cum Laudé. A great honor I received was delivering the commencement speech at my December graduation upon the nomination of my professors – something I will never forget. For more details on my educational background and honors, please see my resumé.

Finally, no profile of mine is complete without offering a word of gratitude to all who have supported and sustained me thus far – first God Himself, then family, friends, teachers, co-workers, employers, and a thousand others who I'll never know personally, but whose work touches me, buttressing daily life in countless ways. Merci beaucoup.