Profile

I have been working in the field of web design and development and graphic design for over seven years, and am currently a Graphic Designer at Stange Company in St. Louis, MO. Stange specializes in emblematic jewelry manufacturing and managing employee recognition programs for a large and diverse client base in the Midwest. Prior to my current position, I worked as a web designer, then creative director at Captiva Marketing, a web design and SEO firm in St. Louis, and as an E-commerce Web Designer at MonsterCommerce / Network Solutions in Belleville, Illinois.

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.

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. 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.