Building and Blogging Online Entertainment
This is the online portfolio and blog of Rob Boles, and where it takes him. But this isn't just about me. Design is about discussion, how we communicate on a basic level. Design is a language, and it is meant to communicate ideas. It defines information before it is read. It can inspire and it can frustrate. I want to point out what I find are the success stories of the Web, particularly in entertainment Web sites and the technologies that drive them. Here you will find observations and attempts to elevate the purpose of design for the Web. Let me know what you like and dislike, and I'll try to help out with tutorials and code that might be useful. Thanks for stopping by!
The blog section: reviews of music artist Web sites and forthcoming tutorials for bands in need of cheap DIY Web sites.
[UPDATE: Steven Levy wrote an editorial in this week’s Newsweek about a tangential issue, namely how the pricing of music affects buying habits. He quotes an experiment that showed how to increase sales six-fold. Fascinating, counter-intuitive way to make more money and please the consumers.]
Consumers drive every industry, I think it’s safe to say. Therefore […]
My portfolio of work, clients include Warner Brothers Records, NBA, NHL, NFL, Visa, Nestlé and more.
Warner Brothers Music needed a Web site to promote the motion picture soundtrack to Beowulf, but the catch was that it needed to be launched soon after they contacted me. How soon? Three days. I don’t like backing down from challenges, and the opportunity to create a design for the property was an interesting proposal, […]
E-mail me or download my CV. Interested in custom work? Submit an inquiry here.
My route from musician to graphic designer to interactive and new media designer reflects my desire to constantly learn new things. I hold a Master of Arts degree from the School of Visual Communication Design at Kent State University (studying under AIGA Fellow, J. Charles Walker), where I focused on interactive design and motion graphics.
Not being the type of person to follow traditional paths, I started my own design service after graduating. My first task was to update the identity system, print and online collateral for Nosco Pharmaceutical Packaging, a national company whose clients include Alcon and Abbott Laboratories. I also began adding music artists to my client roster by contacting people in my network from my five-year stint in my touring band.
In my current role at DigiKnow, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio, I walk the fine line between designer and programmer by switching between art director, designer, animator, Web developer, and JavaScript/XHTML/CSS/ActionScript programmer.
Need front-end Web design or development work? Need to see proof? Click the link below to download a PDF of my CV with links to my recent work, personal info, contact information, and really self-congratulatory biography.