A strategic, whole-systems, human-centered design thinker, Chris brought to us expertise in data science, technology and learning systems. Chris listened deeply internally and externally, asking questions that created new insight for our teams. Clients frequently expressed their appreciation for Chris’s collaborative and creative approach, while colleagues consistently valued his mentorship.
Chris brought to us expertise in areas as diverse as building online learning platforms, cybersecurity, human-centered design, and R&D strategy. I highly recommend Chris as an architect and facilitator of online training, strategist in learning and technology, and valued strategic business advisor.
Tessie Catsambas, CEO/CFO at EnCompass LLC
Building a Modern Virtual Community of Practice.
In early 2020 I was given the opportunity to build a community of practice for evaluators funded through the CDC’s Overdose Data to Action program.
The big problem: most of the evaluators did not know one another. The easy solution of creating a webinar lecture series featuring relevant evaluation topics would not solve that problem.
Instead, we got to work on community building. Our theory, you need an engaged community before you can truly build the kind of peer to peer connections that fuel capacity building. So over the course of 4 years, we developed a CoP model that successfully connects and engages community members exclusively through virtual methods.
My work involved developing the CoP strategy, designing the website, hosting monthly webinars, building visual assets, developing an email campaign, editing video, generating monthly topics, providing data visualization subject expertise, evaluating the project, producing a podcast, and more.
We came to Chris needing illustrations for a pretty taboo subject, sexual harassment. It was extremely easy to communicate our ideas to Chris and for him to have an understanding of our vision. He was able to quickly turn our vision into cartoon animation. The out of box use of cartoon animation was a unique way to engage our end users. Chris worked hand in hand with our team to produce a final product that was distinct but exactly what we needed for our project.
Kathryn Dunn, Reify Media
Report Design, Infographic Design, and Training Production
Most of my clients reach out with not just one design challenge, but a collection of design challenges. That was certainly the case for Habitat for Humanity International’s Measurement & Evaluation team.
Over the course of a year I have designed and developed infographics, short reports, charts, and training materials. I have also produced multiple videos virtually in collaboration with the in-house M&E team.
In today’s virtual modern world a competent information designer needs to know how to design and develop charts, micrographics, infographics, pdf reports, websites, and even produce video and other interactive media.
We reached out to Chris because we are a small team trying to develop actionable and interesting infographics and videos that help our affiliated network understand our organization’s impact narrative, both nationally and locally.
Chris created engaging materials that helped lay out the impact that our programs have on our communities, and created templates that we can continue to update moving forward.
Further, he helped us understand how to create video documentation, and helped us kick our Canva skills up a few notches with his ongoing educational series.
We feel much better equipped to create engaging data products after having worked with Chris and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback on what we have released so far.
Kathleen Chaballa, Senior Analyst at Habitat for Humanity International
Bringing an in-person exhibit to the web.
Shortly before the 2022 American Evaluation Association national conference I was brought on to help create the virtual component for a live conference exhibit titled The Power of Perspective.
The goal for this design was to create something interactive and widely accessible. The site was designed and developed in WordPress so we could easily add alternative text and language support through a Google translate plugin.
This website played a role during the conference as well. Participation in developing the content was solicited at the site of the live installation. Additional opportunities were also provided on the web via a linked Google form.
As information was collected it was entered into the online site on an interactive timeline page.
We really enjoyed working with Chris. Not only was it fun, but it challenged us to think about what we really wanted to communicate about realist methods. The idea of illustrating ideas or issues people found confusing or difficult really resonated with us, as that had been one of the main reasons for embarking on the whole project in the first place. It felt like a genuine collaboration and I’m really pleased with what we have produced.
Joanne Greenhalgh, Professor of Applied Social Research Methodology at School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds
Guidance Design, Infographics, and Masterclass Design
It is always suggested that you start planning your designs early. But the reality is that a lot of reporting work, sharing, and teaching happens in a burst at the end of any project.
I was brought on to help support sharing for CGIAR’s Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification. In this work I supported the design and development of guidance materials, the design and development of a set of infographics, and the design of a masterclass.
For the three day masterclass I produced, designed, and developed a collection of learning support materials including a one-page abstract, macro learning design, 3 presentation slide decks, and a supporting activity book.
These are the first steps and I’m sure I will get better at information design as I practice and get feedback. However, even this was enough to get asked to teach this internally next year. After I showed a few examples to a friend from my university who also runs a small consultancy that provides services mostly to government agencies he invited me to teach this to his staff (which I’ll get paid for). I seriously didn’t expect that when I started learning how to make writing/data easier to read.
Celestyna Galicki, Participant in my DiY Data Design Workshop