Ruth Ann Iverson

Artist's Statement

I stand with one foot in the design world and one foot in the coding world. I am what you might call a "hybrid designer" - a web / user interface designer who is also comfortable with and enjoys writing the code behind the scenes. That code is a large part of what makes the "magic" happen and adds value to the user's experience. I get jazzed not only by having my vision come together to provide something useful to the user, but by making it intuitive and a pleasure to use. My main goal is to combine my design and technical skills to provide that merit to both the users of what I create, and to achieve - or exceed - the objectives of the client (stakeholder).

My process of working and making decisions is one in which I collaborate with the stakeholder, and unless I'm working alone, with my team. Together, we define our goals first, then we work through the process of how to get where we need to go, exchanging information, ideas, negotiating and problem-solving the issues encountered along the way. The stakeholder must be involved in the process, and the needs, objectives, and motivations of the user must always be kept foremost in the minds of everyone involved in the project if we want it to succeed. This is at the heart of my decision making process in terms of the design and function of the work I do.

My current work has deep roots and reflects my life to date. For as long as I can remember and long before the term existed, I have been fascinated by creating in multimedia. As a youngster, I wrote, drew, painted, played and listened to music, and combined all of these to invent fantastical stories. Music has always been at the heart of this creative force in me. It is still as essential to me as breathing, and is often a catalyst to my inspiration, or even its genesis.

Endowed with a curious mind, I got involved with computers and programming in high school and found I enjoyed the different challenges they provided. For ten years, I had a successful career in UNIX systems programming. However, I missed my artistic roots, and after several years of exploration where I rediscovered innate talents and learned many new skills, I am now attempting to achieve a fusion of the best of both worlds and generate meaningful, useful value to the world as a result.

--Ruth A. Iverson