About this site and Robert Denton
I am the Web Strategist at Bowdoin College. For the past five years I have helped lead two redesigns of our entire web site. One was an implementation of an outside firm’s design, and the second in 2004 was my own design. This site serves as my online notebook, I don’t really blog but I occassionaly write something, often add links+notes, and am working on a flickr replacement.
I work in the Bowdoin Design Group within Communications and Public Affairs. We are dedicated to creating, serving, and consulting on media and design projects and applications affecting Bowdoin’s web presence. We work closely with Information Technology to accomplish our goals.
My work samples these days, after a long time at Bowdoin consist mainly of the Bowdoin site, and in some cases special sections of the site. Every so often I do freelance or pro bono work.
Background
From about 1988 to 1995 I was in school and working as an artist making work to possibly hang in art galleries. While completing my BFA in Photography, I taught some classes at HSPVA, Houston School for the Performing and Visual Arts, for David Sheard, then the wonderful director of that department. I also made money teaching a summer camp, waiting tables, and doing freelance desktop publishing (yech). During this period in Houston, TX. I participated heavily in the art community putting on shows, being in shows, and living in one of the worst but best art warehouses in the city.
In 1993 I moved to Chicago for an MFA. This was a huge change for me. I went without any vehicles, I knew nobody in the city, and I was becoming more interested in functional design as I ventured deeper into a fine art program. I like to say that I studied myself into a theoretical corner. I could not continue making gallery art. That aside, my favorite part of my art degrees were the seminars where I studied color theory, design history, art history, usability, the history of photography, the history of film (Ken Burns and Frederick Wiseman joined a few sessions of that seminar), and more…
After graduate school in Chicago 1995 I moved to Maine where I worked in a video production shop V.P. Film & Tape. I was hired as the multimedia designer. We produced and developed applications in Macromedia Director & Authorware, animation for broadcast, screensavers, and more. I left the company with a colleaque and we started Sputnick I.D.A. where we continued on in the same manner. Our clients included Maine Public Broadcasting, National Semiconductor, Osram Sylvania, and several marketing groups in Maine.
Other interests (in no particular order)
- Cycling — on and off road — mostly road biking these days though.
- Running — distance — less so these months after a torn meniscus.
- My offspring: Lucy and Will
- Hiking, staying fit and being out of doors!
Building a kayakPaddling the kayak I built from a Pygmy Boats kit!- Learning about birds with the Sibley Guide
- Using my Canon
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