Web Project Management and Production

OBJECTIVES

Website project management and production
Web-based interface design and development
Fine digital graphics
Art direction and production

WEB DESIGN SUMMARY

16+ years web design and production
Configures and manages production, creative, and hosting for two Plone sites
5+ years of vendor management for Fortune 500 company
5+ years of working in government affairs and corporate communications for rail transportation
7 years in business-to-business marketing via the web, making and refining messages.
Experienced site strategy and information architecture development using wireframing and prototyping
Collaboration and workflow management using online technologies such asPelotonics, Protoshare, and Gforge,
Creates focused and usable Navigation, content development, typography and layout
Expert in DreamWeaver, Photoshop, Illustrator
Web site creation with HTML, CSS, DHTML, JavaScript
ActionScripted advanced Flash 8 movies
Front-end programming in JavaScript and PHP, MySQL, XML, Python
Over 15 years of experience in full web life cycle development on UNIX and Windows platforms for high-tech businesses and non-profit educational organizations.

PRINT DESIGN SUMMARY

Art direction for corporate and Association projects
Design and production of magazines, journals, catalogs, corporate brochures, trade show booths, technical documents
Produced and managed many winning business proposals, especially Government consulting contracts for Boeing, TRW, and other large firms
Expert graphics and illustration
Excellent verbal and writing skills
Writes and designs complex technical documentation

EDUCATION

1978 B.S.M.E. (Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

Plone training, 2008
Python elements, 2008
Certificate in Web Design, International Webmasters Association, 2006
508 Compliance workshop, Sept. 2003
SQL course, November-December 2003
PHP course, January-March 2004
Intermedia Flash MX/MX 2004, April 2004
Advanced Flash MX course, 2005
Fireworks MX/MX 2004, 2006

Maintains CommunityMX and Lynda.com accounts for training

Member, International Webmasters Association

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Amtrak 40th Anniversary site received Design Award
Volunteered as Photoshop expert on AllExperts.com, providing training, mentoring, and technical advice
Participates in DC Web Women technical list
Published award-winning technical papers and presented at IEEE and AAAI conferences
Exhibits paintings and illustrations, performs art demonstrations for audiences at various East-coast and national science-fiction conventions for the past 10 years
Created and maintains two online forums for digital artists over past two years—one private, one semi-public
Cover art published for Baen Books
Designed advertising promoting local convention, appearing in a number of convention program books
Illustrations published in RPG game book, Forgotten Lives, by Atlas Games
Artist Guest of Honor for local science fiction convention, September 2000
Illustrations for popular collectible card game, Wheel of Time and SuperNova
Designed two game buttons for the popular Button Men game
Won the Mahyew Memorial Fan Artist award, 2001

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

Amtrak, Government Affairs
September 2006 - present

Nan Fredman has been designing and producing web sites professionally since 1996; and designing for print both before and after that. Currently she produces the Great American Stations Project web site and the Amtrak History website for Amtrak, where she manages and works with vendors hosting the Plone system the web site runs on, as well as collaborating with the sites’ technical and creative consultants. She reports to the Senior Director of Corporate and Employee Communications.

Nan researches and writes histories of the Amtrak train stations and the cities they are in; composes case studies for economic development surrounding trian stations; and photographs stations for the site. She works with a junior researcher as the senior partner and technical specialist of the team. She uses online workflow and collaboration tools where appropriate, specifially the projects’ SVN repositories on Gforge.com, testing Pelotronics for internal project management, and collaborating with vendors using Protoshare.

In other related assignments, she has has laid out and illustrated, for PDF distribution, the most recent draft of the Station Planning and Program Guidelines submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration. She has worked with experts across the companty to structure, produce, and present the company’s first webinar on the new Level Boarding requirements for rail platforms. She has contributed significantly to Amtrak’s Documentum-driven online image repository and was herself consdered one of the foremost resources for station photography in the company. Recently, she collaborated in the technical and administrative aspects of founding the Amtrak Archives, including creating an accession database as well as contributing to the online Archives view through scanning, digital compilation and uploading of historical holdings, as well as writing monthly blog posts.

Real Magnet, LLC, Washington, DC
March 2004 - September 2006

Other related assignments:

Wrote, designed and distributed the Great American Stations project email newsletter to national stakeholders
Laid out and illustrated, for PDF distribution, the most recent draft of the Station Planning and Program Guidelines submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration
Worked with experts across the companty to structure, produce, and present the company’s first webinar on the new Level Boarding requirements for rail platforms.
Contributed significantly to Amtrak’s Documentum-driven online image repository and was herself consdered one of the foremost resources for station photography in the company
Collaborated in the technical and administrative aspects of founding the Amtrak Archives, including creating an accession database as well as contributing to the online Archives view through scanning, digital compilation and uploading of historical holdings, as well as writing monthly blog posts.

Cool Tuna Studio (freelance) , Rockville, MD
Aug 2003 - present

Provides a broad palette of PC-based web- and print-related design services across industries: Web site management; marketing-oriented site design; creates digital illustration, graphics and graphs; designs print materials to match. See the Services listing for details on capabilities.

Interface design elements and web site maintenance for Visual Mining, Inc.
Web site design and production for Law Offices of I.J. Fredman, P.C., immigration & naturalization law firm in Washington, D.C. Architected and created site in DreamWeaver, using CSS, DHTML, and PHP.
Boutique staff and tester for 3D products for Poser at www.poserpros.com
Developing 3D sets using Rhino 3.0 for sale through online brokers
3D texture artist brokering with DAZ3D.com, PoserPros.com, and Renderosity.com

Visual Mining, Inc., Rockville, MD
July 1998-July 2003

As marketing associate & web manager, had sole responsibility for all aspects of their web site. Completely redesigned and revised their web site design 3 times in 5 years to continually improve branding & usability, adding in successful CGI help forum, examples galleries, and software download mechanisms. Upgraded their web site from basic HTML to modern dynamic HTML/CSS layout, maintaining cross-platform compatibility. Used DreamWeaver, HomeSite, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, JavaScript, and other software to produce and maintain a UNIX-based corporate web site. Produced print designs (advertisements, brochures) using PageMaker, Word, and Acrobat, coordinated with web marketing efforts.

Many other duties & capabilities, both print and web:

Developed Flash tutorials and demonstrations for their Java products
Continually adjusted targeted marketing for web & print
Maintained 508 compliance for web site.
Developed and maintained search engine optimization for web site
Developed, managed, & tracked paid search engine listings
Maintained user stats with WebTrends, NetTracker
Integrated their Java server into DreamWeaver MX for clients
Developed graphing and reporting demonstrations for graphing and reporting product that used SQL queries to create "live" graphs
Designed & wrote their first comprehensive user manual (over 170 pages) for CDL
Developed, laid out, and wrote their first documentation standards in Word
Lobbied for, set up, and wrote their ChartLine newsletter for 2 years
Designed application interfaces for their Java products using Photoshop and JSP
Designed all print brochures, posters, & trade show booth graphics using PageMaker
Managed marketing materials production and organization
Managed vendor relations with Balmar, Inc., and others
Solved customer service issues pertaining to the web site

Internet Information Systems, Inc., Bethesda, MD.
January 1996 - January 1998

Analyzed, directed, and designed custom web sites and navigation systems for IIS and their customers: Pulsar Data Systems, Ken Leiner Associates, National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for IBEW/Electricians Union, intranet for Bristol-Meyers Squib Technical Architecture Department, Richard Band's Profitable Investing site for Phillips Publishing, Inc., and WorldSpace satellite communications. Coded in HTML, used JavaScript for web animation, and produce web sites hosted on UNIX machines.

Interviewed and communicated with customers directly to define their web site requirements
Managed vendors
Advised on marketing trends in web site design
Communicated and collaborated with network engineers in setting up client web sites
Designed and developed graphics standard for IIS

Nan Fredman Illustration, McLean, VA
January 1991—July 1998

Designed for print and web as freelance artist, using PCs and Macintoshes

Curated women artists' show at DC Art Space
Created layout for their monthly American Vocational Association’s Vocational Education Journal using Quark Xpress, including cover illustration and other occasional illustration using Photoshop. Produced catalog and brochure layouts as well, using PageMaker and Xpress, working closely with their chief editor and graphic designers.
Web design, construction, and illustration for Norman Data Defense System coding in HTML. Complete layout and production for the Siddha Yoga Meditation Centers of the Mid-Atlantic region using PageMaker.
Designed covers for AT&T Global Information Solutions Project Management Guide Series using Adobe Illustrator.
Developed miscellaneous print designs for FAA Satellite Navigation Office using PageMaker and PowerPoint.
Managed User Technology Associates graphics department, designed brochures and other printed materials for them using FreeHand and Xpress. Assigned work and mentored employees. Innovated visual communications on project progress for management. Monitored team members to assure timeliness in meeting deadlines. Set deadlines for tasks. Designed brochures for US DOT using PageMaker
Created complete software documentation (over 120 pp. manual) and animated demos for MCI Systems Engineering by interviewing developers & examining software operation.
Consultant in visualization for winning business proposals for local CSC, TRW, and Boeing offices. Managed and wrote for proposals, as well as producing proposal presentations.Produced visualization graphics using Illustrator and Photoshop.

Donnell & Associates, Inc., McLean, VA
January 1990—January 1991

Performed knowledge acquisition, analysis, and knowledge-based systems design. Taught CommonLISP, user interface design, and expert systems tools to USAF 7th Communications Group & Office of Secretary of Defense. Wrote and managed proposals responding to Government RFPs. Analyzed systems requirements as part of software application designs.

Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc., Bethesda, MD
January 1988—January 1990

Managed internal research projects. Knowledge acquisition & knowledge-based systems development. Proposal writing & management. Systems requirements analysis. Concept studies. Published technical reports & conference papers.

Planning Research Corporation, Inc., McLean, VA
August 1982—December 1987

Software development for Research & Development department. Requirements analysis for DoD projects. Proposal writing & production. Software prototyping. Project management and budgeting. Wrote award-winning research papers on Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Acquisition.