Anthony S Torres' Portfolio :

• Graduated from MIT in 2000
• 8+ Professional Design Experience
• Focused primarily on web design
• Can build sites from scratch (PHP, ASP, MySQL)
• Previous team and project management experience
• Amateur photographer & "Practical Designer"
See the full resume »

Who are you?
I'm a creative person looking for the next great challenging opportunity. I'd been drawing since the age of 3, and always kept busy with art as a hobby while in school. I graduated from MIT in 2000, but not before realizing my passion for art while there. I initially studied chemical engineering, but was teaching myself design programs like Photoshop in my free time, learning HTML, and doing freelance web design. Finally realizing that what everyone thought was a hobby was an actual career possibility, I charged ahead with Architecture/Visual Arts.

What's a "Practical Designer"?
User Interface (UI) is very important to me, and I strive to create a clear user experience on my sites. I don't consider myself a 'glitzy' designer as anyone can make a site pretty and do flashy things. I work on making the layout, navigation, and content easy to understand, and have visitors flow through a site. I also look at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in making design decisions. Let's face it: if your site is not found, it doesn't matter how cool it looks. Even when I am helping to build what another designer has created, I suggest changes to assist with SEO to get their site better placed in the search rankings for important keywords. So many designers completely neglect this when working with clients, and marketing teams end up paying for things they shouldn't have to.

What do you love about designing?
Problem solving. Style is subjective, and not everyone will agree on the colors and styles I've chosen (and I even don't sometimes when I look back!), but my satisfaction comes from knowing I approached a design 'problem', and did my best to solve it. I like taking that step back, approaching a design from a different angle, and knowing I helped someone (a client, a boss, a friend) get something they can enjoy. I focus on design, but I have no problems digging into the code and tinkering with the machinery. For example, this site runs off of PHP and MySQL, something I taught myself, learned from hacking open source programs, and asking the experts.

Any last comments?
I like to believe I don't know everything; however, I'd also like to believe I can learn anything. A lot of where I've gotten today was mostly self-taught. School laid an incredible foundation (for that price, it'd better have), but I learn best by just getting out there and digging in, messing up, and fixing it. I don't consider myself a web developer, but if my current work project isn't challenging me, I create projects for myself that force me to figure something out. I also know my limits, and when I must ask for help, and am not afraid to ask.

Finally, please enjoy my portfolio, and stay tuned, as I have a tendency to look back on this and decide it needs to be changed again. Thanks for your time.

Sr. Graphic & Web Designer

Anthony S. Torres

Personal Design Portfolio - August 2008