About
Rogie King is a internationally-known speaker, mobile/web designer, illustrator and front-end developer. His specialties include web, logo and icon design, JavaScript/jQuery, CSS/HTML, and illustration.
Current Work:
Co-founder of Super Team Deluxe, a collaborative fun-house churning out products that we like for other people that might like them too.
Previous Work:
- NeonMob - Co-founder and lead designer. A unique, robust iOS trading card app powered by art from thousands of indie artists.
- MadMimi.com: Just wrapping up a year long visual and interaction redesign
- Bellstrike.com: A website and web application I art directed, illustrated and designed
- Fantastical: A Mac OS X menu bar application interface design
- Illustration Work: At the beginning of this year, in an epiphany at Disneyland, I reignited the desire that I had to illustrate when I was 12. This is my progress in that direction.
- Fine Goods: Part of going solo is the responsibility to setup a sort of future proof investment. Fine Goods is a store where I will be selling designed t-shirts, icon sets and illustrations, all done by me. Should be a very cool outlet of creativity.
Brief description of responsibilities:
Nothing! Ha! Well, I'm self-employed now, so I do whatever I want and I love it. I accept the jobs I want; I take on the clients I want. I use my free time to write articles and be a voice in the web community, in which I'm very involved. I love it.
I tend to focus more on visual design, front end coding (such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript) and Illustration. I've since dropped taking on jobs that focus on server side programming to develop my skills in the former.
Briefly describe one of your more interesting projects or assignments to date:
Bellstrike.com was a very cool project. It had such a fun, quirky bold style. I loved being able to do illustration work for it as well. The project had such a unique spirit about it and it was for a good cause. Bellstrike is a web application meant to help small non-profits easily create websites to help serve, bring news about their cause and provide a gateway to accept donations. It's a very cool service that fills a big need for smaller non-profits that may not otherwise have a nice website.
Madmimi.com is also a very swanky redesign. Not only did I help redesign their site, but we totally re-architected and redesigned the entire application. Mad Mimi is a stupid simple web application meant to help your grandma be able to send email promotions for her business. Mad Mimi really aims to target the non-tech savvy user, and does a great job at that. I've learned so much through working with them � they are incredible people and have a customer service standard unlike one I've ever seen.
Fantastical also was a very cool project. OS X application design for a company that wanted a Mac app with character, and they got it. They were a blast to work with and it was my first foray into the desktop app design world. Can't wait to design another app with them.
Briefly describe a notable memory from your days at Carroll:
Strange, that it didn't stand out to me too much at the time, but does to me now. There was a time at Carroll where my life was a bit out of control. I was drinking heavily and into the party scene...and it was ruining who I was made to be. Marie Vanisko said something to me one day. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but one day, she said: You used to have so much life, a spark to you, a fire. I don't see that anymore, Rogie � those words haunted me because I didn't quite know what she meant. Now I know. All of the drinking and partying had started to take my spirit from me, my fire, my spark. I truly believe that I have brought my life back into balance and regained that spark back. That youthful spirit. I love that my teachers at Carroll weren't just teachers, they were mentors. Thanks, Marie.
A piece of advice for prospective Carroll Computer Science students:
A couple of things really. It's so important to understand why the Carroll Faculty and Staff are there. They are there for you. Ask lots of questions, tell them about your dreams, about what you want to do. Even if that means placing you in another school, it's so important to really lean on all of their years of wisdom. I wish I would have done that more. The community of faculty and staff at Carroll is really quite a special culture filled with loving people that just want to help you.
Hard Work. In this generation, it seems to be more of a rarity. Remember that most people that are successful or skilled in what they do is a result of consistent hard work and sacrificing play to become better in a skill or profession. Work hard, and love the journey, not just the destination.