I was born in Indiana the same year the Beatles first came to America. I find myself in the company of many great hoosiers: Astronaut Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, David Letterman, Jimmy Hoffa, Cole Porter, Larry Bird, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and the late great actor, James Dean.
My mother was a burgeoning world-class pianist and my father, a brilliant musician. They saw to it that I was immersed in the arts, particularly music, at a very early age. In addition to a passion to draw, I found myself playing drums at 3, piano at 4, baritone at 9, clarinet at 10, and many more to follow.
For one reason or another, my family did quite a bit of moving. By the time I was 12, I had lived in South Bend, IN; Bad Axe, MI; Ubly, MI; Sandusky, MI; Tipton, IN; Michigantown, IN; Frankfort, IN; Kernersville, NC; Allentown, PA; Bethlehem, PA, and Harbor Beach, MI. Sometimes I say to people, "Oh, I grew up there," when in reality, what I mean is, "I did some growing up there."
Ultimately, I ended up in Bethlehem, PA where I joined a band with some junior high-school friends. My parents bought my first Bass for $75 and I tought myself to play. We were on a steady diet of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, Frank Zappa, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, and Alice Cooper. I soon taught myself guitar and began writing my own songs. In the meantime, I continued to draw and paint.
Following a short stint in college, I moved away from home and joined a band with a high-school chum. For the next 10 years, I played the Philly and Wilmington club scene in one band or another, culminating in Love Bomb and Bliss. With Love Bomb, I had the opportunity to work with and record an album with Phil Nicolo, grammy award-winning producer. I also spent that decade designing posters, album covers, flyers, and every kind of collateral you can imagine to help promote the bands.
After my last band dissolved, I turned my attention full-time to graphic design and the designing for the internet. I started my own company, Foster Graphics, in early 1995, the same year I married my wife, Krista.
After four very successful years, I took a full-time position with one of my then-clients, SCT. I remained there for 3 years becoming one of their lead User Interface and Usability specialists until company downsizing afforded me the opportunity to move to Phoenix, AZ and work with a close friend to get a new start-up, the r-smart group, off the ground.
Now, three years after that, I find myself at Go Daddy Software as a Lead UI Analyst.
All along the way, I have been honing my skills as a graphic designer, web designer, UI designer, information architect, and usability specialist. Since '95 I've gained expert experience in Photoshop™, Freehand™, Visio™, HTML, CSS, and others. I've learned different processes and how to develop artifacts like use cases, object models, wireframes, storyboards, and both hi and lo-fidelity prototypes.
I've also had three beautiful children with my wife of ten years: Leah Naomi, Liam MacRobert, and Rachel Zipporah.
What does the future hold? Who knows. In my part time I've been writing screenplays. I have two completed and two more in serious development. I've been writing a book that is more than half-way complete. I still dabble in music. My wife and I have a patent-pending invention. We dream of buying an RV and touring the nation.
It just keeps getting better.