WRITING
From long, ponderous prose set in far away fantasy lands to compelling literary reportage to sardonic media reviews to technical writing to straight journalism, I continue to write for purpose and pleasure. Here are a few examples.
Project and Product Management
Being a multidisciplinary creative, my favorite projects have always involved some sort of transmedia work where I get to lead and manage a team of creative people in developing unique, immersive experiences and get those experiences in front of the largest possible audience. I've managed countless projects in the last decade - from directing films and managing festival campaigns, to leading development teams in creating new video games, to organizing and promoting live events. I have created and implemented planning documents such as design documents and briefs, call sheets, treatments, scripts, gantt charts, and show flow diagrams. I have written press releases, created advertisements, and built pitch decks to court global retailers. I've been a translator between creative and technical departments, and I've jumped in to rolls on both sides when necessary. I've helped an established institution in its strive towards preeminence and I've built a wildly successful company from the ground up.
inMusic - M-Audio Product Manager
Product Management
Developing Audio Production Products
From interfaces to keyboards to speakers to microphones, I coordinate with a team to conceptualize new, exciting products and bring them to market. From evaluating consumer trends and needs to developing mock ups and prototypes to building mass media campaigns with marketing and sales to working with global contract manufacturers, I have helped the company maintain over $130.5 million in average annual revenue.
One featured family of products that I helped manage was the M-Game Solo and RGB-Dual, M-Audio's first products in the space of game streaming interfaces. As part of the launch of the new M-Game sub brand, the M-Game was a combination of hardware and software to help turn a users stations into streaming studios. For this product, I helped refine the hardware in response to the growing competitive landscape, and I designed the software with a focus on both being easy enough for newcomers to audio production to understand and navigate, but also powerful and capable and feature-rich enough to be of benefit to more advanced streamers and audio professionals.
I also created the how-to guides on its operation, one of which you can see here.
NESmaker 4.5 Roll Out
Brand Management: Click the info button to see the latest marketing campaign for this project.
A Modern IDE for NES Development
NESmaker is a first of its kind modern development tool for creating brand new, hardware playable, cartridge based NES games. With well over five thousand users in over a dozen countries, development for the beloved NES console is seeing a renaissance thanks to this software. Users with zero programming experience can rapidly prototype ideas and see them come to life in their favorite emulator or on actual cartridge. I have managed this project from seedling of an idea through a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign, expanded the brand by fostering a loyal and passionate community, and turned it into the worldwide niche phenomenon it has become. Click the eye to find out more about the latest marketing campaign.
The New 8-bit Heroes, LLC
Team Management: Click the info button to see more about NESmaker, our flagship project.
An Independent Multimedia Production House
For The New 8-bit Heroes, I am Founder and Creative Director, Project and Studio Manager.
Movies. Music. Comics. Games. There is a lot that goes on in our studios. Home of NESmaker, The New 8-bit Heroes LLC, Flying Car Pictures and Flying Car Comics, this video shows off our corner of the universe. I have managed the operations at our studio for over two years, creating prioritization hierarchies, timelines, marketing strategies, and managing the flux of contract workers, interns, and employees.
Ringling College of Art and Design Road Show
Project Management: Increasing Enrollment Through a More Dynamic Presentation
Working closely with Ringling College Admissions and the school's in house design agency, I rebranded their recruitment presentation into a unique, interactive iPad app that was fun to navigate and explore. I managed a team of creatives, created design briefs, scheduled and prioritized work, and was active in production of copy, images, video, audio, and coding for the app.
The first Admissions counselor to utilize the software reported in an email, "Unbelievable what Joe has done! He totally gets high school kids because he taught them. The videos don't feel scripted or like a marketing pitch. I had a large group this morning, including 9th graders, and they paid attention for an hour and a half! I've never had that sort of investment at a school visit!"
I've been involved with the Roadshow's maintenance and evolution since, adapting to meet new needs or changes in technology, providing updates to media, and working with staff to make it even more broad in application. Since this Roadshow app was introduced, the college has seen a steady annual increase in enrollment in every consecutive year.
Touring in the Time of the Zombie Apocalypse
Event Management: A Unique Transmedia Promotion of the Mid-Atlantic Music and Arts Community
It was a film. It was a video game. It was a series of supergroup recording sessions. It was wild live events. Touring in the Time of the Zombie Apocalypse was part of an ambitious transmedia project geared towards bringing a national spotlight to the Mid-Atlantic music and arts community. I wrote and directed the film, was creative director for the game, helped engineer some of the recording sessions, and managed all of the live concert events and everything that they entailed. This video quickly recaps a few of the project touchstones.
Not only did the series of projects help foster a lasting renaissance of cross promotional art events in Baltimore, it also helped the community get noticed by Rolling Stone as one the top music scenes in the country.