David Gardner

I got my first computer in 1998. It was a Compaq with a 400mhz processor, 96mb of RAM, and 7 GB of disk space hooked into a giant (at the time) 17" Sony CRT. Trying to convince my parents that it was more than a toy meant for shockwave games and AOL chat was a hard sell at first. However, once they saw how enthralled I was in my new hobby they felt better about their investment. I cut my teeth learning content creation software, programming, and ripping open my PC to replace parts of the quickly dated hardware.

I built my first commercial website with a friend at age 16. The client was a local Indian/Aprilia motorcycle dealership. We scanned hundreds of product pages from catalogs, built a simple database, marked-up an HTML/CSS template, designed a new logo, and ultimately built a pretty darn immersive website for that client, on a tiny budget. When we couldn't find web work, we fixed and built computers for friends, neighbors, and anyone who would listen. I was hooked.

In 2003 I graduated from high school and ran as fast as I could to Columbus, OH. I studied visual communication design at The Ohio State University. I then started my professional career doing IT support and GIS mapping for a commercial real estate brokerage. After spending almost four years at that company, I accepted a position with David Robinson's 2008 congressional campaign.

I created and maintained the visual brand identity of Robinson for Congress, creating numerous print pieces and web campaigns over the course of a year. The scope was large, the work was varied across multiple media, and the deadlines were tight. The experience was invaluable. It was during this campaign that I met Francesco Lazzaro and Damian Wohrer, who had done several video spots for our website and a killer commercial.

After the '08 elections, I joined Francesco and Damian at FM Studios where I contributed to their web and graphic design portfolio, and helped out with audio-post. In 2009 I joined them in the founding of Kinopicz American as we began work for our first client, Buildipedia.com.

Recently my time has been devoted to maintaining the existing codebase of Buildipedia.com, working with their software team on prototyping new products, and overseeing design work for our other clients and partners.

My favorite things as of late are HTML5 and CSS3 on the web, and Gleetchlab 3 in the mixing room.