designs images words
Past Titles
-- Designer
-- Publisher
-- Editor-in-Chief
-- Project Manager
-- Service Bureau Manager
-- Creative Director
-- Communications Director
-- Marketing Communications Director
-- Trade Show Manager
-- Product Developer
-- Inventor
-- Master Calligrapher
-- Typographer
-- Business Developer
-- Industrial Designer
-- General Manager
-- Social Entrepreneur
-- Executive Director
Wide-ranging Capabilities
-- Consultant: Creative solution provider for ideas, products and businesses.
-- Generalist: comprehensive design, graphic, written, computer and thinking skills for technical, instructional, marketing and corporate materials.
-- Design: web, logo, package, graphic, type/font design, presentation, product, industrial, environmental, and publications
-- Graphic: logos, collateral, typography, lettering, calligraphy, packaging, technical illustration and art direction
-- Writing: wordsmithing, naming, branding, copywriting, editing, technical writing, magazine articles, newsletters, manuals
-- Mac and PC skills: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access; Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Go Live; HTML;
-- Ashlar Vellum Graphite CAD, Xenon 3D; Autodesk Inventor; FileMaker Pro; Fontographer
-- Intangibles: problem solving, research, diplomacy, patience, good listener, good humor, work well alone or as a team member
-- Skilled written communicator and researcher. Broad-based writing talents
-- Ability to "translate" new or complex products and technologies into language a reader/customer/investor can understand
-- Depth in mechanical concepts and vision in electronic communications
Cutting-edge Innovator
-- Worked with first digital type company in 1974
-- Internet early adopter in 1993 — among the first to offer appropriate, well-designed pages
-- Helped establish first all-digital graphic design studio — now the DuPuis Group
-- Managed one of the first digital imaging service bureaus in Southern California
-- Publications Manager for first company to do real-time 3D solids modeling
-- Introduced among the first Macintoshes and LaserWriter into a corporate publications group
-- Founder/Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of first-class international independent inventors magazine
-- Only magazine to cover the first American Solar Cup vehicle race in 1988 and...
-- Partnered with the San Diego-based Alternative Vehicle Forum and...
-- Worked with a number of inventors on novel transportation technologies and...
-- Volunteered with the EV Warrior — first electric bike marketed in car dealerships (bad idea)
-- Covered James Worden’s development of Solectria and John Paul Mitchell’s Mana La racecraft
-- Worked with Alternative Transportation Technologies promoting early NGVs and fleets
-- Created one of the first branding/marketing collateral services group in an industrial design firm
-- MarCom Manager for first environmental firm to offer a closed-loop waste management system
-- No. 1 chauffeur and marketer at Rollz Royce Limousine — helped brand and build new company to $4million
Selected Accomplishments
-- Founder/Instigator of NEED-solar, a working group/entity exploring bridge-building from training to jobs in the Solar Economy, and becoming a "co-op" buyer and service-provider for multiple non-profit agencies involved in renewable energy and job-creation.
-- Created the consulting services arm of Renewables West by assembling colleagues with diverse talents to assist Bay Area companies in evaluating unused assets, reducing waste, and developing waste-to-energy strategies.
-- Co-founded Renewables West in 2009, a division of Mr. Plastics to diversify into solar, wind and renewable energy technologies, and consulting services.
-- Founder of Designfluence in 2004, a nonprofit organization that aggregates resources for the discovery, design, development and distribution of products for poor customers. Advisory Board members include Gunter Pauli and Jon Bøhmer.
-- Established Publications Department, acquired resources and published three major manuals in three months: systems operation & maintenance, programming guide, and training guide — increased productivity in collateral creation by 800% by the CEO’s estimate.
-- Founding board member of FACET (Foundation for Advanced Curriculum and Education Technology), a non-profit 501(c)(3) education foundation that operated as a facilitator and local centralized resource for technologies applied to education. Formed the corporation and acted as Communications Director, and briefly as President.
-- Founded Invent! Magazine in 1988 — Publisher, Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director. Built a highly respected magazine providing information, guidelines, resources, and contacts for product developers and independent inventors. Achieved a circulation of 20,000 in four years, bootstrapped.
-- Founding partner with Steve DuPuis, now the DuPuis Group, now a top firm in graphic and package design.
-- Created the Product Support Services group for collateral materials design for Hauser Inc, a top firm in industrial/product design.
-- Elevated the profile of Inventors Workshop International Education Foundation by improving collateral marketing materials and educational publications.
-- Co-founder of the first national inventors trade show, InvenTech, organized speakers’ bureau and published the show guides
-- Strategic and business planning consultant and support services for Enterprisers Advantage™. Helped to establish firm's leadership position in business information and consulting services.
-- Created corporate communications department for financial company, which included a newsletter for shareholders, business plans, offerings, proxies, and financial statements.
-- Managed trade show operations for real-time 3-D computer graphics company: booth design and location, design and production of demonstrations, show setup, and response collateral to sales leads.
-- Designed and produced several newsletters - over eight years' experience in publications.
-- Published author and collaborating writer/editor in product development and marketing projects.
-- Published poet.
Quantitative Experience
-- 7 years working as contract industrial designer and project manager
-- 8 years in product design and development with independent inventors
-- 11 years on the WWWeb: design, development, hosting and consulting
-- 19 years marketing: corporate communications, sales collateral, trade show management
-- 31 years writing: articles, copy, editing, poetry, tech writing, manuals, branding, naming
-- 35 years graphic design: logos, production art, tech illustration, calligraphy, photoretouching
-- Multi-industry experience in product design and development, project management, intellectual property management, business planning and strategic planning
Community Involvement
-- Member of Continuing the Conversation, a group of Silicon Valley thought leaders
-- Executive Team Member, Sustainovation, a project of Conexions
-- Founder of Group 490 on Meetup, Wiser Earth and Idealist
-- Board Member of Earth Treasury
-- Founder of Design Asylum network on Ryze
Higher Education
-- Latest education... ongoing... but formally: 2001-02 Industrial Design program at Academy of Art University, San Francisco.
-- AA in Written and Graphic Communications from Pierce College.
-- USAF leadership courses and OJT with USAF Military Attaché to Germany, Italy and Greece
-- Over five years combined comprehensive college studies at Moorpark College, Principia College, University of Maryland, Pierce College and the Volkshochschule in Sindelfingen, Germany.
How To Reach Me
-- slowpost: 127 Lowell Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
-- home office: 650 330 1143
-- mobile phone: 650 444 4787
-- email: dalan-at-me-dot-com