The Beginning
This is the portfolio, résumé, and homepage of Craig Coffman. Go to bottom.
Craig Coffman
This is me. I am a freelance software+web developer. I started doing this professionally at 14, and started my first company at 22.
Fun Facts:
- I'm on a computer
70%99% of the time. - I Have two horses: Dolby & Midna.
- There are 3,186 emails in my inbox.
- I work on 4 monitors, and use them all.
I Use Dvorak
August Dvorak devised the "Dvorak Simplified Keyboard" in the 1930's. The keys on a normal, QWERTY keyboard were actually arranged to avoid jams on typewriters by separating commonly used letter combinations. Dvorak's arragement is (arguably) more efficient, and can help avoid repetitive strain injuries. A friend of mine, Eric Ritz, introduced me to Dvorak, and I've been using it ever since. I don't have a native Dvorak keyboard, though, so it takes some memory at first.
iPhone Apps
I was commissioned to create a native iPhone app for BigDates Solutions that reflected the functionality of their Facebook app. Birthday Calendar is among the top 25 most popular Facebook apps with over 30 milion users. The iPhone app is now available for $0.99 in the App Store! Download it and try it out!
UPDATE: Birthday Calendar climbed to the #3 most popular paid social networking app! We've also launched a free version, so try it out!
Press:
The Flagship
I attended the dedication of The Flagship, Charleston's premier coworking facility targeted at knowledge economy start-ups. I'm on the left in the screenshot, talking to Grier Allen of BoomtownROI.com. I am now famous.
My First Company
I started Cyber Sprocket Labs in 2006 with Lance Cleveland. For 2.5 years, we built great things and I learned valuable lessons in business management. I moved on to work on independent projects in April of 2009, but the guys at Cyber Sprocket are still hard at it!
Category: Friends+Family » View Store
DogGoneGreen
My wife, Livy, just started an Etsy store where she sells one-of-a-kind dog collars made from recycled belts and fabric. She'd love you to "Heart" her shop!
Category: Past Work
PHP Web Developer
I worked for Brainstorm, a Charleston, SC-based web design shop, from 2005 to 2006. While there, I was responsible for slicing Photoshop layouts, creating custom web applications for our clients, and implementing these tools. Projects ranged from basic brochure sites, to subscription-based services, to portal websites including eCommerce and social networking.
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Flagship Site
You saw the video, and now for the website! Amy Reed and I collaborated to produce The Flagship's new website. Check it out!
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Art Direction
I consulted with 3DChat, producer of an ambitious online game by the same name, as art director during their early development phases. My primary task was to design and develop a strategy for the game's user interface. The game is unique in that it is geared towards adults and those who may not be as technically adept as today's teens and tweens. For this reason, the UI I developed was simple and modern, allowing the user to focus on the beautiful world the artists of Golem Labs had created, while simultaneously taking the guess-work out of using the powerful tools the user has to interact with.
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Landing Page Design
HTRS, Inc. repairs handheld medical instruments, and needed some online representation very quickly. We worked together over the course of a week or so to come up with a look and what they wanted to say. This landing page is a good example of the fact that you don't necessarily need 100 pages of content to be effective. As of this writing, they also rank near the top for some of their choice keywords on various search engines.
Category: Things I Do
Facebook App
Many companies are taking advantage of social media to promote their products and services. Nuance, producer of Dragon Naturally Speaking, sought to do the same by creating a Flash-based typing test that compared a user's speed against that of their product. I assisted in the implementation of this Flash game as a Facebook app. For this project, Facebook's PHP and Javascript API's were both employed to store and retrieve score information, and to publish information to users' Facebook profiles.
Category: Things I Do
Promotional Site
I assisted on the development of a promotional website for Cheerwine targeted at high schoolers. The site was based on an existing ASP video sharing package, which I took part in modifying for the custom-branded experience they wanted to create.
Category: Things I Do » Visit Website
Web Development
VanJean is a clothing store in downtown Columbia, SC. I worked with designer Courtney Gunter to create a tasteful, modern web presence that reflects the style and character of the store. This site runs on a custom CMS that I developed and will soon release as an open source toolkit.
Bulletins » Email Me
Intern/Freelancers
It's been a very successful year so far, and I am receiving a steady flow of referrals and requests. As a result, I'm looking for a resourceful individual (student or recent graduate) who would like to work with me and get some hands-on experience in web and software design/build. Primary responsibilities would include implementing a proprietary framework and various development tasks (mostly PHP, MySQL, XHTML, Javascript, CSS, Photoshop). You will need:
- an eye for detail
- good communication skills
- some programming experience
- proficiency with Photoshop
This is a paid, part-time or contract position. Please contact me to learn more.
helper box, but it's the only
one that didn't have it, so I felt
bad about that.
Why iMakeWidgets?
What I do covers a big spectrum. Websites, software, project management, UI design, cyber security consulting -- it's all technology-based, but it's hard to fit in a domain name. A widget could be anything. It's not a direct reference to the Mac Dashboard -- although, I can make those widgets, too!
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Corridor Site Launched!
The Charleston Digital Corridor has been a friend and client since 2005. Their latest website was launched this weekend, thanks to the combined efforts of the CDC staff (Ernest & Kimberly), designer Amy Reed, and myself. The site was built on a PHP/MySQL foundation utilizing a proprietary framework of my own design. The framework creates a standardized datahandling inteface via model objects so that much more development time can be focused on the front-end. The result is what we hope to be a much more user-friendly experience that offers you what you're looking for instead of requiring you to scour dozens of pages before finding it.
Press:
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Technical Oversight
My relationship with HealthiNation began when they needed a developer to integrate a Javascript advertising API with their Flash-based video players. I collaborated with Charlie Schulze, a long-time friend and awesome Flash guru, to get them up and running with the functionality they needed and clear-cut documentation for future maintenance. After that initial project, HealthiNation has continued to call on me to serve in an advisory role in order to manage an overhaul to their video syndication tools.
Category: Things I Do » Use OpenFM
Hard Math
DLO's OpenFM is a handy web-based utility that helps you find the best frequency to tune your portable FM transmitter to while on the road. It uses the FCC broadcast database, and is also iPhone friendly. On this project, I put together the algorithms, converted the database, and implemented the design provided by Slant Media.
Category: Things I Do » Visit Page
Facebook Markup
I've been doing a lot of work on the Facebook platform lately, including some odds and ends on Maui Jim's page.
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Flash AS3
Keane & Co. provided me with Illustrator files of what they wanted their website to look like. After some brief discussion, we determined that Adobe Flash would be the best way to go for implementation. Using their concept as reference, I created an ActionScript 3-driven Flash site that beautifully showcases their urban design portfolio.
Website Design
The Outdoor Shoppe is a Charleston area retail business. I designed their website to reflect the rugged, natural textures that make their store comfortable and authentic.
This man attempts to face Web 2.0
without the aid of a professional
like myself.
Category: Things I Do » View Website
Captain Clay's Charters
I designed and developed Captain Clay's site utilizing my custom platform (which I'll release for free someday soon). Clay's got some pretty awesome photos in the gallery. Check it out!
The End
© 2009 Craig Coffman & iMakeWidgets. Back to top. Thanks for visiting!