ABC News

Voce Communications; launched August 2011

ABC News was interested in moving all of their channel-level blogs to WordPress. They needed an enterprise-grade, dependable solution to incorporate their new designs, as well as simplify their publishing process. As the political season was just heating up, it all needed a carefully choreographed late-night switchover so as to minimize the disruption. Voce worked in coordination with ABC News’ design department, sales team, support staff, and QA groups to make the migration and switchover possible.

project management, on-site client meetings & presentations

Disney Properties Newsroom Network

Voce Communications; rolling launches began June 2011

One of the loftiest and most challenging projects during my time at Voce was the task of creating a unified, simple, and powerful Newsroom platform that could be utilized and customized by all the Disney Parks news properties. The project serviced the public relations and public affairs departments for Disney Parks, Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Sports, Disney Vacation Club, and Adventures by Disney.

This long-term project required collecting a set of unified requirements from numerous stakeholders and a changing team of corporate representatives. It required interfacing Disney’s legal teams, incorporating various rounds of feedback and approvals. It also demanded that we leapfrog Disney’s internal IT department, while satisfying audit requests. The Newsroom project also required designing a template-based system that could be adjusted and customized to each newsroom’s individual brands and needs. As the project neared launch, it necessitated that I create a dynamic digital set of training tutorials that could be continuously updated as we added and refined features. Ensuring that all the Disney stakeholders understood the new system and the intricacies of the custom elements we created especially for their needs, I visited the various teams on both coasts, performing presentations and training sessions. 

account management, primary client contact, project management, drafted & maintained SOWs, created product requirements documents, rough UX/design mocks, content migration, initial template & site setups, development QA, post-launch support, on-site client meetings & presentations, authored extensive tutorials, conducted on-site training

ESPN Front Row

Voce Communications; launched April 2011, upkeep through 2012

Lifting language from my announcement post on Voce’s blog:

The Voce Connect Platforms team is pleased to announce the launch of ESPNFrontRow.com, a WordPress-based corporate platform for ESPN’s communications department to offer “news about ESPN, employees at ESPN and behind-the-scenes activity at the sports media empire”, as Technorati aptly put it. Mike Soltys, ESPN’s vice president of communications, was quoted earlier in SportsBusiness Daily saying, “This is a way for us to speak directly with consumers.”

Seeing the incredible success of the work we’d done on the Disney Parks Blog, ESPN was eager and excited to finally have an official platform on which they could respond to issues, promote events, and give fans the behind-the-scenes look that they crave. We helped give them a simple and manageable set of tools to tell their tales. It also doesn’t hurt that the site is mantastically sexy.

account management, primary client contact, project management, on-site client meetings & presentations, drafted SOW, created business / product requirements documents, development QA, post-launch support

AARP Blog Voce Communications; launched Jan. 2011, ongoing support/updates throughout year AARP was looking to migrate their existing Shaarpsession blog and get on the WordPress VIP wagon. We took the opportunity to clean up the theme, organize and refine the content hierarchy, and get everything jiving with AARP’s global SSO (single sign-on) and header/footer integrations. primary client contact, project management, drafted SOW, created business / product requirements documents, development QA, post-launch retainer support
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AARP Blog

Voce Communications; launched Jan. 2011, ongoing support/updates throughout year

AARP was looking to migrate their existing Shaarpsession blog and get on the WordPress VIP wagon. We took the opportunity to clean up the theme, organize and refine the content hierarchy, and get everything jiving with AARP’s global SSO (single sign-on) and header/footer integrations.

primary client contact, project management, drafted SOW, created business / product requirements documents, development QA, post-launch retainer support

NVIDIA Blog Voce Communications; launched December 2010 NVIDIA knew the importance of maintaining an official corporate presence, but was unhappy with their previous platform. Voce was charged with the site redesign, migration of existing content, and development of custom WordPress theme and features to support NVIDIA’s editorial needs. account management, primary client contact, project management, drafted SOW, created business / product requirements documents, development QA, authored tutorials, post-launch support
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NVIDIA Blog

Voce Communications; launched December 2010

NVIDIA knew the importance of maintaining an official corporate presence, but was unhappy with their previous platform. Voce was charged with the site redesign, migration of existing content, and development of custom WordPress theme and features to support NVIDIA’s editorial needs.

account management, primary client contact, project management, drafted SOW, created business / product requirements documents, development QA, authored tutorials, post-launch support

eBay Ink Blog

Voce Communications; ongoing 2010/2011

eBay Ink is the corporate mouthpiece for eBay as told through Richard Brewer-Hay. It showcases major corporate news, public appearances and presentations, featured sellers, and other various eBay-related tidbits. The site features a custom mobile presentation, heavily-integrated twitter components, and a beautifully polished design.

Originally designed and developed by Voce’s Platforms team, I was charged with maintaining feature requests, bug fixes, and support for Voce’s Social Media Marketing / PR teams.

primary client contact, project management, on-site support, development QA, rough UX mocks

National Center for Family Literacy’s Wonderopolis.org Voce Communications; launched Oct. 2010, ongoing support/updates through 2011 Voted one of Time’s 50 Best Websites of 2011, Wonderopolis — “Where the wonders never cease!” — is a site targeted at families, teachers, and children to promote reading and learning in their daily lives. Funded by Verizon Foundation and created by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), the site’s main draw is the Wonder of the Day post. Be sure to check out one of my favorite posts, featuring Emmy-winning writer and co-executive producer of The Simpsons, Michael Price: “Wonder #205: How Do You Write a TV Script?”. (The site also won awards from places of which I’ve never heard. Snazzy.) Working in collaboration with the creative geniuses (and all-around awesome people) at Brains on Fire, Voce turned the delicious design pixels and Wonderopolis concept into web reality. Launched in Fall 2010 and ongoing through my time at Voce, this project was a personal favorite and especially rewarding partnership with the wonder-full ladies at NCFL. Beyond simply bringing the site to life and supporting ongoing new features and endeavors, we spent many occasions strategizing and planning the roadmap and future of Wonderopolis. I was also involved in executive discussions and negotiations with their funder, Verizon. account management, primary client contact, strategic executive advisement, project management, drafted & maintained SOWs, created product requirements documents, development QA, post-launch support, on-site client meetings & presentations, mobile theme / iOS / Android app planning
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National Center for Family Literacy’s Wonderopolis.org

Voce Communications; launched Oct. 2010, ongoing support/updates through 2011

Voted one of Time’s 50 Best Websites of 2011, Wonderopolis — “Where the wonders never cease!” — is a site targeted at families, teachers, and children to promote reading and learning in their daily lives. Funded by Verizon Foundation and created by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), the site’s main draw is the Wonder of the Day post. Be sure to check out one of my favorite posts, featuring Emmy-winning writer and co-executive producer of The Simpsons, Michael Price: “Wonder #205: How Do You Write a TV Script?”. (The site also won awards from places of which I’ve never heard. Snazzy.)

Working in collaboration with the creative geniuses (and all-around awesome people) at Brains on Fire, Voce turned the delicious design pixels and Wonderopolis concept into web reality. Launched in Fall 2010 and ongoing through my time at Voce, this project was a personal favorite and especially rewarding partnership with the wonder-full ladies at NCFL. Beyond simply bringing the site to life and supporting ongoing new features and endeavors, we spent many occasions strategizing and planning the roadmap and future of Wonderopolis. I was also involved in executive discussions and negotiations with their funder, Verizon.

account management, primary client contact, strategic executive advisement, project management, drafted & maintained SOWs, created product requirements documents, development QA, post-launch support, on-site client meetings & presentations, mobile theme / iOS / Android app planning

L’Oreal’s Makeup.com Voce Communications; ongoing 2010 Makeup.com is a site dedicated to showcasing the latest beauty products, tips, and trends. Visitors can learn about L’Oreal products, the latest make-up application tricks, as well as peruse the colors of the season. Structured as ongoing retainer support, we helped L’Oreal adapt and scale their existing WordPress theme to changing needs and services, as well as provided publishing guidance and tutorials. primary client contact, project management, on-site support, development QA, rough UX mocks
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L’Oreal’s Makeup.com

Voce Communications; ongoing 2010

Makeup.com is a site dedicated to showcasing the latest beauty products, tips, and trends. Visitors can learn about L’Oreal products, the latest make-up application tricks, as well as peruse the colors of the season. Structured as ongoing retainer support, we helped L’Oreal adapt and scale their existing WordPress theme to changing needs and services, as well as provided publishing guidance and tutorials.

primary client contact, project management, on-site support, development QA, rough UX mocks

Mattsign.com, v1.0 Originally a Blogger blog (remember Blogger?), this functioned as my personal soapbox before the days of Tumblr. I posted anywhere from 5-25 posts per month between June 2007 and May 2010. At a lifetime of 50,000 pageviews, you served me well, Blogger. Check out a few of my (now very dated) favorites: My first post My mega-mac media center setup Eurotrip: a backpacking adventure Renter’s Insurance: Explained m@’s Guide to Self-Marketing m@c madness: macs for dummies Never fear, I migrated many of my posts here to Tumblr for safe housekeeping and uniformity. Note: I started this Tumblr in parallel to mattsign.com as a “Page 2” to post quick quips, concert snaps, hysterical YouTube videos and the such. So they’ll be mixed in with content originally hosted on Blogger.
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Mattsign.com, v1.0

Originally a Blogger blog (remember Blogger?), this functioned as my personal soapbox before the days of Tumblr. I posted anywhere from 5-25 posts per month between June 2007 and May 2010. At a lifetime of 50,000 pageviews, you served me well, Blogger. Check out a few of my (now very dated) favorites:

  • My first post
  • My mega-mac media center setup
  • Eurotrip: a backpacking adventure
  • Renter’s Insurance: Explained
  • m@’s Guide to Self-Marketing
  • m@c madness: macs for dummies

Never fear, I migrated many of my posts here to Tumblr for safe housekeeping and uniformity.

Note: I started this Tumblr in parallel to mattsign.com as a “Page 2” to post quick quips, concert snaps, hysterical YouTube videos and the such. So they’ll be mixed in with content originally hosted on Blogger.

multiplidentity: iterations of self
senior thesis project, 2005

From the original release:

Visual Studies senior Matt Leiker explores the interaction of identity and self through creative repetition and duplication. His artwork is a realistic digital manipulation touching on the themes of multiple personalities, self-projection and interaction, the nocturnal self, mindless clones, homoeroticism, imaginary friends, schizophrenia, personal space, and anything else you can read into it. He exploits these interactions to comment on society & social acceptability, identity, industry, relationships, personal space, fantasy and reality.

All of these images were originally displayed as a digital composite on photo paper (~54” by 36”). They required a painstaking rotoscopic process performed in photoshop, as well as the addition of some deft shading and shadows for realism.

Check out the archived microsite. Curious how I made it? Peer behind-the-scenes if you dare.

multiplidentity: iterations of selfsenior thesis project microsite, 2005 This microsite acted as an evergreen digital hub for my senior thesis project. It’s still live in its near-original form. I’ve added my senior thesis images to a separate post in my portfolio here, but you can visit the original thesis microsite and see some of my supporting materials: promotional card gallery handout (.pdf) gallery opening pictures looping thesis video
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multiplidentity: iterations of self
senior thesis project microsite, 2005

This microsite acted as an evergreen digital hub for my senior thesis project. It’s still live in its near-original form. I’ve added my senior thesis images to a separate post in my portfolio here, but you can visit the original thesis microsite and see some of my supporting materials:

MattLeiker.com, v3.0: Collegiate Portfolio

It was awesome. It was retro (even for 2005). And it was mouseover-happy like crazy. Originally conceived entirely in Photoshop, I let one of those crazy Adobe web programs do all the cutup for me. It operated as my primary portfolio during and after college.

Check out some of my favorite or most wacky projects:

Or if you’re really daring, view the archived version and check out some of my pre-professional playthings. You’re bound to find some embarrassing videos and pictures in there somewhere.

Note: If you’re viewing the archived site, it’s gonna be a little slow as Dropbox is hosting it. Please be patient.

MattLeiker.com, v2.0

It served me well in the late ’90s and early ’00s. The site had awesome mouseover .gifs (noticing a trend?). It sported photo galleries for my family to keep up with (some of) my college antics. And even a snazzy page of web projects I worked on in High School. It even listed my ICQ number listed just in case you wanted to chat me up. That’s right, ICQ.

MattLeiker.com, v1.0 It’s the oldest screenshot I could muster. I believe there were a few previous fits and starts in the early Geocities days, but who knows where those ended up. Oh how cute were the early days of the internets.
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MattLeiker.com, v1.0

It’s the oldest screenshot I could muster. I believe there were a few previous fits and starts in the early Geocities days, but who knows where those ended up. Oh how cute were the early days of the internets.