Erik Dunham

Background

About Erik Dunham

How humans think is mysterious, endlessly fascinating, and always surprising. Semiotics, symbol-making, art, simulation, and abstract spaces are exciting tools that attempt to make sense of our unique way of experiencing the world. I've always been curious about how we think and the meaning we ascribe to the objects we create. Art was the ideal career path to immerse myself in. I studied design and fine art concurrently at Coker College. After school, I started in advertising, worked for an acoustics company, and helped design exhibition graphics for the Baltimore Museum of Art. Then the web started appearing in our everyday lives. Here was a medium that combined all of the ideas I find fascinating into one discipline. Here was a way to make something that helped people connect, create, learn, and change the world for the better. Wow! I was hooked. I began designing websites in 1996, focusing first on visual and interaction design, then exploring and integrating user-experience design, information architecture, and e-commerce design. I was lucky enough to join National Public Radio's NPR Online department in and helped design, build, and launch web properties for the public broadcasting community. After a brief stint as an information architect with the spectrum auction division of the Federal Communications Commission, I joined The Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2004 where I led the creation of websites and applications in support of the broader public broadcasting community. Then I lost my mentor and friend to brain cancer. He was my undergrad professor and a giant in my world. I needed a more meaningful, more purpose-driven career where I could have a positive impact on the world. Where I could help a young artist find their path, just as my friend helped me. I switched my focus to design education. The enthusiasm and earnestness of young designers is inspiring. The curiosity, exploration, and poetry of raw ideas in a design classroom is powerful. I've taught graphic and web design at Coker University and Marymount University and now teach Web, UX, and sometimes print design full time at Anne Arundel Community College. I continue to help clients create websites as a freelance consultant and designer in addition to supporting the Small Press Expo as a member of their executive committee. I collect books about the history of typography and printing. I love thoughtful design, cats, race cars, old books, and sweater weather.