modular wooden toy

For a product design class, my lab partner and I developed a wooden toy with a reversible base and seven pieces that fit together in all sorts of different ways. 

​After 30 years, I redesigned it from the ground up for my new grandson, Oliver. I added a second dowel, twelve new holes, and made the wheel covers and wheels removable. The configuration options grew exponentially. I now have no idea how many different ways it can be put together, but every time I play I find more. 

Add logos - LB, NW, FTEN, Kubb, GTD, McCann

People I've helped by clarifying

“Your help has been tremendously valuable to me because it is helping me get clarity around my research, observations and ideas and how to communicate these complex subject in a way that my prospective clients will understand and want to engage with. Thanks” – Eric Mack


Scott A. - windows marketing is like click bait, and crossing the lease line is the click
Sign kit - saved $2.1 million through insight to keep same size in cheaper way, switching to rolled
Sign kit - talk shout megaphone diagram
Sign kit - what if the shipping container becomes the storage boxes? (Storage presentation mindmap)
​LB - "We have two companies"
Focus on developing youth hockey players into adult hockey players
Post it facilitation Technique for job role redivision
Helped exiting employee find alternatives
Legibility guide based on % of retina per highway specs
Rob H. - to a customer, time might not mean faster turn around, but less time to order and manage
LB campaign ideas
Whiteboard
Stephan - how I think
My strategic promo piece
NW brand guidelines one pager
Superpower summit balloon
Hey! Day
Thrive focus on pain
Hardtop establish brand name instead of patent
Game instructions for Kubb
​Game instructions for Pieces of Eight
GTD workflow diagram
ACS presentation about process
LB insight documents
Adobe radiant tools (now in SketchBook)
Saved $ over and over. 
Columbus Marathon
Credit brainstorm facilitation

I'm actively seeking full-time employment!

If you know of anyone looking for my skills and experience, I would be incredibly grateful if you would please email me or pass along my website. 

Creative Lead | Graphic and Product Designer | Production Manager

Experienced professional with depth in marketing ideation, design, writing, process, and production art, combined with multidisciplinary breadth ranging from psychology to fitness to music production. Responsible manager of design and buyer teams, vendors, and production budgets up to $20 million. 

Empathetic, strategic, adaptable. Regularly consulted to help individuals, teams, and companies 
clarify, innovate, and improve. Valued asset in creatively solving complex problems.

I'm willing to work remotely or relocate. ​

This site is an ongoing collection of things I've made over 20+ years.

Click to jump to each section, or just scroll down.
​Please pass along anything that could help someone else!

MARKETING CREATIVE (graphic and product design, writing, photography)

THINKING (thinking, brainstorming, learning, self-development tools and workshops)

FITNESS (performance, DIY gear, wellness)

HOCKEY (coaching, skills, gear)

PLAY (songs, stories, games, toys, play advocacy)

RECOMMENDED (useful links, inspirations, influences)

MARKETING CREATIVE

graphic design
writing
​product design
​photography & illustration

THINKING

​one-pagers, ​lunch-and-learns, workshops
brainstorming
productivity
self-development

FITNESS

minimalist exercise
DIY exercise gear
​performance and injury prevention
living better, longer

HOCKEY

coaching
​skill development
​Bleacher Bubbles
gear

PLAY

songs
stories
games & toys
​play and playfulness advocacy

RECOMMENDED

other people's cool stuff
​useful links
​inspirations
​influences

Writing

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I’ve since moved beyond crayons, and the walls were cleaned decades ago, but putting interesting words on flat surfaces has been a common theme my whole life. Advertising, product naming, teaching, processes, stories, songs...

MARKETING CREATIVE

Graphic design

I have a degree in Visual Communication Design from The Ohio State University. I was fortunate to study under some exceptional instructors, and for every project I still use the fundamental lessons they taught me - attention to detail in hierarchy, legibility, reproducibility, and craft. 

Product Design

Designing things is fun, but building things is even more fun. In high school I made a music cassette tape rewinder with a plastic gear and an empty Bic pen shell. I built a miniature golf course in the back yard with Hot Wheels track and whatever I could find in the garage. There was a drum set for an air band made out of foamcore. Then I made Ollie Blocks in a college product design class. Then Bleacher Bubbles. Pinball lamps and coaster sets came next. A kubb set out of cardboard. Dozens and dozens of dimensional signs for national retail stores. 

I've built 3D stuff for as long as I can remember. 

Photography

It started with a little camera as a Christmas present from my parents. Then it was high school classes with Jack Summers, where I got a 35mm Minolta and learned darkroom techniques. In college it was on to cell animation and classes on film and developing chemistry. Then applying all those lessons to the digital world as Photoshop appeared. Photography has been a joy in my life for over 40 years. 

Illustration

Because sometimes a pencil (or pen, paintbrush, pastel, paper, or even something that doesn't begin with "p") is still the best design tool. 

THINKING TOOLS

Instructional Design

I've spent 20 years building one pagers, lunch-and-learns, workshops and other educational tools in my free time. It was fun for me, and helpful for others. What I couldn't figure out was why I was so interested in researching and making things in so many different and seemingly unrelated areas. I just knew it was like trying to hold ping pong balls under water. They just kept popping up!

Most of them have their own section below, but there are still a few useful leftovers I will post later.

Think Inside the Box

My workshop and unique 4-step process for working with creative people in a way that frames their creativity without limiting it. You'll stimulate their best work towards delivering the results you want. It uses specific tools for defining, refining, and aligning on project goals and limits in order to stimulate greater practical creativity.

Do you want a canoe, or just to get across the river?

The Never-Fail, Magic Effects, 99+ Idea Grid

My never-fail tool that uses the nine type of magic tricks to generate 99+ ideas on your subject of choice. It's one tool I use to help facilitate group brainstorming, but I've never had a group actually need to finish one. They always surprise themselves and create WAY more ideas than they need.

Post-it note Diversity Exercise

This is a two-step exercise that quickly demonstrates that a group's thinking is more diverse than they thought, and that everyone's contribution is essential to that diversity. It's a great group warmup activity prior to a brainstorming session. 

GTD Advanced Workflow diagram

My visual summary of David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology, all on one page. I shared it with him, then he made it available for free on his site, and since then it has been translated into several languages by generous and enthusiastic GTD'ers around the world.

​Five Folders easy email system

I've taught my Five Folders email system to 600+ people. It requires no special software, and works equally well in Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, and any others that let you make a folder. You'll finally have an empty in-box!

​My 45-minute lunch-and-learn presentations have ranged from small teams of 2-3, to large rooms of 100. Companies have included Nationwide Insurance, Abbott Nutrition, Lane Bryant, Owens Corning, PVS Chemicals, and the International Association of Administrative Professionals. 

Natural Learning

My set of 8 simple tools for powerful thinking, learning, writing, and presenting. It all started when I discovered mindmapping and taught it to my kids as a way to write papers for school. Then I started teaching others.

I have taught these techniques to kids individually, to an entire accelerated 6th grade class, to marketing departments as a way to collaboratively capture meeting notes, and to small adult learning groups within the companies I've worked. I promise you will surprise yourself if you unlock your own or your kid's abilities with these fun, natural, and effective tools.

Principles Prism

I developed this as a tool to ensure all of the self-development areas of my life were getting regular focused attention. One main principle per week, paired with a different secondary principle every day. Effort + Growth, Effort + Empathy, Effort + Gratitude. Every week it's a new main principle, moving clockwise around the prism, and forming an 8-week cycle.

Your Life on One Page

Great little tool for perspective and self-reflection. The initial spark was a page I cut from a design magazine in 2003. I finally tried it in 2017 on a 3-hour plane ride. It worked so well I have to share it. 

The Way - a book about adjusting your balance between the New and the Known

Too much new stuff, and we feel anxious and overwhelmed. Too much of the same stuff, and we feel bored and stagnant. When we are in a flow state, or engrossed in a meaningful and challenging project, or just playing, we are balanced between the New and the Known.

That balance point is different for everyone, and even different for the same person in different situations. This will be a book of techniques and tools to help you get back your balance, wherever your most comfortable set point.

Overwhelmed or anxious? I'll have proven ways to simplify, de-stress, or regulate your life. Bored or stagnant? I'll have proven ways to find new things and add a little adventure. 

All the ideas on both sides will begin very simply (you can do some of them where you are sitting right now), and advance from there. I really look forward to writing this book!

Post-apocalyptic exercise gear

After it all goes down, you'll have to be creative about exercise gear. Pipes, jugs, water, sand, tires, chains, and anything else that might be laying around. 

Tabata music mixes

A Tabata is a form of interval training named after a Japanese speedskating coach. One Tabata is 20 seconds of intensely hard work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated non-stop for 8 rounds. Work, rest, work, rest. It only takes 4 minutes, and it's a very efficient, effective, and (I think) fun exercise protocol. 

The trickiest part for me was watching the clock to know when to start and stop, so I built a couple of original music tracks that handle the timing for you. Beats a Gymboss timer hands down. 

Zombie-Proof fitness

Get fit, don't get bit.

This is my strength-biased fitness program with five levels of seven fundamental movements. It's based on three ideas -- that stronger people live longer (true), that achievement levels are motivating to reach, and that pushups are more fun when you're preparing for the zombie apocalyse.
​
​Be Ready When It All Goes Down.

FITNESS TOOLS

Six-weeks, six fundamental movements

For several years I ran a six-week hockey preseason session for middle- and high-school players. It was a modification of my Zombie-Proof fitness program.

The goals:
  • giving players an introduction to safe and effective strength training methods 
  • increase reflexive strength to protect against injuries, especially in shoulders
  • avoid high-risk training methods (like plyometrics, or working players until they collapse from fatigue)
  • improve confidence by challenging the players with baseline standards and a final set of tests
  • improve team cohesion by sharing in challenges, achievements, and fun together

Fano Plane of Dan John's Fundamental Movements

Dan John is one of the Great Teachers. He's a strength coach, multiple record holder, Fulbright Scholar, and all-around fantastic human being. If you've ever done a kettlebell goblet squat, or carried a slosh pipe, or done a round of "get back ups", you have him to thank. 

I had the distinct pleasure of spending an evening with him at a discus camp. Over the course of a couple hours with him and two of his talented student coaches, I presented the Fano Plane as a possibility for a visual model that tied together Dan's thoughts on his six fundamental movements - push, pull, hinge, squat, carry, and groundwork. We worked out the details, and it seemed to hold together.

No model will ever be all-encompassing or perfect, but for simple, effective and balanced exercise programming, this one is still pretty good and useful. ​

Workout dice for Dan John's Fundamental Movements

Sometimes you just want to throw some variety into your workouts, but still cover all the bases. I made a set of dice to do that. 

Moehr Better Years

This is my set of seven proven tools that help you fill your fountain of youth -- Move, Play, Learn, Create, Share, Appreciate, and Rest -- so you can live better, longer.

It's my latest program, still in development. It was inspired as an alternative mindset to what I believe are incorrect and outdated ideas -- that aging is automatically a slow decline, and that youth is simply how you look. 

HOCKEY TOOLS

Scott's Skate Strap

I invented these with my daughter Megan on a winter trip to Ottawa, Canada. We went to skate on the largest ice rink in the world, the Rideau Canal. After skating the almost 8 kilometer length (and back again, twice), we came up with a cool way to carry our skates. 

Hockey jersey designs

I've played on a lot of hockey teams, and been lucky to design some of the jerseys.

Bleacher Bubbles

Keep yourself warm with the power of 10,000 magic bubbles!

​I invented these insulating cushions after freezing on the cold metal bleachers at a high school football game. I've sold hundreds at ice rinks with local team logos. They make great fundraisers, and I could teach you how to make and sell them too.

Then I realized they had a much more important humanitarian purpose. Maybe you could help me with that?

Ice Ace hockey skill achievement program

​I came up with an Ice Ace award in 2009. It was for achieving certain milestones in hockey skill development. I was frustrated that figure skating had clear progressions (must complete X, Y, Z before you get your level 3 patch, etc.) that seemed missing in hockey. I came up with objective skill tests that seemed to benchmark progression levels. The idea was to motivate players to improve, but also to give coaches objective targets for development. 

The Mo Hockey Method

I'm writing a book of many simple but powerful ideas and techniques centered around my hockey coaching philosophy "play hard, play fair, and play so everyone wants to play again next time".

PLAY

Trouble on the High Seas (2006)

In 2003, my son Tim and his best friend Ben started a high school band. Tim on drums, Ben on lead vocals and bass. I was ridiculously lucky and ended up being the guitarist and backing vocalist, mostly because they practiced in our basement and needed someone to fill in. Their friend Jacob joined up on mandolin, and The Fedoras were born. This is our first album, and is the songs we used to play at shows. Bass, guitar, drums, and mandolin - Pirate Punk!

The Tragedy of Admiral King (2008)

This is The Fedoras second album, an epic hour-long rock opera about pirates. We recorded it track-by-track over 2-1/2 years on a Mac laptop. It has 23 songs, 25 volunteer performers, includes a couple dozen different instruments, and it's available on iTunes and Spotify.

Tiny White Lights On My Christmas Tree

This is my song about holiday decorations, family trees, and passing on traditions.

​My Life's Fishing Hole (Stoney Lake)

Every summer my aunt and uncle spend many weeks at a place called Stoney Lake, several hours north of Toronto. My uncle has been there every year of his life.

I joined them for a few days this summer, and he told me a story about how every major decision in his life had been made while fishing out on that water.

On my drive home, I wrote a song about that. 

Hockeytime! song

This is my song about good sportsmanship and the thrill of playing the sport I love.

"Sunset on Inuksuk Ridge" (really) short story

My mom asked me to read a book on the history of inuksuk, those striking Inuit stacks of rocks that are shaped like people and serve as directional markers. I learned that the name meant "that which acts in place of a human being", and I woke up the next day with this story in my head. ​

"Bits of Truth" short story

This is my science fiction short story about an artificial intelligence that is trying to be more human, and what it discovers about the nature of memory and truth. ​

Kubb visual instructions

I created this one-pager to explain my favorite lawn game and to give to curious onlookers when my son Andrew and I were playing in local parks. It was then picked up by the Kubb US Nationals to help quickly explain the game, and it's the cause of weekly emails from around the world requesting plans to build my Viking longboat carrying case. 

Gluco-lander

This is a video game based on Lunar Lander that teaches the basic principles of blood sugar management. My son Andrew has Type 1 diabetes, and we thought this would be a fun way to help families understand how it works. We built it together in the MIT kid's programming software, Scratch. Five levels, and two mini-games too!

Gravwell custom game board

Gravwell is a great game. Corey Young is a great game designer. I thought both deserved a great game board. So I made one. 

 Penny Hockey 2.0

When I was maybe 12, I was at a hockey tournament and saw a couple other kids playing a game like this. When I had my own kids, I designed a board for us. 

After it got a little boring, we changed the rules slightly. That made all the difference, and it's still fun to play today.

Ollie Blocks modular wooden toy

For a product design class, my lab partner and I developed a wooden toy with a reversible base and seven pieces that fit together in all sorts of different ways. 

​After 30 years, I redesigned it from the ground up for my new grandson, Oliver. I added a second dowel, twelve new holes, made the wheel covers and wheels removable, and the configuration options grew exponentially. I have no idea how many different ways it can be put together, but every time I play I find more. 

Play Every Day

As part of a job search process, I began examining my personal brand. The word "play" kept showing up, and the theme had been in my notebooks for many years. 

On 9/25/19, I had the idea of starting Play Every Day. It would be a nonprofit dedicated to promoting play and playfulness as essential for wellness and creativity in individuals, families, organizations, and communities. I have no idea where this might lead, but it seems really, really important, meaningful, and something I might be uniquely wired to do. 

Safari

Fast, original card game using a normal deck of cards. I had the initial idea, and it was made playable and fun by my son Tim. I'm currently deciding if we want to do a custom deck.

White Elephant Unlimited

A fun (and free!) take on the classic gift exchange. Except this time, the sky's the limit!

Fun, friendly, and very fast coaching, tutoring, teaching... 

​How can I help you (or your child or classroom or office or group)?

I can help you quickly learn to…
  1. make giving presentations faster, easier, and more fun. 
  2. make writing assignments faster, easier, and more fun. 
  3. make handling email overload faster, easier, and more fun.
  4. make becoming stronger and more coordinated simpler, faster, easier, and more fun.
  5. make beginner hockey skills faster, easier, and more fun.
  6. make generating lots of ideas and deciding which ones to use simpler, faster, easier, and more fun.

About me

Hi, I'm Scott. I like to make cool stuff and share it with curious people.

Contact

Reach out so we can make something cool together! 
[email protected]