Website / Mobile / Blog

a Priority by Jason Kobs — Posted on Feb 14, 2016

Finally Done! Finally Mobile!
A new strategy


Ideas, Articles, and Podcasts

My previous website was deployed over 6 years ago. Back when the iPhone was new, podcasts were leading-edge and Google's Blogger platform was hot shit. My focus was on building a portfolio to showcase previous work. A portfolio that was robust with logos, icons, and comps. Something that could get me a job in the agency world of Milwaukee. Mission accomplished. Now it is time for a new mission. Half archival, half reputation.

6 years of building interactive experiences has shaped a new approach and taught me a few new tools. I needed to rethink my portfolio; it's purpose and how it would be used. The number of projects, sheer file size, and quantity of assets, has become overwhelming. There needed to be a way to archive my growing project list in a final way. It will be difficult to move quickly in the future if I need to lug around 175+ projects.


Leveraging Social

The years have helped create a distinct plan for how to approach each social media platform. Exploiting each for its community and content capabilities. These capabilities had a natural way of dividing up my two passions: design and drawing. The plan is to keep the content and the connections separate for now. Not pulling feeds or content to this site, helps keep the conversation pure and focused on relevant topics where the users already are; where it is natural.

If your interested in drawing, follow me on Instagram of flickr. I post there regularly. If your interested in getting out in the field with me, attend MIAD on Tuesdays or UWM on Fridays.

I have tons of thoughts and content around design, check out these channels: Behance, Linkedin, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest


This was the first living piece of design that will help connect them to my name/brand/website.




It all started from a business card.

Business cards are a highly functional piece of design. A great place to start when thinking about a company's brand. Fonts, colors, grouping, messaging, and logo placement are all issues that have to be answered in a 2x3.5 inch rectangle.

The Big Hairy Idea

First, consider the circumstances around how someone gets your business card. Mostly, in person after having a conversation with you. What's important to that person now, and later? What do you expect to get out of it? What's the value of this person as a lead? I started from this mode of thinking and started creating a whole new business card content approach.

One thing that is pretty important is spelling my name, Jason Kobs. Jason, not so difficult, but if you spell "KOBS" correctly you will find me in Google. You might lose the card or spill a cocktail on it, but if I implant "KOBS" in your head, you can easily find me online.

Additional Content recently added to the site


Previously my site was focused on showcasing a visual portfolio. Moving that to Behance allowed the website to do new things. As a rule, words can be created and changed much easier than visuals. I've also found that my conversations around business and design don't easily lend themselves to visual assets. I needed a way of capturing my thoughts, personal priorities, and podcasts. This redesign helped set the stage for new media and a modes of interaction.

Next Steps...

Look for audio elements to find their way into the site experience. I have been looking for a way to brush up on my interviewing skills and embrace my network of design and drawings friends.