Dave White
Hi! I'm Dave, a Pittsburgh-based web developer and graphic artist, and this is my fancy-schmancy portfolio site. If you prefer something a little more boring , and this is my boring portfolio site. If you prefer something a little more exciting , or click here if you just want a PDF of my resumé.
Skills
(size of bubbles correlates with degree of expertise)
- Graphic Design
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Web Design
- Adobe XD
- Figma
- Fractal Pattern Library
- Sketch
- HTML
- XML
- RSS
- SVG
- XSLT
- CSS
- LESS
- SASS
- Bootstrap
- Foundation
- Material UI
- Web Development
- Accessibility
- Responsive Design
- Javascript
- JSON
- jQuery
- Node.js
- React
- PHP
- Search Engine Optimization
- AEO/GEO
- OpenGraph
- Schema
- WordPress
- ACF Pro
- Gutenberg
- Woocommerce
- Wordfence
- Yoast
- Comics
- Photography
- Podcasting
- ASP/.NET
- ColdFusion
- Perl/span>
- Cascade
- Drupal
- Kentico
- Mura
- SiteCore
- Git
- Microsoft Office Suite
Associate Director of Front-End Development, BarkleyOKRP (2024-2026)
Principal UI Developer, Barkley (2023)
Senior UI Developer, BarkleyREI (2019-2022)
This is less complicated than it seems. BarkleyREI was a web-oriented subsidiary of Kansas City-based advertising agency Barkley, which was eventually reabsorbed into its parent, which then merged with Chicago-based OKRP to form BarkleyOKRP.
As a UI/Front-End Developer, I created and deployed accessible, responsive, SEO-optimized, component-based websites for clients ranging from educational institutions to national brands. Technologies used include Figma, Fractal, WordPress, Drupal, Cascade, Craft, Kentico, and Sitecore. As Principal Developer, I helped plan and price projects and was responsible for setting technical standards for front-end coding and deliverables. As Associate Director, I managed and mentored a team of three junior developers. As we incorporated AI tools into our workflow I used them to refactor modern Javascript codebases for backwards-compatibility with older systems (and vice-versa) and to produce software documentation.
Front-End Web Developer, Media Post, Inc. (2019)
This is not the national magazine publisher — Media Post (now Vendilli) was a boutique advertising and marketing agency based in Zelionople. PA. As their primary Front-End Developer I created, deployed, and maintained accessible, responsive, and search engine optimized websites for local and national clients using WordPress with Advanced Custom Fields, Gutenberg, WooCommerce, Yoast, and more.
Web Developer/Designer, H2 Design Group, Inc. (2000-2018)
H2 was a digital marketing and advertising and marketing agency based in Pittsburgh. As a key part of their web development team I designed, developed, deployed and maintained robust, responsive, accessible and search engine optimized websites, microsites, and landing pages for clients ranging from small businesses to mid-size nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies. Technologies utilized include Drupal, Mura, WordPress, and enterprise CMSes like Kentico.
Web Designer/User Interface Designer, Essential Surfing Gear, Inc. (1999-2000)
Essential Surfing Gear was a start-up that made context-aware browser extennsions. Unfortunately, it was also about a decade ahead of its time.) During my time there I was responsible for designing, developing and maintaining the corporate website, designing and testing new widgets, and working with marketing to produce pitch presentations.
Web Designer/Developer, SEEC, Inc. (1997-1999)
SEEC was a software company that produced COBOL IDEs, specifically to address the Y2K problem. As their in-house Web Designer/Developer I designed, developed, and maintained the corporate website; collaborated with the marketing department to produce multimedia presentations; and worked with software developers to design icons for the software toolset
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon Unveristy (1997)
Yes, I have a Fine Arts degree. You can't go to Carnegie Mellon without picking up a few technical skills, though, and at this point I have more than thirty years of industry experience which is far more important than a degree.
The Web Designer's Guide to Color, Hayden Books (1997)
A college class project led to a contract to write the book included with Hayden Books's Pantone Web Color Resource Kit. I tackled the sections on color theory, while co-author Mordy Goulding handled the more technical aspects. The book has its issues, but I think it provided many early web developers with a limited understanding of design principles a solid practical understanding of color theory.
“The Big Redemption” (2026)
Developed landing pages for Frontier Airlines advertising campaign, which received a Cannes Bronze Lion for Brand Experience & Activation, a One Club Bronze Pencil for Direct Marketing: Non-traditional & Guerrilla Marketing, and a Clio Digital/Mobile Bronze Award.
“Death Kit” (2025)
Developed interactive web version of Andy Warhol Museum’s “Death Kit” advertising campaign for their Vanitas exhibition, which received a One Club Bronze Pencil for Design in Advertising: Packaging/Promotional/Campaign.
“Mother Fitness” (2024)
Developed landing pages for Planet Fitness ad campaign featuring Megan Thee Stallion, which received a Clio Sports Bronze Award.
Portfolio
Frontier Airlines "The Big Redemption" landing page
In 2026 my team and I worked together to create a landing page for Frontier Airlines' "Big Redemption" Super Bowl ad. Of course, we had all of two weeks to get this ready before the actual game, without a fully-approved design! I pulled together most of the HTML, CSS, and Javascript in a few days, before other commitments required me to lateral the extremely time-sensitive revisions and refinements to my subordinates, who took them and ran right into the end zone.
The campaign won a Cannes Bronze Lion, a One Club Bronze Pencil, and a Clio Bronze Award in 2026.
University of California, Irvine web site
In 2025 I developed the front-end of a new website for the University of California, Irvine. Deliverables included a Fractal component library, CSS, HTML, and Javascript which were then implemented in Drupal by our back-end team and the University's IT department. At the University's request no CSS or Javascript frameworks could could be used in the public-facing site so many of the agency's existing components had to be redeveloped from scratch. Additionally, the site had to rigorously conform to WCAG AA standards to meet California's stringent accessibility requirements. We also implemented a fully-functional container-query based approach to styling, allowing components to be easily redeployed in a variety of contexts. The result represents some of my finest work to date.
Warhol: Death Kit landing page
In 2025 I developed a landing page for the Andy Warhol Museum's Vanitas exhibition, which focused on Warhol's strange relationship with death. The landing page was intended to mimic the structure of a limited edition physical "Death Kit" which was sent to a number of influencers, and made extensive use of scroll-linked animations, accessible scrollers with directional momentum, and integration with AI generators allowing you to create your own eulogies and tombstones. Not the biggest site, or the most challenging build, but a fun one nonetheless.
The campaign won a One Club Bronze Pencil in 2026.
National Pork Board: Taste What Pork Can Do microsite
In 2025 I developed a new microsite for the National Pork Board, highlighting their revamped recipes and updated branding through the "Taste What Pork Can Do" campaign. The challenge here was that the microsite had to live inside an existing WordPress site with a third-party theme that could not be altered directly. In the end this was accomplished by creating a new plug-in, which used a combination of custom Gutenberg blocks, highly-structured and Schema-optimized custom content types, and segregated CSS and Javascript to create a look and feel entirely different from the enclosing site but without any script or style bleed-through. The robust and repeatable animations which did not require the use of third-party libraries were a pleasure to develop.
Dairy Farmers of America website
In 2024 I developed the front end of a new website for the Dairy Farmers of America. Deliverables included a Fractal component library, HTML, CSS and Javascript which were then implemented by our back-end team in Kentico MVC. The challenge here involved components with a ridiculous amount of customization options and widely disparate amounts of content, which required a lot of clever styling. Other features of the site include library-free parallax animations, extensive inline schema mark-up on components, and radical transformation of inflexible third-party components through clever application of CSS.
Planet Fitness: Mother Fitness landing page
In 2024 I developed a landing page for a Planet Fitness ad campaign featuring Megan Thee Stallion as "Mother Fitness." The landing page is, sadly, no longer available but used picture elements, vector graphics, carefully-tuned media queries, and viewport-based sizing to display consistently across a wide variety of devices with minimal load times.
Diablo Valley College website
In 2023 I developed the front end of a new website for Diablo Valley College. Deliverables included a Fractal component library, THML, CSS, and Javascript which were then implemented by our back-end team in Cascade and PHP. This was my first significant project as Principal Developer, and under my direction the agency's development process began moving away from the use of CSS and Javascript frameworks whose accumulated technical debt had begun to cause no end of headaches. The DVC project demonstrated that this could be done without a loss of quality while still providing flexible components that were easy for third parties to adapt, update, and modify.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi web site
In 2020 I was tasked to develop the front end of a new public-facing website for the Corpus Christi campus of Texas A&M University. Deliverables included CSS, HTML, and Javascript which were then implemented in Cascade and PHP by our back-end team. The site makes extensive use of transitions and animations, which helps create a cohesive feel that sometimes seems more like an app than a web page. A key highlight here involved a significant rewrite of the agency's existing front-end scripts for content aggregates, abstracting them to a level where they could be easily deployed without extensive customization.
As part of this project, I also developed a wellness intranet site for Texas A&M faculty and staff, using WordPress with custom Gutenberg components and extensive integration with a third-party events calendar whose appearance was radically transformed by clever application of CSS.
There Goes the Galaxy and The Curious Case of Mary Ann
My former co-worker and good friend Jenn Thorson is a very talented writer, and she has graciously allowed me to design and illustrate the covers for her novels. The covers for the sci-fi comedy of the "There Goes the Galaxy" series feature exaggerated 3-D comic lettering over digitally-painted starscapes and grasping alien hands inspired by both The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Saul Bass. For the Wonderland-themed mysteries of "The Curious Case of Mary Ann" we went in a different direction, featuring Victorian lettering over digitally-altered photographs of props Jenn had constructed. (Did I mention she's also a very talented model builder? Ask about her model of the What We Do In The SHadows house sometime.)
The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope podcast
Since August 2019 I have been the creator and producer of the Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope, a podcast presenting a miscellaneum of strange and obscure topics from history. (Sample topics: bizarre cults, now-obscure celebrities, weird stories from professional baseball.) While most episodes feature my own research, some feature topics researched and presented by other "initiates" around the world.
I have represented the podcast at the 2025 and 2026 Intelligent Speech conferences.
Pennsylvania Quarterly
The September/October 2018 issue of Pennsylvania Magazine used a composite photograph of mine to illustrate an article about the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Avella, PA.
Hire Me!
Thank you for viewing my portfolio site! Just a friendly reminder that I am looking for work, so if you think I might be a good fit for your team, please reach out through any of the channels below!
- Email Address: knave@7415comics.com
- Phone Number: 412.378.4740
