Sandra Rutan Gifford

I have worked extensively for such clients as Cornell University, Paychex Incorporated, The Student Loan Corporation, The Rochester City School District, Bergmann Associates, Vicarious Visions, The Ford Motor Company and many others. I am extremely versatile and can create visuals ranging from serious and corporate to casual and fun, from simple infographics to photorealistic illustrations. Please view my portfolio at:

http://www.pomona1.com/Start_Demo.html

My accomplishments include:

        While at Paychex Incorporated, prototyped highly interactive user interfaces according to usability best practices, wrote detailed interface requirements and created final graphics for extensive projects such as Job Costing/Labor Distribution and Professional Employer Organization, helping to create a more usable product, which increased customer satisfaction and product ratings. Received the Quarterly Team Award.

        The Rochester City School District required SharePoint training for 12,000 staff members, and the usual solution of rotating employees through a dozen computer labs would not work for such a large number. Wrote, designed and coded an eLearning course, which solved the problem. Promoted to eLearning Developer, reporting directly to the CIO Ford Greene. He once wrote, "What you produced at RSCD was nothing short of a miracle."

        Out of dozens of artist submissions to Second Avenue Software, won the Lead 3D artist position for the game project, Martha Madison’s Marvelous Machines, which encouraged middle-school girls’ interest in the sciences.

        2D and 3D visual designer for computer games, Dark Angael and Synnergist, by Vicarious Visions, finishing the graphics within an aggressive timeline while sole animator on staff.  

        Lead designer for Ford Motor’s “The Interview Process,” a multimedia training course, resulting in J.A.M. Inc. receiving a rating of “very satisfied” for almost all categories of Ford’s Supplier Standards. Brought the $100,000 project in 10% under budget. Pat Ramsey of Ford wrote, “Graphics look awesome: APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE!”

The Army Corp of Engineers needed to communicate the details of a new river dam building technique, and so I produced a 45 minute, 3D animated video. This helped to get the project approved by the city planners and saved millions of dollars by eliminating the need for cofferdams. David Ridenour, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, wrote, “…work was completed to a high degree of quality and on schedule, bringing alive the concepts of this innovative project.”

        Help desk calls for simple website questions comprised the bulk of The Student Loan Corporation calls. I therefore architected a usability study and redesigned the original website, which greatly reduced the number of calls, saving the company significant administrative costs. Received the People’s Choice Award.

        Lead designer and graphic project manager on four multimedia courses for PowerSoft. Managed six other designers. Came in under budget by 140 hours, maximizing revenues. Eric Zenor of PowerSoft commented, “The graphics look incredible!”