The Simpsons — season-by-season analysis
Long-form, episode-by-episode cultural criticism on Substack with a consistent editorial workflow.
Portfolio
The work here spans instructional design, technical writing, UX research, and grant writing; from freelance contracts to collaborative projects to coursework to personal writing I maintain for the love of it. It opens with a training module I built from scratch for Secret City Adventures, then moves through academic software documentation, style guides, prototypes, policy writing, and long-form cultural criticism.
Prefer a snapshot? Grab the abridged PDF:
Download portfolio (PDF)Game Facilitation Training Module (Instructional Design, E-Learning Development)
An interactive e-learning module built for Secret City Adventures—Toronto's leading immersive escape room company. The module teaches new hires the role's most niche and challenging skill: hinting. Learners are often experienced actors and customer service professionals, but hinting demands the development of a distinct kind of judgment.
I originally prototyped the module in Articulate Rise, but the client had no LMS. I proposed building a standalone web page to host the training and reconstructed the entire module from scratch in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—eliminating the dependency on Articulate for future modifications and giving the client full ownership of their content.
The content is structured as a series of lessons that surface principles that occasionally seem to conflict, followed by an immersive, scenario-based final assessment that mirrors the real timeline of an in-game experience—requiring learners to apply judgment in context rather than follow a script.
The success of this module led to contracts for three additional training modules covering other elements of the facilitator role.
User Guide (Technical Writing)
Using Adobe FrameMaker, I developed a comprehensive user guide for Hypernomicon, an open-source academic research tool. Hypernomicon's UI leans on terminology and structures from academic philosophy, so my background in the field was especially valuable.
DICE.fm Style Guide (Editing, Writing, Notion Knowledge Base)
I use Notion as a living documentation platform to build and host internal knowledge bases. I showcased the approach on a collaborative project for DICE.fm—a brand with a strong identity but no internal style guide.
We audited live content, reverse-engineered the editorial system, and published a structured Notion wiki so non-writers could find answers quickly. I co-led taxonomy/database design and authored large portions of the standards and examples. View the Notion guide.
TTCWatch Mobile App Guide (Technical Writing)
A user guide I produced with Microsoft Word. I wrote all procedures and explanatory content from scratch. To build the guide, I learned the TTCWatch iOS app end-to-end through hands-on use and testing.
Jimmy's Site (UX Design, Web Design, Prototyping)
Jimmy's Coffee had no digital help presence. I led the front-end build, translating Figma prototypes into working HTML/CSS/JS, and contributed research (personas, card sorts, in-lab tests) and refined microcopy.
- User personas & journeys
- Pathway tracking
- Card-sorting (3 rounds) + usability tests (2 rounds)
Policy Writing – Vehicle Policy
In 2020 an internal audit revealed gaps in policy. I was contracted to author missing documents; here's a sample.
Grant Writing
In 2020 closures cut visitor revenue; I was engaged to help offset losses through grants. In four months we secured nearly $650,000.
- Theatre Royal grant (~$630,000) — source
- Maps digitization grant (~$15,000)
Knight vs Pierce (Educational Content & Research)
A two-person dramatization of an 1860s trial built from archival records—balancing authenticity and humor to engage mixed audiences. Audience Choice Award (2015), ran through 2020 with iterative updates.
Selected Personal Writing
Righteous Way of Thinking — Document Design (volunteer)
Co-authored by dictation with an adult-literacy learner; designed in Adobe FrameMaker with an emphasis on accessibility, clear structure, and preserving the learner's voice.
