Before I ever dreamed about becoming a designer I was creating masterpiece websites like the example to the right. Website design became a hobby of mine while I was still in high school. I created websites for anyone who would let me including friends and family, after school groups, and so on. I did this solely because I thought it was fun; obviously no one was paying me for these atrocious sites.

After deciding to pursue a degree in Graphic Design I enrolled at Ringling College of Art and Design. While Ringling's design program was incredibly strong and taught key fundamentals, they did not offer in depth web design courses. After exhausting all the web design course options, I began teaching myself HTML, CSS, Flash, Javascript and so on.

While working as an intern and freelancing it became apparent to me that web design skills were highly in demand. In my professional career, roughly 70%-80% of my assignments have been web related. According to a new report from ExactTarget and Econsultancy, digital marketing spending will increase 17% in 2010 as marketers move dollars away from TV, print and radio advertising to social media, mobile, search and e-mail marketing. It is obvious to me that the design world is changing rapidly and that knowledge of the latest technologies is key for future success.

I believe I was a freshman in college when I joined Facebook. At the time I had no idea how much that one particular website would shape my future but I did know that it was something special. Watching friends devote hours daily to facebook made me realize that this wasn't just another website, people were not just surfing the site, they were living in it.

My junior year I began work on Artistful.com. Watching fellow artists graduate from college, not find a job, and give up on art became a common occurrence. I thought if I could re-create the art college campus online it may allow them to stay engaged enough to keep creating art and make valuable connections.

Artistful.com had features for artists such as a blog so they could get critique on works in progress, a portfolio where they could show completed work, a gallery where they could sell pieces online, and a social page where other users could see a newsfeed of activity as well as leave feedback on their wall.

In early 2010 Artisful.com was shut down. Despite recruiting over 3000 artists to join the site the outlook was not good. Maintenance costs were rising daily and to actively pursue customers was going to require a much larger investment than we had.

In 2008 I reluctantly gave up my blackberry for an iPhone. I wasn't sold on the touch screen keyboard but I had seen several cool apps on friends' phones so I gave in.

Soon enough I became a full-blown iPhone addict. Mobile applications allowed me to read the news daily, monitor my diet, record distance and calories burned while exercising, do my online banking, control my fantasy football team, listen to music, book travel reservations, even read children's books to my niece. The iPhone very quickly became a crucial tool in my day-to-day life as it did for thousands of other people.

By 2010, hundreds of developers were flocking to Apple's development program. After reading articles on so many app success stories I began dabbling in mobile application design. Not long after I was approached by friends and former colleagues who eventually convinced me to leave my job in order to work on a startup focusing specifically on mobile applications. Together we released several apps of our own as well as built apps for other companies.

My first attempt at an app was amazingly one of the most successful. Now on iPhone, iPad, and Android, Easy Coloring is designed specifically for toddlers. Users can draw by simply selecting a crayon then touching the screen.

Another application designed for Toddlers, Dinosaur Dig allows users to dig by dragging their fingers across the screen to discover dinosaur bones. Toddlers can keep digging to find all the bones to 3 dinosaur skeletons.

My latest project is a scrabble like app that offers multiple board layouts as well as themed boards and tiles. While only available on iPhone at the moment, users will soon be able to play cross platform on iPad, Web OS, and Android.

Designed for Kenzo Winery, this application helps the winery establish their community in the mobile realm. Users can check the calendar of events, read the latest news, receive push notifications, and much more. We are also developing a tasting room app that will allow visitors to browse wines available for the tasting.

Web content has evolved quickly over the last few years. The first step was simple web pages, which were nothing more than brochures online. It then progressed to social networks that allowed for rapid information sharing, 2-way interaction and fan base building. Now Mobile applications allow for all of the above plus online and offline content, real-time alerts, location based features, interactive tools, video capability, camera features and more.

U.S. Smartphone usage has grown by 600% in the last 2 years. There are now 45 million total smart phones in the U.S. Smartphone users have downloaded on average over 13 applications each.

With Android, Blackberry, Palm, and Windows now joining Apple's party the future of mobile applications seems incredible. Well-designed applications that work on a variety of platforms such as smart phones, computers, tablets, televisions, automobile computer systems and so on are going to become essential for every major business.