Profile image
Michael T. Widener
U.X. Visual Designer 🎓
American University (Class of 2011)
Even though I have a high school diploma and a University degree,
I'm always taking classes somewhere!

👆My "Itty-bitty" Blog👇

As of January 29th, 2024:
Pacific Standard Time:
(This is My "Itty-bitty" Blog.)

I have a lot to say, but, I will only say a little on this page. Talking too much, and, talking too quickly doesn't constitute good communication. So welcome to my talent, instead of, reading about it; because: "Seeing is better than believing." (And yeah, that's a run-on sentence for some these days.) - Michael T. Widener.

👆Work History👇

This long and scrolling page, called a "funnel," lists a few of my favorite designs created using Adobe Creative Suite (all apps) and Apple Final Cut Pro (all versions).

👆My Favorite Designs👇

See my favorite designs, and, click them, to see a panel appear stating more.

Poster Design thumbnail

Lindsay Eythe
(Former Professor)

Poster Design

Stamp Design thumbnail

Lindsay Eythe
(Former Professor)

Stamp Design

Ad Design thumbnail

Ross Nover
(Former Professor)

Ad Design

Game Design thumbnail

Brian Davis
(Former Professor)

Game Design

DVD Menu thumbnail

Randall Packer
(Former Professor)

DVD Menu & Video Editing

Production Bumper thumbnail

Kylos Brannon
(Former Professor)

Production Bumper Design

Glenmont Methodist Church thumbnail

Glenmont UMC
(Former Client)

Website Design & Maintenance

Double O Technologies thumbnail

Double O Technologies
(Former Client)

Website Design & Maintenance

Frag-tastic thumbnail

Frag-tastic Travel
(Homework Assignment)

Website Design

Phantom Records thumbnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

Website Design & Maintenance

Phantom Records thumbnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

Web Application

Phantom Records thumbnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

Compact Disc Packaging Design

Phantom Records thumbnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

"Wild Wild West" DJ Mix

Phantom Records thumnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

"My Love Is Your Love" DJ Mix

Phantom Records thumbnail

Phantom Records
(Self-Employment)

"Faithfully" DJ Mix

Manic Ceramic thumnail

"Gabriella"
(Former Client)

Logo Design

Talentkite thumbnail

"Glenn"
(Former Client)

Website, Business Cards, & VM Design

👆My Favorite Passions👇

Six things I do for fun:

1. Reading Software How-Tos,
2. Updating Old Graphics,
3. Playing PickelBall™,
4. Linking Social Media Accounts for Fun,
5. Eating Healthily,
6. Looking Like My Old Photographs.

The video below is another passion;
but it's password-protected because
it's Rated-16+. (I linked the definition here or here.)

  • mini-game sketch step stand disarm mini game

    Flash Animation

    Step Stand Disarm

    This text left here for die-hard animation fans. (Otherwise, it's too much information.) Michael created an interactive "mini game" animation to represent the "Peace Process" in an interesting way. He bought a dance pad with a USB cable connection. The dance pad is three feet by three feet wide. He then designed a "cover" for the pad. His "cover" was also three feet by three, designed in Adobe Photoshop and created at full print quality: 300DPI. That is an extremely large file and it was very time consuming to work with but Michael believes in quality and flexibility so he did it anyway. He had the "cover" printed at FedEx Office on to vinyl paper. The then "stuck" the "cover" on top of the dance pad so that his "pictures" precisely covered the dance pad's contact points. In other words, a dancer stepping on his "pictures" would activate the "hotspots" beneath the "cover" and send a signal into the "mini game" he created. The "mini game" was made in Adobe Flash, and he used a small Mac OS X utlitity to interpret the dance pad's "buttons" to send keyboard keystrokes depending on which one was "stepped on" or "pressed." The keystrokes were then mapped, within Flash, to activate certain animation sequences. During his design process, it was told to Michael that moving within Flash from one "Scene" to another the way Michael wanted was impossible. Michael searched Google for three days and found the same claim. So what did he do? He guessed. Based on the "syntax" of ActionScript, Michael created an original code sequence and it worked.

  • mac plus se image graphics office

    ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS ANIMATION

    Kinetic Type

    "Kinetic Type" is a type of animation with moving text. Movies that have opening sequences with elaborate movements, such as the Spiderman movies, where the camera moves around the web hopping from one text phrase to another, are using "Kinetic Type" or "moving text." Michael used Adobe After Effects to create this animation. But with this one, he also used his DJ-skill to "time" the animation to the audio in the attached sound file. An author read their famous passage from "Lenore," and Michael animated the entire portion. This is only a portion, as the project was split between Michael and others. This is Michael's portion: Kinetic Type Animation.

  • animation3 thumbnail animation3

    ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS WEB BANNERS & ADS

    AARP Amimations

    After creating hollywood quality animations for this project, Michael received feedback that he only had to make very simply, slow-moving animations because the senior customers viewing the animations were likely only interested in that, instead of something too fancy. Michael created these to accomodate the Client's request. These are very easy to make and fun to make in various colors or to make various alternatives such as ones that play normally and ones that play on holidays with different, festive animations. See one of them here. NOTE: The animation is very slow! You have to wait for it!

  • Where
    I Learned
    This
    👇

👆My Education👇

Listen closely; I know this sounds like b*llsh*t to average American who hasn't traveled outside of the United States and some not ever on a plane.

For the rest, this is all true and it shows what an education can do. Although the United States continually rankes 27th in the world in everything, that is only because the United States does not give students money to go to school like EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRY on Earth.

That's why the ranks here are so low and that's THE ONLY REASON. I'm a "straight-A student" both domestically and abroad. I always have been because my parents gave me the money the U.S. Department of Education never would have given.

HTML certification thumnail

Certified in
HTML

W3 Schools
Active in 2015

CSS certification thumbnail

Certified in
CSS

W3 Schools
Active in 2015

JavaScript certification thumbnail

Certified in
JavaScript

W3 Schools
Active in 2015

Photoshop Certification thumbnail

Certified in
Photoshop

Adobe Systems, Inc.
Active in 2012

Flash Certification thumbnail

Certified in
Flash

Adobe Systems, Inc.
Active in 2012

Ad Design thumbnail

Certified in
Dreamweaver

Adobe Systems, Inc.
Active in 2012

A plus Certification thumbnail

Certified in
Computer Support

CompTIA
Active in 2012

Computing Fundamentals certification thumbnail

Certified in
Computing Fundamentals

Certiport
Active in 2012

Microsoft Office certification thumbnail

Certified in
Microsoft Office

Microsoft
Active in 2012

Bachelor's degree thumbnail

Bachelor of Science in
Multimedia Design

American University
Washington, D.C. (On Campus)
Graduated in 2011

👆
I work exclusively
via LinkedIn.