About

Welcome! My name is Heather Thiessen (Thiessen is my married name, Soiferman is my maiden name in case there's any confusion). I'll be honest, I'm not sure which name to go by, I sort of got an idea in my head that my 'work persona' would remain as Heather Soiferman, then realized there were actually some good reasons why I had to go by Thiessen - such as getting paid under the correct name as I had changed my bank account statements for my new last name. If you look on the modern earth website (where I am currently employed) you will see that I am listed under Heather Soiferman.

I will respond to both names when called, although I have been told I don't have the best hearing in the world and I like to work with headphones on so you might have to call me a few times before I properly respond. People at work have resorted to poking, and I don't mind at all.

I'll give a brief history of myself. I was born in the grand metropolis of Saskatoon then moved to Winnipeg when I was a little after 1 year old, I graduated from Oak Park High School and attended Red River College in the fall of 1999 where I learnt 2D and 3D animation and some basics of game design.

Then the market collapsed in 2000, Disney closed both their Canadian studios and I decided I would pursue my artistic career at the University of Manitoba, where I graduated with my bachelor of Fine Arts.

Some day I would like to teach graphic design at a university level, I have given a few talks at the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre and enjoyed it quite a lot.

Passions

I'd like to say I have a few passions... design being one of them, all things design. I am an amateur comic artist in my spare time and I love thinking of new and innovative ways to put something down on a page, and this translates over into my design work as well. I try and push myself on every concept that I come up with to try and outdo what I did the last time. I also love talking design. If you need a second opinion or want to just want to discuss design in general, I'm your person.

Another passion of mine is art in general. I love painting, sketching, doing small sculptures with sculpey clay then painting them later. Often late on a Saturday night I get together with my best friend and we'll spend hours just making different kind of little objects. She has all the greatest things to use, I feel bad as often I'm mooching some wonderful thing off her to try out and use.

Finally, another passion of mine are sports. I love team sports, I play ringette all-year round and soccer in the summer. It's probably also the reason why I'm not severely overweight as maybe another passion would also be candy.

Now on to the work related stuff...

Currently I am working as a senior graphic/web designer and project manager for Modern Earth Web Design, a web design company that designs websites, programs and other media, both digital and print for a variety of clients. I interact on a daily basis with clients, co-workers and sales reps in a team environment. I have managed designers and developers who help me to build websites and web applications and have trained other designers in the past.

I have extensive experience with programs such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, After Effects, Premier, Maya and Flash to name a few. I am comfortable on both Mac and PC platforms. I also have experience optimizing online content for smart phones, tablets and other hand-helds. Working alongside developers, I have helped to create websites that require a significant e-commerce portion, online magazine sites and donation systems.

Contact Me

If you'd like to contact me you can send me an email. I will try to respond as soon as I can! Thank you for visiting.