About
I'm an artist and designer with over 20 years experience in a variety of media and forms.
I strive to design products that foster growth and community.
- John Everett Morton
Born and raised in the greater Chicagoland, I currently call DeKalb, Illinois my home.
Since I can remember I have been drawing and designing. After the first time I played Super Mario Bros., I taped sheets of paper across the dining room floor to map out my own vision for a video game.
The more skills I acquire, the more things I design and create: Spreadsheets, furniture, instruments, notebooks, tarot cards. You name it.
However, I also believe it’s not enough to build something just because you can. Products, whether tangible or digital, should be designed with purpose and intent. There should be a net benefit.
Make it official and take a look at my resume.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
I love this quote. It speaks to a lifetime learning mindset and the idea that if you don't know how to do something, you will figure it out. That is a philosophy that I hold for myself.
FAQ
What Is Time Arts?
Time Arts refers to any kind of art that happens on a timeline or is interactive. This could include user interfaces for kiosks, internet applications, video installations, animation, and much more. It is sort of an experimental precursor to formal UX studies. When I graduated the first iPhone was still two years away.
Why UX Design?
I've always been split pretty evenly between activities considered "right-brain" and "left-brain". I've been drawing since I can remember, but began computer programming at 11.
While acing math classes all through school, I considered a career drawing comic books.
UX design has that great blend of the analytical and the artistic that I have always sought.
What are some of your favorite accomplishments?
The Dwell Time Tracker was my first digital product in a professional capacity. It is one of my proudest accomplishments.
In the early 2000s I completed Scott McCloud's 24-Hour Comic Book challenge.
In 2008 I successfully completed National Novel Writing Month, writing a 50,000+ word novel in thirty days, with my title, "The Mourner's Guide to the Death of Charlie Edison". I'd like to try it again someday.
For years my primary computer was a Hackintosh that I built from scratch.
In 2013 I bought my first home and lived in the basement the first year while I rehabbed the upper levels almost entirely by myself.
What is "Neat & Keen"?
I've always had a fondness for words that had kind of fallen out of style. There are quite a few John Morton's in the world, so I decided to funnel my creative pursuits under a business name.
neat /nēt/ adjective
1. (of a place or thing) arranged in an orderly, tidy way.
2. done with or demonstrating skill or efficiency
3. (of liquid, especially liquor) not diluted or mixed with anything else; and how I typicaly take my bourbon
keen /kēn/ adjective
1. (of a sense) highly developed.
2. having or showing eagerness or enthusiasm
3. excellent