The People
Justin Toupin
Creative Director / Principal
Justin founded Aten Design Group in early 2000 while still in college. His focus on clear, effective design solutions and his determination to achieve project goals drive the design process at Aten. Justin has a passion for working with cultural/social organizations – particularly with museums and humanitarian agencies.
Justin’s roles include providing overall creative direction and producing actual visual designs for projects. Additionally, Justin is a capable front-end and backend developer with eight years of experience programming for the web using a variety of technologies.
Also, Justin runs (and owns) the business.
Ken Woodworth
Art Director
Ken is a proficient illustrator and designer with a gift for creating beautiful, intuitive design systems for even the most complex requirements. Ken’s work has been linked from a wide range of CSS design galleries and praised by prominent designers and authors in the web standards movement. Ken’s design capabilities are matched by a thorough understanding and ability in multiple production techniques, including (X)HTML/CSS and Flash, which makes his designs not only beautiful, but highly functional.
In addition to design, Ken has extensive experience developing interactive applications and online games, and has served as lead developer in Flash projects for Colonial Williamsburg, Habitat for Humanity, the National Portrait Gallery, and more.
Jon Clark
Business Development Director
Jon was a co-founder of the company. Since 2000, he has contributed to all stages of design projects – from conception to production. He leads the company’s new business development efforts, while managing projects and ongoing client relationships. Jon’s experience and understanding of the design process, combined with clear and effective communication, make him an ideal point of contact for Aten’s clients. He continues to play an important role in concept development and the rest of the creative process.
Brad Bowman
Lead Developer
Brad began working in backend systems development at Aten in 2003, while still in college. Today, Brad handles implementation and customization of backend systems at every stage of Aten projects. Brad is a proficient developer and has designed and programmed large-scale applications using PHP, ColdFusion, .NET, SQL Server, MySQL, and other server-side technologies. Brad has a strong leaning toward open source technologies and has contributed modules, patches, and patch reviews to the Drupal development community. Additionally, Brad has provided student mentoring for the Google Highly Open Participation contest.
Scott Reynen
Senior Web Developer
Scott joined Aten in 2009. He worked on the web for over a decade before that, creating many popular web applications using a variety of tools. Scott currently works primarily with PHP and JavaScript within Drupal. Scott is passionate about web standards and the web community. He suspects this internets thing may catch on.
Joel Steidl
Senior Designer
Joel came to Aten in 2009 from Nashville, TN, where he spent four years at a leading interactive agency in the area. During his time there, he served as senior designer, associate creative director, and most recently director of development. Joel excels at making complicated design problems simple through good interface design. Through the years, Joel has become proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Expression Engine (CMS). Whether designing or coding, Joel has a passion for doing things right.
When he’s not creating awesome things on the web, you can find him exploring a new trails, hanging out with his wife, or traveling the world.
Eric Toupin
Web Producer
Eric works with clients in the content migration process, writes proposals and web content for Aten, and heads up efforts on numerous internal projects within the company. He is an excellent communicator and a gifted writer, making him an important asset for content development in the implementation phase of projects. He shares the same last name as the company’s principal, and sounds strikingly similar to Justin on the phone. Some people accept the explanation that they are brothers; others believe they are actually the same person and it’s some kind of joke.
Noah Smith
Digital Artist
Noah has been working with Aten to bring creative concepts to life since mid-2000. Noah is proficient in 2-D and 3-D animation, illustration, motion graphics, and character design, and delivers powerful illustrations and animations across a diverse range of styles. In addition to his work with Aten, Noah has worked on projects for clients including ABC Family, Toon Disney, ESPN and CBS.