It started with drawing. Then a camera, an editor, design software. The tools changed. The habit didn't.
At Ball State I learned to be scrappy: donor stories for the Foundation on my own gear, weddings on the side. Then I wrote a poem, and it became the film I'm still most awarded for.
2020 – 2021
Ball State University Foundation
We Are Cardinals is my most-awarded film: a poem I wrote as a love letter to Ball State, performed by Edgar de Santiago and shot on the fly by a crew of three for One Ball State Day 2021. The Foundation asked for the poem to give to donors, and Edgar and I presented the film at UpLift Ball State in Florida in February 2022.
Donor stories, scholarship thank-yous and an annual awards film, shot on my own gear while I finished a degree in media, promotion and management.
Role
Digital Media Specialist
Work
Fundraising and donor films, campus photography
Reach
120K+ views
Also One Ball State Day 2021 countdown films, a We Fly welcome for new grads, a Student Networking Event promo, and pieces for Cardinal Callers, the Boys & Girls Club and Cardinal Econ: 19 Ball State films in all.
Gold CASE Award, student-produced video (2021)
Silver CASE Award, fundraising video (2022)
Ball State Student of the Year, Media, Promotion & Management (2021)
Also in this part
Me, 2016, serving at the U of M courts
Me, 2018, filming a wedding
Shooting a wedding, 2018: the strings on my monitor
I graduated in 2021 and went out on my own. Some confidence. Some hubris.
So I took the work that came: drone films from a trip along the East Coast, video for Howden, a blacksmith's whole brand, and a short for Yazaki that ends on one word.
July – August 2021
Yazaki: Inspired
My first job for Yazaki, as a freelancer. The Inspiration Hub team wanted a short about their space. Their notes after the first cut were one list: inspiration, creative, transformation, joy, action, collaboration. So the next cuts traded building shots for people.
Logo, short film, documentary and product photography
A long-running collaboration with a blacksmith friend: the shop's identity in light and dark versions, a short film from inside the forge with a 30-second cut, and photo series of the shop build, a ring build and the finished pieces.
In 2022 I joined Yazaki full time, hired to build something that didn't exist yet.
First the R&D Playground, a space to get people back into the office after COVID. Then the Makerspace, where I built most of the systems, wrote a lot of the classes and taught almost half of them. Then AI showed up, so I made it a competition, then a set of classes.
2024 – present
Yazaki Makerspace
A central place that breaks down the barriers to solving problems. We pulled print resources, electronics and a photo lab for employee and product photos together from around the building, then added 3D printing and lasers. It's open to every employee for work and personal projects.
Michael Boyd's team, who ran budget, safety and requests
Built most of the systems: the SharePoint site and its class booking, OneDrive, and each machine's console, software and accounts
Wrote the class content and marketing, taught almost half of all classes, and oriented new makers and instructors
Created the associate-instructor model, where makers grow into instructors and Supermakers
Built a self-serve headshot booth that 1,000+ people have used
Built the Makerspace identity: logo system, mascots, skill-area signage, maps and apparel
The clearest sign it works: the quality of maker projects keeps rising
Also in this part
R&D PlaygroundThe space before the Makerspace, 2022–2024Details
2022 – 2024
Yazaki R&D Playground
Client
Yazaki North America, Canton MI
Role
R&D Coordinator
Work
Exhibits, events, space, identity, photography
Yazaki created the Playground in late 2022 to draw people back to the office after COVID, and my role was created to build and lead it. I made technology exhibits from Yazaki's own work, including connector cross-sections, VR experiences and robotics teardowns, and ran events like the AI Olympics. I also designed its identity, featured every intern, and photographed the demos.
Wrote "R&D Playground 2.0: Excite the Excitable", with a Proving Ground for intern projects and university clubs and a Main Stage for presentations, demos and MIT ILP broadcasts
Re-themed the space through the year to keep it fresh for returning employees: the World Cup, March Madness, Rubik's Cube and robotics demos, and a Spot teardown
Created a composite nameplate poster for each intern
Supported 40+ visits from OEMs, a bank, suppliers and Yazaki groups
Hosted a U of M Dearborn autonomous go-kart presentation and an EMDEP demo, plus 40+ riddles of the day and 25+ bake deliveries
Photographed 200+ moments, from Kids Day's Terrific Towers to the 2023 intern class
Its smart systems, tools and lighting helped launch the Makerspace in 2024
Maker Cup 2026A build-and-race event the interns ranDetails
June – July 2026
Maker Cup 2026
Client
Yazaki Makerspace
Work
Event identity, trophies and medals, signage, promo and race-day photography
With
The Makerspace interns I led, who organized the event
A build-and-race competition for battery-powered micro cars. Teams of two to four, each with at least one employee and one intern, built a car from a kit and raced it on a 32-foot drag strip and a 25° hill climb in a double-elimination bracket. The interns ran the event; I designed how it looked.
Designed the identity: the checkered M roundel, rainbow race graphics, the “Are you a racer?” recruiting flyer, start and finish-line signage and the bracket screen
Designed the 3D-printed trophies with team nameplates, and medals for Drag Strip, Hill Climb and People's Choice
Shot the concept-car promo photos and race day
The debrief set up 2027: one standard track released early, and workshops with a set topic each week
I run the Makerspace, I take on creative work as IM4Creative, and I make things for people I like. Next, I want to build something sustainable and cyclical, something that keeps going after I step away. Still figuring out what that looks like. The tools will keep changing. The habit won't.
Lately
Calisthenics AcademyA seal, a flyer and wood-burned parallettesDetails
2025 – present
Calisthenics Academy
Work
Identity, event flyer, wood burning
A calisthenics training project in Plymouth, Michigan. I designed its seal and logo, carried the seal onto wood-burned parallette holders, and made the flyer for the 20x25 Calisthenics Challenge: 20 sets of 25 reps, 500 in all, with partners racing for the fastest time at Hines Park on September 13, 2025.
Deep dives
For anyone who wants the details: how the Makerspace runs, the rest of my Yazaki work, and the AI classes.
Inside the Makerspace
What we run, how it works, and the systems I built so people can use the place without asking me first.
389makers
421orientations
584class records
22classes
89event reviews
103projects in the gallery
4,654sq ft, 6 skill areas
Classes & workshops
Every machine has a class, booked through the site I built on SharePoint and logged in the class record book. I developed the Photo Lab classes, the laser class, sublimation and Cricut, brought 3D printing Fundamentals, Intermediate and TinkerCAD online, and taught almost half of all classes. Classes I wrote are marked ★.
Bambu A1 Mini ★Bambu P1S ★Bambu H2CSpecialty FilamentTinkerCAD for 3D Printing ★Onshape for 3D PrintingFusion 360Laser: Falcon 2 Pro ★Laser AdvancedProduct Photography ★Headshot / Passport ★Image Gen: Brand & Promotion ★Image Gen: Restore & Remix ★SewingEmbroideryCricut ★Sublimation & Heat Press ★Large Format PrintingBoard SolderingWire SolderingElectronic TestingEmbedded Systems
Introduction to Lithophanes, taught by a community instructor
Introduction to 3D CAD with FreeCAD, run twice
Print-in-Place workshop, the best received, now a step toward Supermaker
The Supermaker system turns regulars into teachers. Michael Manor started as a maker, became an instructor, then finished the Supermaker prerequisites with the Print-in-Place workshop. In one month of fall 2024 I taught 13 classes and brought in 20 new makers.
Events
Four kinds of events: Workshops, Make & Tell, Community Projects and Make & Go. Make & Go is the one I'd run again tomorrow: fast and exciting, though hard to design. Make & Tell is next to change, focusing each one on one or two topics.
Soft launch
Ribbon cutting to open the Makerspace, hosted by our team
Make & Tell show-and-tells
Kids Day
SAE Micro-Electric Vehicle Competition, hosted at Yazaki. I set up the event's look
Intern events: Minion Monologues, Make Banners, Ford intern tour
Summer Vibes competition
Make & Go at WWEC: 3D-printed traveler's tools and custom T-shirts for 50–70 people, with Engineering and HR
Maker Cup: a build-and-race electric car competition organized by interns I led. I designed its look: logo, promo photos, trophy, medals and finish line
Clubs grew out of the Makerspace too: a jump rope club, a chess club and the Gardenspace. Plus tours for visiting groups and a FIRST robotics demo.
Systems I built
I built most of the Makerspace's systems. The rest of the team ran budget, safety and incoming requests.
SharePoint home base: built and rebuilt two or three times. It started bare-bones, with just class sign-ups and orientations, and grew into a page for each skill area with its instructors, the class booking site, and Report, Submit and Request buttons on the homepage
Machine consoles: each station's computer set up with its software and accounts, with files kept in OneDrive
Records: instructors and orienters log each orientation and class sign-off (398 in the record book) so we can track new makers, plus an equipment list of 61 entries. Project submissions are how we measure use
Equipment error reporting: a maker reports a problem from the homepage or a machine's QR code. Maintenance marks the ticket in progress while diagnosing, contacts the maker with questions, and updates the ticket when the fix is done. Every ticket feeds a maintenance page
Incident and near-miss reporting: a submit-only form, a staff-only list, and a Power Automate alert to staff
Project gallery and Project Recipes: makers submit projects; recipes document example builds, with the piece in the display case
Library: 74 guides, software pages and tutorials, and an instructor and Supermaker directory with card views per area
Maker Store: single items from bulk orders, ordered by QR, with proceeds to charity
In development
The Makerspace Hub: a web app to replace the SharePoint lists and Bookings. SharePoint is very limiting, and our corner of the company has room to experiment. A 43-table database with row-level security, magic-link sign-in, a page for every machine reached by QR tag, problem reports and service logs, classes, a library, a maker directory, the project gallery, recipes, materials, the store and events. It already holds 389 makers, 421 orientations, 584 class records and 103 projects.
Ribbon cutting, July 2024Make & TellLithophane workshopLaser class: business card boxSAE Micro-Electric Vehicle CompetitionKids Day 2025Print-in-Place workshopSummer Vibes winnersRoboTitans FIRST robotics demoRoboTitans robotGardenspace planting, April 2025Minion Monologues, intern talksOctober EE LuncheonTour group, March 2025Make & Go identityMaker Mail newsletter bannerMake Banners, intern eventRibbon cutting team, July 2024Ribbon cutting day, July 2024Makerspace team, 2024Summer Vibes winners, August 2025Ford intern tour, 2025Intro to 3D CAD workshopMakerspace at WWEC 2025Make Banners, 2025Makerspace map, black and white
The space
The six skill areas, from the May 2024 soft launch to an after-hours lighting shoot in March 2026.
Front entrance3D Lab3D Lab, at the printer3D printing benchLaser LabLaser Lab, laser modulePhoto Lab, headshot studioPhoto Lab, product light boxStitch studioSewing in the stitch studioElectronics benchPrint StudioPrint Studio, trimming a printPrint Studio, large-format printerSoft launch, May 2024
More from Yazaki
The rest of my Yazaki work, 2022 to now: trade shows, recruiting, plant films, communications, and a lot of photos.
CES 2023
Yazaki Innovations at CES
The brief was a theme, “speed, strength, growth,” and I built a range of ideas from it: booth vinyl and pylons, the intro film, shirts, chopsticks, business cards and the invitation poster. The interactive kiosk app, built in HTML, was the sales team's tool, with talking points on the services Yazaki Innovations offered as a new venture.
A “What's your Y?” recruiting banner built from intern quotes, a flyer that folds into a paper airplane with a puzzle inside, business cards, and a film with University of Michigan students. The flyer worked especially well for the intern program.
The “Napkins to New Business” event identity and a looping video board for Yazaki Innovations.
Event identity · Video board
2023 – 2025
Worldwide Engineering Conference
Promotional materials and exhibits, made with the R&D Playground: identity, a commemorative coin, venue layout and signage, nametags, a promo film and animation loops. In 2025 the Makerspace ran Make & Go there, with its own branding.
Identity · Wayfinding · Motion
2022 – 2023
Plant & engineering films
Films that show Yazaki's products and manufacturing to visitors and internal audiences: the J3 and J5 high-voltage plants, the YCC plant, the Engineering Testing Center (English, Spanish and social cuts) and the Optimus harness build. The Testing Center film was also shown to production teams in Mexico.
Documentary · Interviews · Spanish edit
2022 – 2025
Corporate communications
“From Our Family to Yours,” an automotive magazine ad meant to show both a focus on the future and a family identity. I put out a call with drawing prompts, and parents brought in their kids' drawings. Plus the Power. Data. Display. poster, AEM event graphics, and a 24-slide review of yazaki.com.
Magazine ad · Print · Event graphics · UX review
2023 – present
Headshots & recognition
1,000+ employee headshots, and recognition portraits and posters: Engineering Green Belts, AMUG's President's and Dino awards, and the 2024 Automotive News PACE Award.
Portraits · Awards · Studio
Early 2024
AI Olympics
Run out of the R&D Playground after ChatGPT and DALL-E came out: six weeks of new challenges for 90+ associates on 19 teams, testing the tech by generating images, recipes, websites and presentations, such as Week 3's “Culinary Marathon.” Many of the competitors went on to become Makerspace regulars.
Training · Program design
2024 – 2025
Product & patent photography
Studio and macro photography of connectors, harnesses, high-voltage components and patented parts for Patent Week, tech shows and product decks.
Product · Macro · Studio
2023
360° Dojo tours
360° tours of the automated wire-harness line process (the Sento line) in the training Dojo, shown in VR headsets at an exhibition in Japan.
360° video · VR
2025
Yazaki E-Bike concept
My first AI-video project: concept films and display and app scenes for an internal presentation of an e-bike connectivity concept.
AI video · Concept
2025
EI Tech Shop & HV Lab
Replacing campus signage: banners, door placards for the Engineering Innovation tech shop and the high-voltage lab, and photos of associates.
Wayfinding · Signage · Photography
More Yazaki photography
Events, product shots, signage and people from across Yazaki North America.
2024 Yazaki Car Show, from the drone2023 Yazaki Car Show logoDC shed, product photoDC shed, mock-upEDS product shotZoran HV busbar connectorsHV Lab research signageProject Zone banner, EI Tech Shop360° photoEMDEP demoFord BU harness VAVE workshopEngineering holiday party, 2025Town Hall, July 2023WWECEmployee headshot
AI & generative work
Claude, Gemini and Photoshop's generative tools. What I've made with them, and what I'm teaching.
Remix 100 · 2:01 · sound on
Photo Lab · Style Reference Poster
One building, 100 styles
I took one photo of a glass office building with a wooden canopy and restyled it 100 ways in Gemini, from wireframes and silhouettes to holographic foil, with the camera angle locked so only the style changes. The tiles became a 36 × 54 in reference poster for the Photo Lab: 50 black-and-white styles, 50 color and a page of style variables. Remix 100 runs all of them in two minutes over an original soundtrack, built with Claude.
The trick: put “keep the exact same camera angle” before the style, or Gemini moves the camera
Restore & Remix promo loop · 0:59
Class promo · Q-AI-101
Restore & Remix, in a minute
A promo loop for the first class. A damaged print gets repaired and recolored, then a “style slot machine” spins medium, color and one variable until it lands on pen and ink, paint, vector and finally a 3D-printed miniature. Every frame is drawn in code, built with Claude.
The Q · AI Image Series
Three hands-on classes in development, built on a five-layer prompt framework: Subject · Setting · Structure · Style · Maker. The habit across all three: isolate to control. Dial in one layer at a time, then stack.
Q-AI-101
Restore & Remix
Edit existing images with surgical control: describe what to keep as precisely as what to change.
Digital repair: denoise and upscale
Physical repair: tears, creases and fading
Recolor black-and-white photos
Interior design remix
Exterior design remix
Background generator
Add and remove elements
Use styles: the reference image shortcut
Q-AI-102
Image Generation
Build prompts from scratch, one layer of the framework at a time.
Logo generation
Subject: the focal point
Setting: the world and the action
Style: genre and mood
Structure: the spatial foundation
Q-AI-103
Maker Generation
Prompt for files the machines can use: cut paths, engraving art and 3D models.
Cricut: clean cut paths
Sketch to vector logo pipeline
Laser-optimized black-and-white styles
3D generation with Meshy, plus the series capstone
Class demos
Practice images for Restore & Remix, each prompted to fix one thing and protect the rest, and a location photo taken to the laser.
1.2 Physical repair: tear and fading1.3 Recolor: a 1940s street1.1 Digital repair: a faded 1970s picnic1.4 Interior remix: the break room1.6 Background generator1.7 Add and remove: the trash canOne Electronics photo, three laser-ready styles
Claude
My build partner for tools and systems: teaching games like Restyle Lab, Floor Walk and Brand Dice, animated loops like Remix 100, the Makerspace Hub web app, and this site.
Gemini
Image generation and restyling: the 100-style poster, laser-ready black-and-white styles, logo and poster explorations, and the infographic slides for my classes.
Photoshop
Generative fill and expand for retouching, extending and finishing images, alongside the compositing I've done for years.
The base photo for all 100 stylesStyle Reference Poster, color pageClass slide: the modular prompt formulaClass slide: structure first, then styleClass slide: style vs. maker generationBlack-and-white laser image stylesFire pit design, linocut styleMap stylizationMakesafe mascot, 3D renderCalisthenics Academy poster concept3D printer line artOptimus Grime, photoreal5S safety graphicsInk landscape, made in ChatGPTStyle 091 from the poster
Everything else
The rest of the work, sorted by what it is. Click anything to see it bigger.
Portraits · commercial · events · FAA Part 107 aerial
Paden & Erica's wedding, the recessionalPaden & Erica, portraits on the waterfrontPaden, “just married” on the marqueePaden & Erica, lakeside receptionWire harness, product macroNational Intern Day portraitsIntern nameplate compositeSAE micro-vehicle, product shotMakerspace interns, 2025Campus holiday lights, droneOn-board charger connectorEngineer at the microscopeDojo visitMakerspace skill areasDC charging test stationElectronics classKids Day, Terrific TowersComposite: dancer and statuePortrait, CincinnatiMaverick LE Night, light paintingNiagara Falls at nightStudio portraitWedding ceremonyAmazon Fresh store teamLego set, studio litPortrait at duskFrance, droneLa Soupe kitchen teamMaternity sessionPortrait with a cameraGraduation compositeShafer Tower, Ball StateCorporate headshots, QASAutumn portraitWedding portraitsGraduation portraitShop build seriesFamily sessionNiagara Falls, rainbowProfessional portraitTai chi classGolden-hour portraitFrance coastlineMont Ventoux at sunsetProvence vineyardsCoast road, ProvencePortrait on a bridgeMaverick LE NightStudio headshotWindow-light portraitBaby shower, 2023Maternity silhouette, 2024Maverick LE Night, light trailsStreet portrait, ParisWedding aisle, black and white
Brand & Design
Identities · signage · print · interactive
R&D Playground identityOptimus Grime mascot3D Lab console background3D Lab SupermakersMakerspace floor mapHIVE identityMascot sticker sheetBooking page iconsYII interactive, CESEI Tech Shop bannersTech show product graphicPlayground stage configurationsNeely IronworkThe Big A-wardsLive and Let Drive posterCalisthenics AcademyMakerspace apparelMakerspace class badgesLemonade Stand podcastBig A-wards logoIM CreativeApparel, blue palette
Maker & Fabrication
Laser · 3D print · wood burning · product photography
Firepit topperTurntable coastersCoasters, red setHV busbar connectorConnector photographyParallette holdersGrandpa Bob's toolbeltKids' Day portrait boothTurntable coasters, whiteFire pit topper, map designMaker Cup trophy concept, latticeWedding seating chart
Training & Programs
Courses · competitions · how-to design
20+ hands-on Makerspace courses, from 3D printing to soldering and laser cutting, with instruction sheets and class badges
AI Olympics: a 6-week AI best-practices competition for 90+ associates, with challenges, rules and team scoring
AI image-generation training for colleagues, built as a four-step prompt method
A self-serve headshot booth used by 1,000+ people: you see yourself live, take the shot with a wireless mouse, and it edits and crops automatically, then exports a passport, badge or profile photo
