Biography

Hello. My name is Fonda Carranza. I grew up in New Mexico and moved to Oakland seven years ago for my undergrad. I have a BFA in printmaking and arts education from CCA. After graduating there, I worked with a variety of non profits to teach art classes to elementary and high school students throughout the Bay Area. I am fluent in English and Spanish and conversational in American Sign Language. I currently work as a web designer at Bio-Rad Laboratories in Hercules, CA. I have a miniature pet bunny who has one white ear and one black ear.

After my undergrad, I found myself doing a lot of digital design work and decided to push my career in the direction it seemed to already be flowing in. Thus I found the Web Design and New Media department at AAU. I very much enjoy the creative and hands-on process involved in fine art, but appreciate the clarity and order within web design. In my future, I look forward to finding a career path that allows me to marry that aspect of design with the myriad of functionality that I am continuing to learn.

Please take a look at my website:
http://www.lovefonda.com/

Wordle.net Tag Cloud

TED Video

Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read

Favorite Websites

http://www.behance.net/
Behance is a showcase of amazing portfolios across all creative industries. It is free to sign up for a portfolio and seemingly simple to create. They have an amazing and inspiring selection of new work daily and allow you to sort by a multitude of keywords, level of popularity, location, etc.

http://www.studioonfire.com/
This is an awe-inspiring design and letterpress studio based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have a blog with all their best work (http://www.beastpieces.com/) and they are always working on something especially original.

http://www.pinterest.com/
Great source of inspiration. Allows you to search by categories, build folders and tailor your feed to only represent your favorite items.

http://jquery.com/
This website contains libraries of information on jQuery, jQuery UI, jQuery Mobile. It is a wonderful resource for any functionality questions and has tons of helpful information, code, step-by-step instructions and examples.

http://www.nytimes.com/
Stay current. Need I say more?

20 Questions & Themes

1. What apps/tools might make languages easier to learn (kids vs. adults)?
2. How might we combine our society's interest in technology with the ability to further our education level as a whole (reading/writing tools, math/science/ etc.)?
3. What communication tools might I create to improve communication between different languages/cultures?
4. How can I incorporate technology into deaf culture while still respecting the inherent nature/uniqueness of that culture?
5. Where is design most useful and where is it unnecessary?
6. Are there tools (beyond screening and interviews) in which we might better be able to fill job needs with appropriate candidates?
7. Is LinkedIn a useful tool? How might it be made stronger?
8. How might we debunk healthcare?
9. In what ways might we make healthcare more accessible?
10. How would a healthcare tool look different to young adults vs. those in retirement and still serve both groups?

12. How best to keep track of the multitude of to-dos?
13. Is there a good app to remind one of when bills are due and in what amounts so as to better plan you finances?
14. Would there be an easier way to connect front and back-end designers so as to ease collaboration between the two?
15. Etsy is a great resource for artists and individual designers- how could that be taken one step further?
16. What tools/incentives might Americans need to live healthier lifestyles?
17. Tools for small business owners (taxes, supply chain, marketing, etc.)
18. Networking for new parents (questions, networks, babysitter shares)
19. Cut down on crime, alert neighbors, provide security, etc.
20. In what ways might we track and improve our personal finances