Allan Lasser

I was responsible for rapidly iterating the TakeShape product as the team achieved product-market fit. I mainly focus on the web client, designing and implementing new features and refining existing ones, but I've contributed work at all levels of the application. Highlights included providing product vision for a new visual API building experience, championing and launching new product documentation, refining customer-facing demos and marketing pages, and improving internal processes for improved remote communication and collaboration.

The Women of Science Tarot Deck is an educational art project backed by over 300 people on Kickstarter. I worked with colleagues overseeing editorial and illustration to design a 78 card tarot deck and 96 page guidebook. I produced and oversaw the manufacture and distribution of our initial run of 500 units. We manufactured more than the units reserved for backers, so I set up and integrated an ecommerce system for the rest of the inventory.

I co-founded Massive Science in 2016 with Nadja Oertelt and Gabe Stein. We developed and launched an online science publication supported by a contributor community, with authors coming from mainly academic and research backgrounds. I set the technical strategy and implemented the publication website, community forums, membership system, ecommerce system, and various assistive technologies and automations.

I designed, and developed new product features and improvements for MuckRock's non-profit public records platform. I accomplished day to day technical tasks and assisted in strategic planning with MuckRock's co-founders. Aside from original reporting, other highlights included a branch refresh and website redesign; building an internal task system for staff; revamping the user activity sharing and notification system; and releasing crowdfunding tools for journalists. I'm proud to say that the platform is still using much of my work to this day!

At the BUCH I kept the website up-to-date, upgraded the weekly newsletter system to use Mailchimp, designed the office's end of year reports, and handled other administrative tasks.

In this role I learned workflows for commercial ePub production, developed automated scripts for Adobe InDesign, and assisted in applying corrections to works-in-progress.