My name is Brett Terpstra. I’ve worked in interactive media/web design, print design, programming, advertising and marketing. Like any good designer/programmer, I solve problems. I’m especially good at finding the right tool for the job, even if that means making my own. My websites and my apps are designed and developed with the goal of being future-proof, maintainable and easily built-upon. Take a look at my current projects.

I write about tech, and you can often find me blogging over at TUAW. Besides being a Mac nerd, I’m a gadget nerd, a music nerd and I have a strange obsession with finding the perfect computer keyboard.

Design

I graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2000, with a degree in Interactive Multimedia. I have experience in video production, print design (from business cards to T-shirts to catalogs to billboards), web design and development for businesses large and small (and even some wedding websites), audio recording and mastering, among other talents. I also have what little I was able to take away from my 5-hours–3-times-a-week Figure Drawing courses.

Code

I code daily. Whether it’s scripting in PHP, AppleScript, Bash or Ruby, or dealing with compiled code in Cocoa/Objective-C (iPhone and Mac application development), I have a knack for finding the most efficient tool for the job and quickly understanding how to use it effectively. If you ask any of my friends and associates, they’ll tell you that I live to make other people’s lives easier. They may even use the term “Mad Scientist,” a moniker I find appropriate. When I’m not coding for profit, I’m coding for fun. My evening hours are often spent developing elaborate TextMate bundles and making my computer do things that the engineers never intended.

Write

I write a lot, too. Between blogging for The Unofficial Apple Weblog, copywriting for web and print, creating documentation for my employers and trying to keep up with my own blog I get plenty of grammar exercise. My mother was an English teacher and I have developed a love of etymology and a penchant for grammar. I’m always learning, often from my own mistakes, but that’s the story of my life: constant expansion.