A m a r a n t h i n e - D e s i g n s

Welcome to Amaranthine Designs, a showcase of the work of hobbyist designer, Samantha Maurice.

I have been creating websites since 1996, when I created my first website using an Expage template. Thankfully my skills have grown since then, and I am now able to design and code on my own. Through various online tutorial and reference sites I have taught myself the vast majority of what I know of design. My only formal design instruction was in high school, where I took two semesters of digital art and one semester of digital animation in 2002 and 2003. I have also earned a minor in fine art from Michigan Technological University, however the curriculum did not include any digital art instruction.

The majority of the sites and graphics I create are done in my spare time for my own personal use. However, in the past I have been employed as a web designer, a web programmer, and a print graphic designer. I've also done website design for non-profit organizations as well as some freelance design work. My passion lies in designing animal related sites and graphics. As such, the majority of the work seen on this site will be centered around various animals. However, I am not opposed to branching out into areas not directly related to the animal kingdom, as is evidenced by much of my paid design work.

In addition to designing I also enjoy coding and web programming. I'm fluent in (x)html and css and familiar with PHP and MySQL. I'm currently avidly working on improving my PHP/MySQL knowledge in the hopes that I will eventually be as proficient with it as I am with (x)html and css. I am also familiar with programs such as Dreamweaver, ImageReady, and FrontPage, however the code output of these programs is too messy for my tastes, so I choose to hand-code my sites in a plain text editor the majority of the time.

I take great pleasure in creating a fully functioning, aesthetically pleasing resource from nothing more than an idea and a blank Photoshop canvas. Web and graphic design has always been a source of enjoyment for me, and it is my hope that the designs displayed here are enjoyable for you as well.