TheCosmonaut is Eric Oliver. I provide elite web design, programming, and consulting services.

I got into the interactive industry in the late 90′s as a designer/programmer at a small firm in Santa Barbara, where pretty soon I also took over as office manager. I left there to come to LA where I worked as a producer for a company called DNA Studio. I was employee number 18 there and when I left, we had grown to over 100 employees. I was the Senior Producer at DNA and entertainment clients were our bread and butter, so I worked with all the major movie studios in town (Paramount, Universal, Buena Vista Entertainment, Sony Screen Gems, Fox, etc. but my main account was Sony). Our sites for “Charlie’s Angels” and “Hollowman” won Macromedia Site of the Day awards and other award-winning projects include “The Insider” website, which was nominated for a Clio award, and the Elektra.com website, which won Best Major Label Website at the Gavin Convention.

I left DNA in 2001 to start my own company, which I’ve run with my partners ever since. In 2006, we established a strategic partnership with a company called Spacedog who handles the interactive work for Carl’s Jr., Qantas Airways, Tourism Australia, and so on. In 2007, I saw that I was spending all my time project managing, marketing, and doing business development, and I realized that the whole reason I got into this industry in the first place was the hands-on design and programming — that’s my real passion. So I merged most of our accounts into Spacedog and went my own way in order to get back to my roots doing design and programming. Since then, I’ve done a whole variety of projects, working mainly with video game companies like THQ and Namco Bandai Games and doing a variety of work for numerous other clients, including the Mojo Yogurt website built with Blind Society which is an Adobe Site of the Day and Comm Arts Web Pick Award Winner.

The only reason I tell you all of this is that it demonstrates the wide range of experience I have in this industry. If there’s a job in this industry, I’ve done it: design, programming, information architecture, project management, producing, marketing, consulting, strategy, sales, business development, right on up to being a small business owner. If there’s a type of client in this industry, I’ve worked with them: everyone from Joe’s Garage Door Repair on up to giants like Citibank and Sony. If there’s a type of interactive project, I’ve done it: from simple brochure-ware sites to comprehensive online marketing campaigns to enterprise-level applications. As a result, I think I bring a well-rounded and holistic approach to interactive projects. I’m not just a programming monkey, art freak, or marketing number-cruncher — I can understand your goals from a perspective that takes into account your entire business and come up with solutions that will address your needs on a budget that will work for you.