Chap Ambrose

Screenshot of American Craft Council software — All the tiny details of producing a craft show organized neatly in its place.

American Craft
Council

Senior Developer
2009–2020

I helped transition the 43 year old craft show workflow from a paper process to a custom web app. As a dev team of one, I designed and built everything from custom reporting, to parking pass printing, and event check-in.

I’ve continued to upgrade and support the system as it’s chugged along and processed millions in transactions.

I was honored to be chosen as a Kickstarter Staff Pick.

Hand holding iPhone with Make Time Clock app open — I developed an iOS and Android app for managing the clock.

Exploded view of clock parts — An exploded view of all the clock componenets.

Clock flipped over showing main circuit board — The heart of the clock is a Particle Photon.

Row of packaged clocks — I worked with a local manufacturer to balance cost and cool in the packaging.

Unassembled clocks on shelf — Preparing clocks for final assembly.

Worker assembles clocks — I was very happy I choose to work with a local source for assembly and PCB production. I was able to visit frequently and help smooth all the little production bumps.

Make Time Clock

Creator
2014–2016

I designed, kickstarted, and delivered a physical product to encourage creative side projects. Originally developed as part of the Fractured Atlas R&D pipeline, this project stretched the organization as its first physical product and first crowdfunded project.

I walked the fury road of Kickstarter fulfillment and came out stronger on the other side.

Navigation for jumping between web applications — One of the most challenge projects was implementing single sign on across our suite of apps. I took great care in designing the navigation between apps.

Order page in Artful.ly — An event's order page that supported sales of tickets, donations, memberships, and passes... with the ability to refund or exchange all of it.

Chrome extension expanded showing phone dial pad — I built a custom Chrome extension and integrated VOIP system that enabled support staff to regularly work from home and move away from reserved desks in the office.

iPhone app for individual artist — Mockups for a new product to auto-generate personalized apps for artists where fans could see posts across all platforms, purchase tickets to events, and support crowdfunding campaigns.

Fractured Atlas

Senior Developer
2010–2016

I built CMS, ticketing, and fundraising tools for this nonprofit serving artists. In addition to supporting and evolving the exisiting suite of web applications, I helped develop strategy for new products.

I introduced human-centered design techniques and led contextual research and user testing. I also coached junior developers and managed outside contractors.

Rails Hotline landing page — I was blown away by the response to Rails Hotline and humbled by the caliber of volunteers.

Dashboard for hotline volunteers — An early dashboard design for hotline volunteers.

TransLifeline T-shirt — TransLifeline used the open-sourced code to power their crisis hotline.

Flyer promoting the Nutrition Hotline — The Nutrition Hotline was staffed by licensed nutritionists.

Pocket Hotline

Founder
2011–2014

My thesis project at Austin Center for Design that spun into a startup. Originally inspired by the overwhelmed front-desk attendant at our local homeless shelter, we created a platform for any community to create toll-free hotline with volunteers answering calls from their cell phones.

Our most successful was the Rails Hotline where over 50 professional developers signed up and spent hundreds of hours dispensing free help to other programers.

Code was open sourced and powered independent communities like the TransLifeline and Letterpress Hotline.