Eric Schoen
emschoen@uwm.edu
schoen.eric@gmail.com
Eric on Behance
Eric on LinkedIn
Bio
After earning his first BFA in Painting & Drawing Eric got his hands dirty with some real-world experience in art and media production at Super!Alright! and Synthetic Pictures, both in Austin, TX. There he honed his skills in motion and interaction design as well as video production. He found real joy in working both on set and off set in post-production with projects for Dell, SXSW, the Central Texas SPCA, and independent filmmakers. After three years Eric returned to the midwest and decided to expand the scope of his wheelhouse by returning to school for a 2nd BFA in Graphic Design & Visual Communication. Since then his toolbox has grown immensely, and his efforts have been acknowledged by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a runner-up in the Records for Life contest for standardizing child immunization records.
High School
Luxemburg-Casco High School
Mr. Arendt
Design Team
John Connelly
Political Science graduate of UWM. After having worked in the Milwaukee mayor’s office and working on some of Russ Feingold’s campaigns, John has a firm grasp of politics and the political process on the state, county, and city level. He currently works for the city on a task force that seeks to renovate blighted homes and neighborhoods.
Leslie Witte
A senior in the Digital & Visual Communication program at UWM, Leslie is an assisting designer on the Forward team.
Description
Forward is an app that informs the user of bills, laws, policies, and mandates that are coming up to be voted on in the city, county, and state level within Wisconsin. It distills the details and jargon of the law or bill in a way that everyone can understand, gives both the “for” and “against” arguments relating to the law or bill, and then allows the user to decide for themselves wether they would like that bill to be enacted or voted down. They either vote “yeah” or “nay”, and an email is sent on their behalf to their appropriate representative telling them how they would like the rep to vote and informing them that they will be keeping track of how they vote on the matter. The Forward app updates the user on the law’s/bill’s progress and how their rep votes in regard to it. In the process the user also learns who their local and state reps are and become engaged, included, and invested in their community and the process of making its laws.
Mission
Our mission is to create a more informed, engaged, and empowered Wisconsin. We do this for the voters of Wisconsin by informing them of the legislation in motion and connecting them with their representatives to influence them to push for or against the legislation.
Vision
We see a future in which the people of Wisconsin know what is going on in their state, county, and city when it comes to politics and active legislation and take part in the process by engaging with their representatives.
Video
Infographic
