Farewell, cupcake
Posted 28 February 2008 // Ross Somerville
The parting gift (Moon Explorer Cupcake by Sam Broad)
Wailing and gnashing of teeth at Te Ara as another one gets away. We bid farewell to Helene Coulson, our lead designer, who joined us fresh out of Wanganui design school in 2003.
As well as designing leads, Helene’s masterminded the standards we set for maps, graphs and interactives. A large part of what makes the site special is due to her.
There are thousands of imaginatively thumbnailed images created under her eagle eye, and she really has been able to make something quite palatable out of some pretty unpromising raw material.
Shy Helene retiring
Of course she’s surrounded herself with a great team blah blah blah but, hey, this is Helene’s parade, and she is a bit special. And we mean that in the nicest possible way.
She also bakes the best cupcakes. And the macaroons are to die for.
Follow these links for some Helenean highlights:
- Te Ara’s first interactive, a devil of a swampland of blood, sweat and consultation came together to make this tiny masterpiece.
- The Auckland Islands shipwrecks map.
- The gracefully sinking ships are Helene’s little touch of genius.
- The diagram from hell. Measure your own earthquake.
- Solar water heating – you thought it was simple?
- Helene makes the earth move.
- Some nice pies, and a mean line.
Now that’s art – and who says she can’t be both beautiful and faithful?
What can I say? - she’s my DAUGHTER!! A beautiful little tribute from you guys. Thank you for providing such a great place and atmosphere for her to work in, and for making the experience of her first real job such a rich and pleasurable one. As a parent I could not have imagined or designed a better fit for her varied talents. I know she will miss you all, so I’m sure she will come by occasionally with baked refreshments. Cheers.