Samples of Our Work
Talk to New West
Rocky Mountain Magic
The New West Web Development and Design Team is a digitally-talented and creative bunch. Perhaps it is because of the world headquarters' location in Missoula, Montana, a town about which much has been written:
The cultural capital of Montana, Missoula has a long-standing reputation as the state's most progressive city. Intellectuals, East Coast transplants, international students and Russian and Tibetan immigrants join the locals to make Missoula their home. - Forbes Magazine
John Updike once called Missoula the Paris of the Nineties, because of the city's legendary population of writers, but Paris lacks three world-renowned trout rivers and proximity to Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. - Outside Magazine
Don't expect fashion; do expect character. - New York Times
Staff Bios
To understand the work ethic that the New West Design and Development Team brings to you, for your client or for your company, you must meet the core group of four: Brian Fish, Courtney Lowery, Patrick Gill and Lynn Ingham. (Yes, Brian's last name is really Fish and yes, Patrick's last name is really Gill!)
Director of Technology Brian Fish
Bike/Pedestrian Advocate and Caffeinista
Brian has a BA in Mathematics (with a focus on Combinatorics and Optimization) and Physics (with a focus in Astrophysics). Somehow this translates into him being able to solve just about any issue related to computers, technology, logic, or analysis. In addition to his extensive computer experience (including mastery of Linux, UNIX, MacIntosh and Windows clients and servers, programming, and seemingly any software ever written), he also has wide knowledge of cutting-edge search engine optimization techniques, revision control systems, and network standards and technologies. Brian also avidly advocates 'the semantic web' and investigates techniques for more accessible web design.
He started young on his road to technical dominance. As a sophomore in high school, he and two of his classmates started a computer company called Cottonwood Computer Solutions, and one of their first projects was to design and develop an internet sales and inventory management system for Great Northern Equipment, a leading national general contracting firm based in Rogers, Minnesota. Here he had his first success applying highly mathematical concepts such as optimization and machine learning algorithms toward the successful solutions of real-world problems.
Although his math and physics degrees had him meandering through the Los Alamos National Laboratory (where he co-authored a paper on thermal plasma near Saturn's ring system) for a time, it is the lure of Missoula and Montana and his need to participate in the creative co-development that exists in the web world that brought him back home.
Brian, on web development: "Possessing a deep understanding of a multitude of systems and technologies, along with a love of human creativity, I specialize in making the correct tools understandable and accessible to my team so that together we can fully realize our boldest ideas."
Creative Director Patrick Gill
Drummer in a Hip Local Band
Like Brian, Patrick also has dual degrees, a BA in Media Arts (focus on digital integrated media) and a BA in Fine Arts (focus on printmaking), and both were achieved with high honors. New West was lucky enough to snag Patrick as a young intern and to keep a hold on him as he graduated to discover his talents were highly desirable in this creative-savvy town.
Early in his art student days, Patrick discovered that he not only loved art and design and illustration, but that he also loved film and the aesthetic of photography, which is what led him to the media arts program as well. As he pursued both degrees simultaneously, he found a deep correlation and most of his projects integrated fine arts with media arts. His painting study on Helen Frankenthaler for his fine arts degree (where he dissected and captured the physical, gestural, artistic way that she constructed her paintings) turned into an abstract time-based representation of one of her actual paintings which captured the process but turned into a media arts piece in and of itself.
Unlike many creative directors, Patrick deeply understands how to work on a deadline. While still in college, he and three fellow Missoulians entered the International Documentary Challenge, in which participants must write, shoot and edit a short nonfiction film in just five days. "Getting Eve Off," a short film which took a close look at the unorthodox religious practices of a Missoula prostitute, took top honors in the character study division. The guys met the star of the film, J. C. Nouveaux, at the Desperado, where they filmed a simple, revealing interview about her attempt to right the historical wrongs against Eve with her "Maternal Order of St. Eve" church.
Patrick most deeply appreciates beautiful and functional design. He also understands and appreciates the intersection between technology and design and the myriad possibilities of web design, development and functionality.
Patrick, on web design: "This is the future."
Strategist and Editorial Lead Courtney Lowery
Writer, Editor, Teacher, Manager, Reporter and Web Maven. Oh, and Organic Farmer
When co-founding NewWest.Net with Jonathan Weber five years ago, Courtney found her farming background on the barren Montana plains (which had made her pretty good at breaking things and then fixing them) came in handy. While helping to run that builtfrom- the-ground-up scrappy Web business, Courtney has also been working as a consultant to news organizations and non-profit organizations looking to better utilize the Web.
Growing up in Eastern Montana farm country, Courtney has a deep appreciation for rural communities. Utilizing her BA in Journalism and her work as a reporter for Lee Newspapers and as a newswoman for the Associated Press, she founded The Rural News Network at the University of Montana School of Journalism to help small towns that have lost their newspapers re-imagine them online. Working as an instructor with a class of university students, she assisted the towns in building their Web sites and enlisted community members to maintain them.
Another of her projects is with the Center for Rural Affairs, a policy analysis and advocacy organization focused on rural issues. For the Center, she has redesigned a new section of the Web site that offers farmers, businesses and rural citizen tools, guides and resources on bettering their communities. In addition to redesigning and doing all the heavy code lifting, she directs and edits all the content appearing on the pages, and she also helps with the Center's social media strategy. An avid foodie, Courtney and her husband also run a small 15-acre organic farm near Conrad, Montana, on which they raise heritage turkeys, grow ancient and heritage grain and run a 25-member vegetable Community Supported Agriculture program.
Courtney, on managing web strategy and implementation: "I imagine what I do as a little like what a good architect does. I sketch it out, lead the conversation and make sure the pieces fit together and then let the real geniuses work their magic. What comes out of it, when you're working with the right team, is something much larger and inspired than your original vision. When the end product is its own beautiful organism, I know I've done my job well."
Publisher & CEO Lynn Ingham
Gardener, Antiques Collector and Passionate Champion of All Things Digital
Lynn M. Ingham is an experienced and professional advertising, publishing and internet executive with experience in leading national traditional and interactive media sales efforts. Most recently Vice President of Sales for Interactive One, a division of Radio One, Lynn oversaw the sales efforts of the Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles offices.
Until her recent relocation to her home state of Montana, Lynn has been deeply involved in the San Francisco/Bay Area digital community, as a co-founder, Past President and Chairman of SFBIG (www.sfbig.com). Founded as a networking and educational group dedicated to supporting digital marketing innovation — and also to growing and developing digital media talent in the Bay Area — the group has grown to 1200 members from the advertising, marketing and media worlds.
Lynn's Interactive One team incorporated the social networking aspects of BlackPlanet into the company's larger overall digital strategy. Interactive One produces African American (news, health, beauty, entertainment) content sites and manages the associated sites supporting their radio, television and print media assets. In addition to managing sales, Lynn also assisted with strategy and asset management, creating cross-platform solutions as well as deep, rich integrated advertising through innovative advertising and marketing product development.
Prior to her work with BlackPlanet, Lynn spent seven years at The Ad Age Group. She opened their San Francisco sales office in 1997, in the very early stages of the dot com "explosion." As myriad new interactive companies (Yahoo!, Google, eBay) emerged — mostly in her San Francisco territory - Lynn developed a digital sales expertise and ultimately led all online sales efforts as National Online Advertising Director for the Ad Age Group sales staff.
A true Bay Area technology buff, she got the bug for emerging media from working at Publish! (IDG), MacUser Magazine and ZDTV (Ziff-Davis) and NewMedia Magazine (HyperMedia Communications).
Lynn is a Montana native, and a graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism in Missoula, Montana.
Lynn on running a digital business: "Finding ways to harness the elegance and the power of digital technology is an exciting task. Working with such a talented team is the icing on the cake."