Web designer uses Extension courses to find the perfect pitch

As a native of St. Louis and a life-long baseball fan, Steve Lamb feels justifiably proud of the Cardinals.

 
Student Profile: Steve Lamb, Digital Arts

But he’s also proud of the web-design community that’s allowed him to pursue his calling.

“I’d say it’s a career that’s in great demand here,” said Lamb, a web designer for Safety National, a St. Louis-based insurance firm. “I see postings for high-profile web designers all the time.”

A graduate of Southeast Missouri State, Lamb chose UC San Diego Extension when he sought to polish his skills. His three on-line courses included one devoted to Illustrator, the graphic design application. He learned “a new tool that’s now essential for my career, something I use quite frequently.”

Since then, Lamb’s eight-year professional career has been on a steady upswing.

After getting his start in coding, he moved into design work.  These days, he’s most interested in the emerging field of User Interface Design, another course he took at Extension. The goal is to provide a more favorable user experience, making products and websites that are overtly user-friendly and more accessible.

As for baseball, he’s an unabashed fan: “Being a Cardinals fan is engrained in anyone who lives in St. Louis,” he said. “It’s from birth. We’re just nuts about baseball. Everyone here is a Cardinals fan.”

That includes his baby boy, who’s fully outfitted in the team’s legendary “birds-on-a-bat” regalia.

“He’s already a fan,” said Lamb. “He just doesn’t realize it yet.”