Shapelight is, well, me – Dan Kaufman, geek extraordinaire.  I have a background in film/video production and computer science.  After almost 10 years of I.T. support experience ranging from desktop to server administration, I moved into eLearning development and now run a small team developing eLearning modules and applications with Flash, Flex, XML, PHP, and anything else we can get our hands on.  I also have friends in out there in the world, musicians, teachers, artists, writers, that I call on for advice or to help with a project.

Shapelight is my home on the web.  A place for me to house examples of my work and my thoughts.  It is also a place to spread the word about the services I can provide, namely web and graphic design, multimedia production, IT consulting…  My goal with these services is to make professional level design, IT, and media services available to small businesses and individuals who need it but cannot afford a large design firm.

Shapelight is not my day job, so I cannot promise to be working on any project 24/7.  But it is a passion, so I will do what I can to meet any and all deadlines for the project I do take on.

Shapelight is based in Central New Jersey and on the Internet.  As long as you have email, we’re in your neighborhood.

The name Shapelight is a reference/homage to a character in one of my favorite novels, Ray Bradbury’s Death is a Lonely Business. In it there is a projectionist named Shapeshade, the metaphor being that a movie is really just shadows shaped into recognizable images.  The idea has stuck with me – and reared it’s head in various film classes I have taken throughout my life.  I wanted an homage to this character and this idea, but I wanted to put my own spin on it, and so light instead of shade.  The metaphor still holds up, since the shaping of light is another way to look at making a movie, and at a more quantum level, much of the presentational art.  Painting, sculpture, photography – the end result is light shaped in a certain way so that it can pass through the eye and elicit a response.

We work with you, the client.  I know that’s a cliche sales phrase, but it is truly how I want to work.  I take on projects I can believe in, I can invest myself in, projects I like!  That means I have a vested interest in making the best product or providing the best service that I can.  I have a tremendous admiration for small businesses and individuals working towards their dream and I want to do what I can to help illuminate that dream.