Farewell, Joelle!

Photo: Joelle Belmonte

Alas, Joelle, our designer, has decided to move on to greener pastures, making her our first ever staff departure. We'll miss you, Joelle! I remember several conversations with Scott around the time we joined CalAcademy that ended with the agreement, "We need a designer." We interviewed a few, but Joelle was the only one who showed up with an iNat account and a bunch of suggestions on how to improve the look and the experience of iNaturalist. Joelle jumped feet-first into the job, but also into being a naturalist, cultivating a passion for dragonflies that I hope will continue. She has always given us great-looking designs, and, perhaps even more valuable, the perspective of a new or not-quite-as-obsessed member of the naturalist tribe. She and I didn't always agree on matters of taste, but looking back on screenshots from before she started it's clear what an enormous improvement her work represents. I'd post those pre-Joelle screenshots, but, uh, they're embarrassing.

Anyway, good luck, Joelle. We'll certainly miss your contributions to iNat, but we'll also miss your commitment to costumes and unexpected dart obsession. I'll personally miss having someone to commiserate with about Game of Thrones and Star Wars (and I seriously need to vent about Solo!).

P.S. Oh fine, here's a comparison of obs search before Joelle and after:

Before