Bob Hone
Designer/Grant Writer
Services
I have collaborated with many leading organizations on successful proposals to support innovative educational and health-related projects and programs including the University of California San Francisco, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and PBS Kids.
I've also led design and production teams that turned promising approaches into engaging and effective interactive software, museum exhibitions, and broadcast video documentaries.
Send an email today for an exploratory consultation.
Grant Writing
I’ve received numerous federal grant awards from my successful proposals to the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (total funding: $8.5M). I've also written successful project proposals to non-profit organizations such as Stanford University and NextTen. My grant proposal development services are tailored to integrate with your in-house resources.
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Needs and opportunity analysis My approach includes all aspects of a preparing a competitive grant proposal including: domain specific research, target audience, target need, target funder, competitive landscape, deadline, and target budget.
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Project scoping/budgeting Aligning project goals with available funding requires knowledge of production techniques and project team abilities. Specific tasks: team recruitment, project scope optimization, budgeting and budget justification.
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Proposal writing (lead writer, co-writer, or simulated reviewer) As a lead grant writer, my per concept award average is 52% (12 awards/23 concepts). In addition to my grant awards, I’ve also reviewed for the NIH and other federal agencies numerous times over the past twenty years. I can provide a reviewer’s perspective, assist as a co-writer, or take a lead role on proposal writing.
Educational Software/App/Games
Over the past 20 years, I’ve designed and architected a wide range of educational games and apps with and for partners such as PBSKids, WGBH-NOVA, Pearson Education, UCSF, and many more. As Creative Director of Red Hill Studios, I led the design of numerous award-winning games and software.
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Design and architecting of popular educational games/apps I specialize in the design and architecting of educational game platforms that allow designers and researchers to empirically calibrate a progressive sequence of more difficult challenges to match the current and evolving abilities of the target audience. The Factitious Game Platform enabled us to easily support and update this popular news game (over 1.3 million games played and counting).
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Consulting on existing practices and advising on possible modifications Effective game design leverages the collective strengths of the design/production team. As both a producer and designer, I can identify opportunities to streamline educational game design and production.
Therapeutic Health Games (Digital Therapeutics)
I’ve been designing, architecting, and producing health games since 2007. Through this experience, I’ve developed a streamlined process for identifying and leveraging clinical research to produce efficacious and effective health games.
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Architecting “tunable” game platforms to optimize engagement and clinical benefits An effective game needs to keep people engaged on multiple timescales: seconds, minutes, and weeks, to produce lasting effects. By tailoring strategies to each timescale, my designs encouraged people with Parkinson's to increase their exercise 180% over 12 weeks. Iterative development with a custom designer "dashboard" was key to that success.
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Consulting on existing practices with advice on possible modifications I’ve designed and architected four complex, clinically-aligned health games. I’ve also guided the development of dozens of health game proposals in the Designing Health Games course I created and taught at the American University Game Lab.