hello.
Faenotype Design is home to the playful design work of Dr. Jess Rowan Marcotte.

JESS ROWAN MARCOTTE
I am an Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit, transgender Mi’kmaw (Ugpi’ganjig) and Euro settler (with Scottish, British, Irish, French, and German heritage) interdisciplinary artist, interaction designer, writer, researcher, community organizer, and maker who was born and raised in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke, Mooniyang). I work at the junction of interactive theatre, design, and digital technologies. In my creative practice, I make critically acclaimed interdisciplinary projects bringing together mediums that include larps and theatrical experiences, digital experiences and games, tabletop roleplaying games, installations, and alternative controller/hybrid work. My work is unified by my queer, intersectional feminist design approaches, exploring themes of awkwardness, vulnerability, and intimacy at a time of disconnection and upheaval. I create art that encourages people to reflect on their relationship to themselves and others within the systems that shape their lives and worldviews. I do this through narrative design, interaction design, and game design.

Because of the nature of my work, I find myself in many community-oriented roles, working to improve the material and sociological conditions for creators in my milieu. I have served as a volunteer community organizer, curator, mentor, and adjudicator for many organizations and have become a leader in my communities of practice. As a researcher, I study people at the margins with dignity and respect as well as share my practice-based experiences in a rigorous, research-creation-focused framework.

You can support my work by buying some of my digitally available games on itch.io here and here, or supporting Soft Chaos on Comradery.

You might remember me using a different name for my personal work in the past! Faenotype Design was formerly known as JEKA GAMES.