Originally from Canada, Kemp joined AREA 17 from Portland, Oregon, where he worked at Second Story Interactive Studios. As a senior art director at Second Story, he created various websites and museum installations for clients at the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

In 1999, Kemp began his career working as a designer at Blast Radius in Vancouver. Later, his work on interactive storytelling and rich-media projects at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio 3 garnered awards from Communication Arts, the Art Directors Club and the New York Festivals awards.