What makes me different then just a the run-of-the mill Interaction Designer? I practice a holistic user-centered design process by taking on three distinct but related roles; As a Researcher, I determine what to make - what features are needed, and what functionality is desired by users. As a planner, I look at the big picture in order to make sure the direction of a project is strategically advantageous. Last, but not least, as a Designer, I make sure details are executed with impeccable style, meticulous detail, and intuitive usability. Ethnographic research and Interaction Design make for a formidable combination by ensuring that the right design is made, and the design is made right.
What do people need and want?
Its technically possible to build practicality anything one can think of. The million dollar question then is, what to make? Research is needed to identify latent and tacit needs of people so we can surprise and delight them.
How can revenue be generated?
Strategy to make a profit is what keeps good ideas alive and sustains the development and improvement of new solutions.
How is the design implemented?
The world of technology is continuously evolving, and I must keep up to date with the current trends to know what new inventions and techniques are available to use as problem solving tools.
Bring Wireframes to Life
see the full presentation detailing the logic behind the design
Animated user interfaces have become mainstream which has necessitated that transitions to be treated as important design elements in their own right. Transitions provide useful feedback, help visualize the results of actions taken, and enhance the sense of direct manipulation. Currently, designers must wait weeks or months to see how the transitions actually feel to use. With Vellum, designers can test with and tweak transitions mere minutes after drawing up sketches or wireframes. The interactive and animated demos produced by Vellum promote more experimentation and iteration, and also facilitate more accurate and expressive communication between designers, engineers, and stakeholders.
What the Web is Made of
see the full presentation detailing the logic behind the design
Silk was designed to help hundreds of thousands of designers transition from the shrinking world of print, to the explosive growth of the web. As rich interactive media has become increasingly popular and lucrative designers are eager to take their talents to the web but aren’t sure how or have found that the learning curve of HTML, CSS, and Javascript too difficult to endure. Silk is a visual tool for the web 3.0 era that helps designers create modern and dynamic websites visually, allowing them to focus on form and function, and hand off their creations to developers who can fine tune the technical back end.
The more you play the the more the magic spreads
The Chicago Harp is a gigantic musical instrument that is impossible to miss, begs to be played, and is accessible to everyone. The eight foot tall laser operated landmark looks like a harp, so people instinctually walk up to it and reach to create music. The harp is tuned in such a way that even random notes produce harmonious sounds, so anyone and everyone can have fun creating enjoyable tunes for those on State street to here. Inspired by chicago’s rich musical history, and the physical form of the CTA train canopy in which it stands, the Chicago harp is an interactive performance space that aims to transform the urban environment into a playful, relaxing, and fun place. The harp was created by a team of designers and engineers that worked together take an idea from a sketch to implementation as a functional prototype. This project represents a new direction in my work focusing on real world implementation and formal collaboration among large groups of both designers and engineers; fields which sometimes appear vastly different and at others, erringly similar.
Create meetings with more meaning by using the Aggregator
see more detailed wireframes in a workflow / scenario of use
Tradeshows are dying. Fortune 500 companies are reducing or eliminating their presence at trades hows on a global scale, as many analysts and industry veterans bemoan the ineffectiveness of trade shows to raise the bottom line. The AggreGator is a platform-as-a-service that makes trade shows meaningful again. The AggreGator gives businesses the ability to work more effectively at trade shows. The use of profiles is the key that allow people to keep track of analyze their behavior before, during and after a trade show. As one goes to more trade shows powered by the Aggregator, the more it learns about you and your patterns of behavior, it will begin give you recommendations that become more accurate, insightful and helpful over time. The data that the Aggregator collects is kept private by default, and many opt-in features allow you to share only the information one deems appropriate. The ever growing database of public trade show data is used to create a weighted index of the trade show industry, allowing vendors and attendees alike to compare one another in the marketplace and map connections in a professionally driven social network that leverages social validation for qualification. Aggregator helps one filter out others that don’t meet their criteria, and gives them the knowledge they need to decide if a company can meet their needs.
shoot zombies to reinvent the boob-toob
This wizard-of-oz prototype of a 3D video game was designed to frighten and expose users to new and innovative ways to interact with the living undead .With an emphasis on paper prototypes and other ‘quick and dirty techniques, the user was exposed to approximates of heads up displays (HUDs), augmented reality (AR), and computer vision(optical recognition).Cheap and fast implementation methods allowed users to critique prototypes and improved upon in multiple iterations using nothing more then, a Nerf gun, tape, laser pointer, sunglasses, head-mounted flashlight, keynote, and a projector!
Note: This project was completed approximately six months before the Kinect was released and was developed over a seven week period of time.
There is currently no standard or established way in which we interact with three dimensional displays, movies, or video games; the infancy of such technologies provides an exciting, yet limited window of opportunity in which to explore what might be possible in the realm 3D media.
Generation Text wants a phone of their own
see the full presentation detailing the logic behind the design
Almost universally Tweens want smart phones but parents don’t want to pay for them, and schools certainly won’t allow any distractions into the classroom - surely there can be a communications device that will make each of these three parties happy, secure, and fulfilled. The solution is to design a messaging device that is much more than a pager but less than a traditional cell phone by utilizing technologies implemented in such a way that maximize battery life, reduce cost, safely support existing social behaviors, and strengthen family coordination. We designed this device around an interaction model that is intuitive, promotes the use of a reduced data plan, and inherently reduces distracting usage - all in a stylish and rugged form factor that will even make parents jealous of their tween’s new phone.
My expertise in field research and ethnography allows me to be empathetic to others by relating to how people think and behave. My years of experience in graphic design allows me to focus on, and advantageously format the information that is important to the people I study and observe. This combination of left and right brain thinking results in an amalgamation of disciplines and passions that form the method to my madness and what allows me to create the exemplary user experiences of tomorrow. I refuse to sit by idly and wait to see what future might bring; I will create that future for myself and others full of authentic, delightful, and meaningful interactive experiences.
I want to create interactive designs that others need and want to use. As a designer, It is my belief that people need to be my first priority; after all, I am designing for them. Empathy is needed to gain a deep and authentic understanding for how potential users think, feel, or behave. The deep understanding of people is what fuels me and is the guiding force throughout my design process. It is my goal to improve people’s day to day lives by dramatically increasing the quality of the interactive products and services they use and rely on. In this way users can fulfill their their own goals and enjoy the ride along the way.
The challenges and issues I design for are often too much for one person to tackle on their own. That is why it is important for interdisciplinary teams to collaborate on research, analysis, the synthesis of ideas, and the implementation of designed solutions. Teamwork is never easy, but coordinated dividing-and-conquering is one of the most fun, enjoyable, and effective aspects of design planning.Triangulating the truth with a team of diverse perspectives is the only way to truly understand a problem and break it down so a solution can be built up.
Feel free to contact me if you need more information.
I am open to internship and full-time positions
I currently live in Chicago, Illinois. Willing to relocate if the right opportunity knocks, rings, or sends me a thoughtful fax.
