WORK HISTORY

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY RESUMÉ.

 

MY PRODUCT DESIGN PROCESS

I'm a classically trained illustrator so my natural tendency is to want to start drawing when confronted with new projects. However, I've learned that fully understanding the problem space is the best approach: “We will WHAT for WHOM so that [Problem] is solved by WHEN?” That up-front cost saves the Engineering & Product teams a lot of time as iteration happens early in the process, where it's cheapest. The image below highlights how I prefer to approach projects:

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1. Research

Before putting pen to paper, I research the problem space and talk to users, potential users, and stakeholders to understand their challenges.

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2. Sketching

Once my team and I understand the challenge (WHAT for WHOM by WHEN), I dive into drawing out solutions either in my sketchbook, whiteboards, post-its or whatever is available.

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3. Wireframes

Detailed thinking gets pulled into wireframes to better understand the entire product scope.

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4. High Fidelity

To land an idea, I am comfortable polishing brand identity, copy, hero content, logos, iconography and prototypes.

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5. Shipping / Testing

I prefer to ship and find out for sure but that can be impractical as Design often gets ahead of Engineering. In those situations, the most important thing I can do to help the team learn quickly is ensure that designs have a high degree of confidence. Testing helps me deliver that.

USER DRIVEN

As you can see, I am driven by what customers or potential customers have to say. I've watched many dozens of product initiatives from start to finish. Some of those looked incredible but, because they weren't guided from start to finish by external validation, were complete duds. In my personal experience, only those projects that were driven by external opinion were successful. Therefore, I believe user-driven product design is essential for the short and long term health of any business. That's where my natural tendencies come in.

I have first hand experience leveraging user driven methods to make dramatic product & business improvements. In IMVU's case, I drove the project that saved the business: going from losing many hundreds of thousands of dollars a month to earning millions per month. Using the same methodology, I also drove the projects that allowed it to thrive on new platforms and continue to grow to this day.

 

WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE

  • Comfortable in situations of extreme uncertainty

  • A people person capable of running product and/or design teams

  • Proven design and user experience instincts

  • Passion for delighting customers

  • Stubbornly optimistic

  • Strong desire to identify and drive what matters

 

PATENTS

Along with my remarkable teams, I've been awarded a few patents so far:

  1. Computer-implemented system and method for home page customization and e-commerce support

  2. Computer-implemented method and apparatus to allocate revenue from a derived avatar component

  3. Computer-implemented chat system having dual channel communications and self-defining product structures

  4. Computer-implemented method and apparatus to allocate revenue from a derived digital component

  5. Computer-implemented hierarchical revenue model to manage revenue allocations among derived product developers in a networked system

  6. System and method for increasing clarity and expressiveness in network communications

 

MUSIC