Resume

San Francisco

interfacethis.com

I am an enterpreneur based in San Francisco, with fourteen years of experience in product design leadership. I excel at product synthesis: melding user research, market information, and competitive data into concrete product and feature plans. An overview of my past projects is available at interfacethis.com/portfolio.

Work Experience

  • Operation Project, San Francisco, CA (2012-)

    Product Designer & Founder: Operation Project is a fledgling tech startup, currently evaluating several product ideas to bring to market.

  • AOL Inc., Palo Alto, CA (2010-2011)

    Senior Director, Special Projects: Worked in product management, design, and strategic roles to help teams across AOL improve their products, experiences, and processes. Managed the redesign and relaunch of TechCrunch, a popular tech news site with over 40M visitors per month. Created Atlas, a new project repository, employee phone book, and internal social network for AOL. Recipient of AOL’s Blue Monster award for thinking big and taking chances, and of the Applications Group’s Playing Offense award.

  • Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (2007-2010)

    Director, User Experience Design, Yahoo! Messenger (2008-2010): Managed the design team for the popular Yahoo! Messenger product line including client apps for Windows, Mac, and iPhone and Web integrations with Mail and other Yahoo! properties. Provided design leadership and creative direction. Worked with cross-functional leadership to determine roadmap and product strategy, both for Messenger and for the larger Yahoo! Applications group. Traveled to Brazil and India to conduct research for Yahoo!’s emerging market strategy.

    Senior Interaction Designer, Yahoo! Messenger (2007-2008): Designed the popular Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone client, as well as the innovative Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. Managed resources allocations for the Yahoo! Messenger 10 release. Created wireframes, functional specifications, flow diagrams, mockups, and interactive prototypes. Worked in Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Aptana, PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Flex/Flash.

  • ClearStory Systems, Westborough, MA (2005-2006)

    Freelance Experience Designer: Designed Web-based digital asset management software including workflows, layouts, and look & feel. Led product design and strategy discussions. Provided expertise on usability trade-offs; layout and workflow analysis; and design recommendations.

  • YBP Library Services, Contoocook, NH (2001-2004)

    Freelance Experience Designer: Designed Publisher Alley, a Web data analysis app for book publishers. Designed the user interface and much of the look & feel. Worked with stakeholders to define the feature set, navigation, workflow, and layout. Evangelized and employed then-novel DHTML techniques to incorporate complex, interactive data displays and to permit fast, global design changes. Created wireframes, specifications, mockups, and prototypes.

    Redesigned Gobi, an extensive Web application that allows libraries to locate, select, and order books. Led design meetings and coordinated with stakeholders; designed product navigation; created wireframes and interactive prototypes; wrote behavioral specifications; redesigned Gobi’s logo and look & feel; conducted usability tests.

  • Tour for the Cure, Cambridge, MA (2006)

    Freelance Product Designer: Designed & built an interactive Web site including an interactive, data-driven map, an RSS-backed photoblog, and a Flash videoblog.

  • IDC Inc., Natick, MA (2005-2006)

    Contract Writer: Analyzed authoring tools, development tools, Web technologies, and enterprise collaboration software. Wrote product overviews and analyses

  • OAT Systems, Waltham, MA (2004-2005)

    Freelance Experience Designer: Designed Web applications for a provider of RFID middleware. Created mockups, prototypes, branding, and look & feel. Worked with engineers to determine implementation details.

  • Improbable Research, Cambridge, MA (2005-)

    Freelance Web Designer / Developer

  • ActBlue, Cambridge, MA (2004)

    Experience Design Consultant

  • MetLife eCommerce, Boston, MA (2000)

    Freelance Experience Designer

  • Centrical Solutions, Beverly, MA (2000)

    User Interface Designer

  • Juno Online Services, New York, NY (1999)

    Product Manager

  • Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (1996)

    Software Design Engineer (Intern)

Academic Work

  • Human Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland, College Park, MD (1998-1999)

    Faculty Research Assistant: Evaluated, designed, and implemented information visualization technologies. Co-wrote a paper for conference submission. Designed a zooming presentation tool.

  • Human Computer Interaction Group, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (1995, 1998)

    Research Associate: Designed media-rich software including a digital library for secondary schools; a collaborative annotation tool; and an interactive handheld assistant for museums. Co-wrote a paper on mobile technology.

  • TextWise, LLC, Syracuse, NY (1996, 1997)

    Design Intern: Helped to design the user interface for an advanced information retrieval system. Created a dynamic information-seeking and visualization tool. Designed a workplace collaboration system.

Education

  • Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

    AB in Computer Science, 1998. Focus on Human-Computer Interaction.

    Relevant Coursework: Cognitive Psychology; Technological Tools for Learning; Behavior, Learning, and Choice; Computer Graphics; Architectural History; Face Perception; Artificial Intelligence; Abnormal Psychology; Data Structures and Algorithms; Music Theory; Intellectual History

Published Work

Activities & Memberships

  • Speaker on real-world design challenges, University of Massachusetts, Boston (2001).
  • Member, ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, 2000-present
  • Rock Climbing, 2001-present
  • Technical Director & Webcast coordinator, The Ig Nobel Awards, 2001-2006
  • Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Players, 1995-1998: Board of Directors, Set Designer, Technical Director
  • Musician: training in piano, cello, and voice; a cappella singer in college.