Overview
Design & Research
- User research, interviews, heuristics and analysis
- Human-centered design & design thinking
- Personas, journey maps & business blueprints
- Storyboards, wireframes & flow boards
- Design systems & brand identities
- Pixel-perfect, responsive layouts
- Prototyping with HTML5, CSS & javascript
Leadership
- Team building & mentoring
- Big-picture thinking
- Planning & goal setting (QBRs, OKRs)
- Diplomacy, collaboration, deescalation & consensus building
Soft-skills
- Strategy
- Communication
- Storytelling
- Facilitation
- Empathy
- Improvisation
- No big ego, no drama, just teamwork.
Primary tools
- Design: Figma, Sketch, Invision, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator
- Research: User Zoom, Qualtrics, Hotjar, Heap, Google Analytics
- Collaboration: Figjam, Mural, Teams
- Project management: Azure DevOps, Trello, Asana, Slack
- Development: VS Code, GitHub, Fork, BB Edit
Education
- Bachelor's of Fine Art, Design focus, Cum Laude, University of Massachusetts.
Certifications
Career Highlights
Principal Experience/Product Designer
Enterprise DB, 2021-present
Leading member of experience design and research team building next-generation enterprise software (SaaS).
Accomplishments
- Contributed to building and maturing new UX capabilities in a fast-paced company.
- Created wireframes, prototypes and high-fidelity designs for desktop and mobile.
- Leveraged analytics and research to assess user behavior and validate solutions.
- Developed with HTML, CSS, React and Tailwind-CSS pages for prototypes and corporate website.
- Contributed to in-house design system.
- Advocated for greater accessibility practices across products, including WCAG/ADA standards.
- Prioritized features to produce MVPs (minimally viable products) while building feature roadmaps.
- Balanced designs and technical considerations with front-end developers.
- Practiced servant leadership through uplifting team members and mentoring.
Principal Experience/Product Designer
FM Global, 2019-2021
Lead experience designer and researcher for the Fortune 500 company’s flagship enterprise software.
Accomplishments
- Led and mentored multiple teams of designers.
- Designed complex, high-traffic enterprise software products.
- Developed HTML & CSS prototypes for user testing and hand-off to devs for integration.
- Partnered with leadership, analysts and architects to balance business, technical and user needs.
- Executed user research initiatives including surveys, workshops, and interviews.
- Created journey maps, business blueprints, wireframes, prototypes and high-fidelity designs.
- Prioritized features to produce MVPs (minimally viable products) while building feature roadmaps.
- Contributed to in-house design system.
- Thrived in Agile, including writing acceptance criteria, creating user stories and refining backlogs.
- Built relationships across the organization to break down silos and encourage collaboration.
Lead Experience Design / Owner
Pixel & Light, 1999-2019
Designed user experiences, animations, illustrations and print for organizations ranging from international corporations to non-profits
Clients included:
Google, Fidelity, NBC, Pixar, PBS, The Smithsonian, National Air & Space Museum, Nokia, Unilever, Warner Brothers, Viacom, Volkswagen, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, UMass Medical School, University of Connecticut, U.S. Navy
Accomplishments
- Built, led and mentored multiple teams of designers and developers
- Designed user experiences for 120+ web sites, eCommerce sites, and native mobile apps.
- Created 200+ technical/editorial illustrations and animations.
- Developed corporate brands and identity across all media.
- Consistently completed projects on-time and on-budget.
Senior Visual Designer
Event Zero, 1999
Created UI/Visual designs for clients ranging from large companies to start-ups.
Accomplishments
- Led UX/UI/Visual projects for a range of companies.
- Built information architecture (IA) documents.
- Worked directly with clients to develop their digital presence.
Creative Director
Silverplatter Education, 1993-1998
Created UX/UI/Visual designs, motion graphics, medical illustration and interfaces for medical education products.
Accomplishments
- Led UX/UI/Visual/Motion design team for over 40 educational, interactive educational products.
- Blended video, audio, illustration an animation content into educational experiences.
- Partnered directly with authors and specialists to develop content.
Recommendations
– Maria E Ruiz, AVP, Product Owner, FM Global
– Maria Rangel Leon, Senior Associate, Dentsu
– Robin Parillo, Principal Analyst, FM Global
– Dave Stewart, Transformation Leader
– Eric Maloney, Axis Group
– Colette ’t Hart, Lead Designer, MyWorkbook
– Michael Solow, Creative Director, Braun
– Tom DiConstanzo, Principal Developer, FM Global
– Tim Dailey, UX Manager, Enterprise DB
– Michael Grover, Oracle
– Jonathan Hochman, Hochman Consultants
– Ted Selker, Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab
– Richard Wynne, Aries Systems
– Gina Cary, womenworking.com
– Phil Tavares, Producer, Facebook
Beyond Work...
I'm a avid reader and lifelong learner with a particular focus on sociology, psychology and deep history.
In my spare time, I continue finishing work on the craftsman-style bungalow my wife Kim and I designed and built in a small central Connecticut town.
Other interests include painting, sculpture and watching our daughter grow into a talented young adult with excellent taste in musicals. I've recently written and published a 250-page history on our family's genealogy.
Want to talk sci-fi or Mad Men? Let's go!