Design

Design Experience

I have developed user interfaces to information systems at firms including Levi-Strauss, Genentech, Applied Biosystems, NASA, Navis, Kaiser Permanente and other firms. I have also performed business development for design products such as augmented reality software by ePeople Solutions. I have designed software such as the Course.Cafe online and PDF book publishing plarform.

Design Philosophy

I love it when systems I design actually get used, rather than just looking good on my resume. My design philosophy enables use by elevating the knowledge, existing practices and expectations of users.

I believe that user interfaces for existing organizations should be easy to use and involve a small learning footprint, at the expense of impressing people who don't use the platform. Redesign should not involve unnecessary changes, unless the benefit is high.

Design should involve extensive interviews with and observation of users. If users operate the prototype incorrectly, the designer's first inclination should be to change the design to be consistent with user interpretations rather than trying to retrain users. If users tend to enter bad data, revise the system or improve automated data processing to overcome the reasons why users enter the bad data.

Finally, the user interface should appear comfortable and familiar to users rather than strange and formidable. Matching user interface colors with office and facility design colors (furniture, natural building materials, landscaping, company theme colors) makes interfaces more inviting.

Digital History and Humanities

I also perform some work in the digital humanities and history. Plase see my "Society, Modeling and Industry" tab above.