I am an interaction designer in the Human-Computer Interaction Design (HCI/d) Master's program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Here, I create meaningful and compelling interactions with devices, interfaces, and objects. Basically, I work with people and make liberal use of post-its, markers, cameras, sketchbooks, prototypes, Adobe CS5, and Arduino boards.
Last summer, I worked with Adaptive Path as an Interaction Design Summer Associate in Austin, Texas. My time was spent learning the ins and outs of design consultancy work, design strategy, and absorbing as much as I could from the talented designers surrounding me. Before joining IU, I worked for three years as a lead software UI developer and designer with National Marketing Resources. There, I defined, designed, and created workflows and system interactions from the ground up with my talented team on LINKS, an internal lead management system. My work at NMR inspired me to want to have a much larger role in defining and shaping how the interactions with technology take place and pursuing the ability to work with the people using those products to create those interactions. I fell into HCI while searching for a way to pursue that ideal and haven't looked back.
My life hasn't always been books and nine-to-fives, though. I have also worked as a freelance designer and web developer, studied and interned in Tokyo, traversed the cubicle farms of corporate America, and had a brief bout in the advertising world. I've haggled with Moroccan fes salesmen, scaled Mt. Fuji, sang in many of Britain's most famous cathedrals, had a successful two and a half years as a homebrewer, beaten every installment of Space Quest, and enjoyed a great marriage to my talented wife, Sarah Wain.
The image on the front page is from Shad Gross, a good friend and classmate.