Hello

I’m Brian. I’m a UX Designer and Product Strategist with over 12 years of experience building products, creative teams and content-driven communities. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge.

Most recently I was a Senior UX Designer at Blink UX where I tackled UX design as well as research for a mix of great clients both big and small.

In addition, I am an instructor at the School of Visual Concepts (SVC) - leading courses in UX design, user research, and prototyping.

My Experience and Design POV:

I have demonstrated a left/right brained acumen across roles in UX, Product Management and Content in agency, enterprise, and startup environments. I’ve built and led large geographically distributed (and high-performing) creative teams. I've been through startup bootcamps like TechStars and 500Startups. I’ve stewarded content communities and grown them to tens of thousands of active participants. I've been a map designer and studied GIS analysis, and have even dabbled in work as a photographer and a video editor. I am grateful to learn lessons and continue iterating through both failures and successes. I've done some stuff but feel like I'm just getting started, there's so much to do and learn.

Regardless of the twists in my career there has been a steady through-line: a focus on people. Whether it is those working around me; or those using the products services, and communities I help build - understanding and improving things for real people has always been the most enriching part of my work life.

I love asking questions and collaborating to solve complex challenges. I strive for intuitive human-centered experiences that enable people to accomplish tasks as easily (and as beautifully) as possible. I believe that businesses metrics are ultimately connected to not only a deep understanding of real people, but to thoughtful experiences that make things better.

I aim to work with companies that have a positive impact on the world and product design orgs that care about inclusion and accessibility. I believe product development should include deep and strategic thinking on the ethics of design and of principles like calm technology. The "Tarot Cards of Tech" from Artefact are also a fascinating and challenging method to think about the potential impact of products in a broader more human-centered way.

My Work:

Most of my recent work is covered by NDA and cannot be shown online, but please get in touch if you'd like to see examples of my work or discuss how we can collaborate. Check out my selected work examples in the meantime.

Offscreen Life:

Away from work, I loooooove to get outside and offline - running, cycling, skiing, hiking, and wilderness backpacking. When I can get even further away - I love to trek abroad. I’m serious about photography, yoga, mindfulness meditation and listening to really good music (ranging from ambient to bouncy pop to stuff that some might consider noisy and weird.)

What I do:

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  Ask questions, listen, sketch, test, refine and iterate. Rinse and repeat as needed to get it right, and collaborate all along the way.
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  I love digging into (or generating!) qualitative or quantitative data. Whatever it takes to uncover insights on user behaviors, needs and motivations that drive design.
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  Working solo is great, but I prefer being a part of a cross-functional and highly collaborative team. I have had successful collaborations with both remote teams as well as in-person.

Tools and Techniques:

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  Analog: Sometimes the best tool is time with stakeholders, and the right questions (of course a whiteboard and some sticky notes comes in real handy too)
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  Digital: I use a number of tools - primarily Sketch and the Adobe CC suite. I'm currently working on my motion design and prototyping skills with several recent projects in Principle.
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  Without storytelling, does good design exist?
  I love to help tell product and design stories to clients and collaborators by presenting work with crafted and compelling narratives.