What I Do

I am a User Experience Designer, a champion for products that empower and delight the end user. Working with a cross-functional team that includes engineering, product marketing, and usability research, I typically:

• define customer profiles
• create a concept design
• revise the design based on usability testing
• write detailed UI/functional specifications
• work with engineering during development

I specialize in user interface design for Consumer Electronics - television and mobile products. I am particularly interested in products that are designed to help people change behavior and rely on the tenets of Persuasive Technology.

Where I've been

I recently designed Control4's home energy monitor, which will empower consumers with knowledge and help utilities reduce peak demand consumption. Early ethnographic research uncovered a conflict between the stakeholder's success metric and consumer's likely behavior. The redefined product vision focuses on passive rather than active engagement and "set-it-and-forget-it" energy management. A prototype of the product showcased at CES 2010 garnered accolades, including: Best of CES Green Products Finalist and TMCnet Smart Grid Product of the Year. Prior to Control4, I worked with Dash Navigation, designing an after-market GPS that transforms the GPS from a "how do I get there" device to a device that connects people to information and services in their cars.

From 2006-2008 I worked exclusively for Netflix, designing their recently launched set-top box. The set-top box represents Netflix's movement towards digital delivery and addresses a clear customer need -- the ability to access movies instantly. In March 2009, the Netflix box won the TVDT award for "Most Innovative Design or User Interface" (i.e. the company or organization that created the most innovative and disruptive design/user interface/content-navigation schema of the past year)..." New York Times critic Saul Hansell is also a fan:


Prior to Netflix, I was a UI Designer at TiVo where I was the UI lead for three software releases. I also wrote the TiVo User Interface Guidelines, which defined a taxonomy of the existing user interface so that we could add new features in an intelligent manner. In 1998 I joined Cooper Interaction Design where I designed a mobile computing device for physical therapists.

My prior professional experience centered around building architecture. I am a licensed architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects. In 1994 I had an idea for a software product that would help home owners visualize home remodeling options. One year, and 100 pitches later, Autodesk bought the idea and funded the product development. If you believe the New York Times review, our product line, Picture This Home!, captured the consumer market and "...was the easiest and most enjoyable of the multimedia home design aids."