The Product:TrickPlay provides a software platform that enables developers to design, test and distribute apps for digital televisions and internet connected CE devices.  The platform is implemented as a lightweight abstraction layer, and anchors an ecosystem of developers to the digital living room in a manner similar to Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android marketplace.

My Role: Design Director

The Challenge: Design a product for a rapidly shifting market. Produce sample applications that demonstrate the various platform capabilities, that are also enjoyable stand alone apps. Produce apps with partner developers. Design apps to exploit new multi-screen capabilities. Design and specify development tools for platform, including SDK, developer web site and a visual editor. Create customized versions of UX for CE partners. Coordinate and support third party developers creating applications for platform. Promote and evangelize the benefits of the platform to CE partner design groups.

The Outcome: TrickPlay continues to make progress in developer relations and partner distribution agreements.

The Product: Large-scale global mobile product (40+ countries) with millions of daily users. The product is available on a wide variety of mobile devices ranging from basic feature phones (RAZR, etc.) to high end smart phones such as iPhone and Android.

My Role: Senior Design Manager

The Challenge: Manage and participate in the ongoing design and improvement of the product. Promote our product across other product groups and to executives. Challenge a dominant competitor and encourage team to create a superior product. Work with engineering and product leads to define product road map.

The Outcome: Yahoo mobile search maintained a strong second position in the global mobile market. Month over month growth in 2009 was very strong.

The Product: Designed user interaction framework for Connected TV – an interactive web platform for high definition televisions. The product is integrated into offerings from major TV manufacturers such as Sony, Visio and Samsung. Led design team through reviews of multiple design concepts and developed prototypes to test various approaches. Integrated insights found during user research. Resolved design impasses within team and across parent group.

My Role: Senior Interaction Designer

The Challenge: Developing a system for TV that enhanced the viewing experience and had a very easy to comprehend user interface that could be quickly understood by a consumer audience. The framework had to be simple to understand but extensible enough to allow for 3rd party developers to create content offerings.

The Outcome: Yahoo Connected TV is integrated into offerings from major TV manufacturers such as Sony, Visio and Samsung.

The Product: Web based search engine with

My Role: Design Manager / Lead Designer

The Challenge: Each platform has specific requirements and limitations. Each application had to be custom created for that platform. Some platforms have a variety of screen resolutions and capabilities which require the creation of multiple sets of assets. Apps featured voice input, location awareness and search assistance. Worked with overseas development teams to develop the products.

The Outcome: The application was very popular in overseas markets and drives a significant amount of traffic to Yahoo search.

The Product: Web based search engine with

My Role: Design Manager / Lead Designer

The Challenge: You've got to love RIM - each platform has specific requirements and limitations. Individual application had to be custom created with a variety of screen resolutions and capabilities which require the creation of multiple sets of assets and executables.

The Outcome: Each application was created specifically for the target platform and took advantage of platform specific capabilities where appropriate.

The Product: Mapping product for a J2Me client running on a variety of mobile devices

My Role:Design Manager / Lead Designer

The Challenge: Design a product with powerful mapping functionality on phones with basic key input capabilities.

The Outcome: The application was slated for inclusion into the Yahoo Go 4.0 product.

The Product: Search and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide.

My Role: Lead two major redesigns of the consumer facing product including the shift from a page-based design to an ajax single screen reader. Also designed several releases of the publisher facing UX that allows partners to upload and manage their publications.

The Challenge: Improve the reading and searching experience online. Make tools easily understandable for users. Create a library system for saving and referencing books.

The Outcome: Oversaw three releases of the Book Search publisher management system – participation in the program more than tripled following the design changes.

The Product: Windows product that allowed users of Microsoft web offerings to engage with their social networks via their television.

My Role: Lead the interaction design for Microsoft’s television-based social networking product. I worked directly with Microsoft development team and later with a design agency hired by Microsoft. Created a variety of proposals for product, oversaw initial builds of a prototype and supervised visual design. Presented designs to Microsoft executives and integrated user research findings form MS researchers.

The Challenge: Bring together a variety of non-integrated web based offerings into a cohesive television based interactive environment.

The Outcome: Product was launched as a beta for users of Windows Media Center for Microsoft Vista.

The Product: Mobile phone migration system for use in retail environment.

My Role: Visual design for a product that had minimal design attention during development. Created an interface that was easy to understand

The Challenge: Create an easy to understand visual presentation that employees of a retail store could easily comprehend.

The Outcome: The product's simple interface allowed retailers to add the service to customers without having to extensively train their employees.