I can help you assess the market opportunity and competitive landscape to help guide your product roadmap decisions.
Through both field research and lab-based usability testing, I can help you make sure you're building the right product in the right way.
I start with sketching and progress through workflows, wireframes, and functional prototypes. I also do visual design and I even code a bit.
As Design Manager with TakeLessons, I designed and prototyped the company's first mobile-optimized website. By using Lean methodology and conducting extensive user research, this site became one of the most successful products TakeLessons has launched to date.
One of my design challenges at TakeLessons was a complete redesign of the checkout funnel from search results through purchase. I approached this project strategically and not as a screen-by-screen refresh; this allowed me to challenge the current workflow and make significant improvements to both the user experience and overall sales conversion.
The primary customers of TakeLessons are the teachers because the lessons they provide are the company's product. To improve the experience for teachers working with TakeLessons, I completely redesigned their accounts from the ground up, focusing on the activities teachers do most. I also designed a companion iOS app, laser-focused on the features teachers would need when they're on the go.
As a Human Factors Engineer at Illumina, I conducted extensive research with smaller genomics labs and used that research to drive innovation in the customer's sequencing workflow. This enabled Illumina to bring the company's revolutionary DNA sequencing technology, already made popular in the company's flagship product, HiSeq 2000, into smaller labs and open up entirely new markets. The MiSeq was the world's first benchtop sequencer, Illumina's most important instrument launch of 2011, and continues to lead the market in its category to this day.
As Illumina's more powerful follow-on product to the MiSeq, the NextSeq 500 was the world's first benchtop sequencer capable of sequencing a full human genome. Pushing the user experience of the MiSeq even further, I was able to drive strategic cross-departmental collaboration to seamlessly integrate the workflow from biological sample to analyzed genomic data.
One of the more forward-looking projects I worked on at Illumina was the MyGenome iPad app. MyGenome was the world's first application that would allow a user to directly navigate their personal genome and discover health conditions to which they may be susceptible. This project came directly from the CEO and was meant to be a showcase for the potential future of personalized genomic medicine.
I designed and hand-coded this portfolio starting from a basic responsive template. This project will never be truly "finished"; I'll continue tinkering with it over time to try out new technologies and more advanced interactions.
I was fortunate to have Adam on my team for almost two years at TakeLessons. During that time, Adam fundamentally improved our design processes and lead the charge for usability across our entire product suite. Adam is a strong voice on any team, but also knows how to work with others to drive the product forward. At TakeLessons, he helped institute rigorous user testing methodologies and lead the creation of our first style guide.
It was an absolute pleasure to work with Adam and I would highly recommend him!
During his time at TakeLessons, Adam was a passionate advocate for our user experience and a complete joy to have as a leader on our team. Not only did Adam optimize our product design workflows, drive innovative product solutions, and provide critical and creative leadership to the design and product teams, he brought the best work out of those around him. Adam always went above and beyond, investing in ongoing design education and networking opportunities while encouraging creative solutions from all corners of the company, which included initiating a company-wide idea forum soon after starting at TakeLessons. Working with Adam and his team was always a pleasure, and the results of his design leadership were some of the most impactful product releases our company has seen. I would highly recommend Adam to anyone looking for an experienced, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and incredibly sharp leader.
Adam and I worked together at Illumina where he was a passionate advocate for user-centered design.
Adam championed and implemented much greater direct engagement with our customers in the early stages of the design process. He also effectively engaged across the organization to develop clear and intuitive workflows and layouts in our gene sequencing instruments. These are complex instruments with a very sophisticated workflow. Adam's contribution has been key in making these products much easier to use.
Through it all Adam was always engaging, personable, professional and a lot of fun to work with!
I have had the pleasure to work with Adam on various projects that eventually went to market. Adam's maturity and experience help make my products much more compelling and competitive when we went to market. He was truly a partner in design and continuous improvement of our software application. Our customers raved about the innovative user interface and help build market share. His approach to user experience is holistic and very consultative. It was a privilege and a real learning experience for me. I hope to someday work with Adam on future projects.
Much is made of the not uncommon rift between hardware and software engineers in product development teams, and while jokes and friendly ribbing abounded within our team, the gap between the disciplines was one Adam comfortably straddled. While working on hardware development, I frequently found myself reaching out to Adam for consultation and collaboration whenever user experience was concerned. Adam’s intuitive understanding of a user’s expectations and interactions with a product made his assistance invaluable through the design cycle. His efforts brought much-needed focus among our designers to the needs and wants of the user, helping to usher in a new generation of products for expanded and mature markets, rather than the early-adopters that had previously comprised the bulk of our orders. In addition to guiding the development of our newest products, Adam also took the time to arrange lectures, presentations and study sessions to raise awareness among our developers to the importance and implementation of customer-focused design, providing us with a new vocabulary and set of references to serve as tools as we brought new products to market. Adam’s competence, wit and unflappable demeanor make him a pleasure to work with and a valuable contributor to any organization hoping to bring delight to the customer.