★ Ben Sykes ★

Current

UX Design Strategy Consultant at Interactoid

Past

Manager of User Centered Design at Cisco Systems
Product Manager - User Experience Lead - GFS MSN Live at Microsoft
Associate Creative Director at American Idol Underground - Fluid Audio Networks

United States Marine Corps Infantry at Golf Company, 2nd Battlalion, 23rd Marines
Product Manager User Experience : Information.com at Oversee.net
Lead UI Design - Sr. Web Developer - Services at Digital Evolution
Creative Lead & Founder at Superfly Industries LLC
Camera P.A. - AMERICAN BEAUTY at Jinks / Cohen Company
Property Assistant Art Department at Murder In The First - Warner Brothers Pictures
Assistant Production Coordinator at Melrose Place - Spelling Entertainment
Motion Picture Casting at Independant Consultant

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Recommended

13 people have recommended ★ Ben

Connections

500+ connections

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Websites

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Summary

My experience design career started in the kitchen, designing edible interfaces. Little did I know my fine dining experience, coupled with my desire to tell great stories would turn me into the experience designer I am today.

I'm a "hands on" dev/design hybrid with 14 years experience designing / dev'ing positive human experiences for rich internet applications, desktop / soft clients and web sites.

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Specialties:

o User Experience Design & Leadership
o Usability Testing and Contextual Inqury
o Neuro Design
o User Experience Evangelism WorldWide
o Motivation and People Management
o Iphone Application Development
o Facebook Application Development
o User Research
o Neuromarketing
o Heuristic Evaluation
o Human Computer Interaction
o Web 2.0 Application Development
o Interactivity in RIA’s utilizing technologies such as HyperVideo and interactive flash video.

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Experience

UX Design Strategy Consultant

Interactoid

(Internet industry)

2009 — Present (less than a year)

• Experience & interaction design consulting
• Interactive video / hypervideo widgets
• Mobile application development / Iphone UI design
Manager of User Centered Design

Cisco Systems

(Public Company; CSCO; Computer Networking industry)

2008 — 2009 (1 year )

• WebEx & WebEx Connect
• Cisco Unified Personal Communicator
• Enterprise Instant Messaging Clients
• Web 2.0 Management Portal
Product Manager - User Experience Lead - GFS MSN Live

Microsoft

(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

2006 — 2008 (2 years )

• GFS/MSN Ignition Portal - Microsoft Sharepoint
• TSP Plug-in for Visual Studio (VSTF)
• Microsoft Online Suite (saas)
Associate Creative Director

American Idol Underground - Fluid Audio Networks

(Internet industry)

September 2005 — August 2006 (1 year )

• Social network for fans and artists separate from the TV show, yet under the American Idol brand
• Print collateral (Rolling Stone, Music Connection)
United States Marine Corps Infantry

Golf Company, 2nd Battlalion, 23rd Marines

(Military industry)

October 2001 — 2006 (5 years )

• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Provided humanitarian support.
• Part of the "21 Days to Baghdad" documentary..
• Made decisions under extreme pressure and noise
• Combat Leadership
Product Manager User Experience : Information.com

Oversee.net

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

2004 — 2005 (1 year )

• Search engine: Information.com
• BlogSource - Social blogging platform
Lead UI Design - Sr. Web Developer - Services

Digital Evolution

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

January 2001 — January 2004 (3 years 1 month)

• Project Director – EMTM (Interactive Training)
• Sr. Web Developer – Digev Corporate Web Site
• Project Manager / Dev – Corporate Intranet
• Sr. UI Designer – Sony APG Intranet
• UI Designer – Nissan Brand Performance System
• Flash Developer – The Zenith Insurance
• Lead Developer – Hewlett Packard CRM Site.
Creative Lead & Founder

Superfly Industries LLC

(Internet industry)

March 1995 — 2004 (9 years )

• 200 + client base
• Warner Brothers Music • Oracle • 5G Wireless
UCLA Portal • Siderean • NASA • NSA • Many More
Camera P.A. - AMERICAN BEAUTY

Jinks / Cohen Company

(Entertainment industry)

December 1998 — February 1999 (3 months)

• Provided all panaflex video monitor feeds for the Director Sam Mendes, Writer: Alan Ball, and producers.
• Worked closely with the 1st & 2nd A.C.'s and Director of Photography Connie Hall.
• I M D B http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003777/
Property Assistant Art Department

Murder In The First - Warner Brothers Pictures

(Entertainment industry)

December 1993 — January 1994 (2 months)

• Director: Marc Rocco
• Production Company: Three Marks Productions
• Northridge Crew
Assistant Production Coordinator

Melrose Place - Spelling Entertainment

(Entertainment industry)

June 1993 — August 1993 (3 months)

• Filled in during the double episode season.
• Assisting in managing of the production office, and acted as a fill-in liaison to cast and crew for production team.
Motion Picture Casting

Independant Consultant

(Entertainment industry)

1991 — 1993 (2 years )

Films Include:

o Money for Nothing - Dir. Ramon Menendez
o Blind Spot - Hallmark Hall of Fame
o The Fire Next Time - CBS Entertainment
o The Cemetery Club - Dir. Bill Duke - Touchstone Pictures
o Hoffa - Dir. Danny Devito - Jersey Films
o Citizen Cohn - Dir. Frank Pierson - HBO Pictures
o Innocent Blood - Dir. John Landis - Warner Brothers
o Striking Distance - Dir. Rowdy Herrington

Additional Information

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Websites:

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Interests:

Neuromarketing, Interactive Advertising, Prototype Development and Filing Patents!, SCUBA, Paint Ball, Video Production, Chroma Keying (green screen post), Fine Dining.

★ Ben Sykes ★’s Groups:

o UPA – Usability Professionals’ Association
o AIGA – American Institute of Graphic Arts
o ACM SIGCHI - Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.
o HFES – Human Factors & Ergonomics Society
o STC – Society for Technical Communication