
Design Research / Solutions Consultant
Greater San Diego Area

Design Research / Solutions Consultant
Greater San Diego Area
With a missionary spirit and background in comparative media studies, Michael has led numerous startups into success. For twelve years he has enjoyed working with world class teams at Sony, 3Com and Apple to create breakthrough product experiences that we have grown to know and love such as the iTunes Music Store, .Mac and the iLife suite.
High touch design, Design Research, iPhone & Mobile Application Development, Ideation, Concept & Prototype development for Rich Internet Applications & Rich Media Widgets, Next Generation Icon design, Interaction design, Storyboarding, Digital Storytelling, Interactive Quicktime Authoring, Platform Strategy, Interface Engineering, Agile Development
(Design industry)
June 2007 — Present (2 years 6 months)
An interdisciplinary boutique design consultancy and research firm based in La Jolla, California. Using cross-industry measurements we are interested in partnering with developers to create meaningful branded product experiences for unreached communities and the international mobile market.
M Concepts - Product design for the human condition.
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AAPL; Computer Hardware industry)
November 1999 — October 2004 (5 years )
Lead feature designer for Apple 3rd Party Developers, .Mac, iTunes Music Store, & iLife...
.Mac: WebAqua & WebMetal design language, .Mac navigation & Login, HomePage Application & Themes, Bookmarks, AddressBook, WebMail, Virex, Mac OS X Desktop integration (System Prefs, iSync, .Mac Screensaver, content explorations), Quicktime marketing content, (Workflows: Signup & Account), Initial iTools launch UI engineering
iTunes Music Store: Initial conception, design language, feature storyboarding, navigation studies & design templates for content team, music merchandising, PC launch & Globalization, Audiobooks, iMix (Workflows: Login, Signup & Account, Purchase, AOL, Paypal, Gift Certificates, Gift Cards, Allowance, Artist Alerts, Tell a Friend, Pepsi)
iLife: iPhoto & iMovie (HomePage integration), iTunes printing, iLife media browser research, iWeb storyboards
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; COMS; Computer Networking industry)
July 1998 — May 1999 (11 months)
Worked with 3Com's marketing team to develop new marketing strategies and online experiences to stay competitive with emerging media.
(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; GSTRF.PK; Wireless industry)
January 1998 — June 1998 (6 months)
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; SNE; Consumer Electronics industry)
September 1997 — December 1997 (4 months)
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Media Production industry)
September 1995 — August 1997 (2 years )
4 years , Comparative Media Studies (Open Courseware) , 2006 — 2009
4 years , Intellectual Property Law (Open Courseware) , 2006 — 2009
2 years , Musical Theatre / Information Sciences
1 year , Liberal Arts / Information Sciences
Miksang Photography, Neuroesthetics, Biomimicry, Sailing, Skiing, Mountain Biking, Good conversation, Witty humor, Soulful music, Good design, Simple Lickable Interfaces
American Society for Aesthetics, The Pattern Language Association, IxDA San Diego Chapter Leader, Information Architecture Institute, Design Management Institute, SOHO San Diego, California Historical Society, American Anthropological Association, International Association for People-environment Studies, Media Ecology Association, Society for Consumer Psychology