Improving Yahoo!'s 3rd-party developer and end-user experiences
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
-
- Director, User Experience, Applications Platform at Yahoo!
- Past
-
- Senior Design Manager, Developer Network at Yahoo!
- Senior Design Manager: Network Personalization, Open Content (RSS) Platform, and Membership at Yahoo!
- Design Manager, My Yahoo! at Yahoo!
- Creative Director at Fearless Concepts/Island Def Jam Music Group
- Design Consultant at Sedapa
- Art Director / Manager, R&D at Iguana Studios, Inc.
- Art Director at BlairLake
- Education
-
- University of Kansas
- Omaha North High School
- Recommended
-
8 people have recommended Micah - Connections
-
500+
connections
- Industry
- Design
- Websites
Micah Laaker’s Summary
Micah Laaker leads User Experience for the Yahoo! Applications Platform, having previously led the Developer Network, Network Personalization, Open Content (RSS) Platform, and Membership UED teams. Formerly the creative director of Island Def Jam Music Group's in-house interactive group, Fearless Concepts, Micah has lead the conceptual and visual direction of many large-scale music and entertainment projects. Having worked in the interactive field for more than a decade, he has provided his entertainment, corporate, and not-for-profit clients with a range of graphic design, illustration, and multimedia services.
Micah was instrumental in the founding and operations of the research and development department at Iguana Studios, a leading New York-based design firm. Thanks to the resources of Iguana and with the support of Adobe Systems, Inc., he was able to coordinate the development of the first commercial SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) project: the redesign of BattleBots.com.
Following on the heels of this development, Micah has written extensively about design and technology, including authoring "SAMS Teach Yourself SVG in 24 Hours," "Photoshop CS in 10 Simple Steps or Less," and a number of articles for industry journals. He continues to lecture and teach university classes about online vector graphics and interactive production technologies, as well.
His clients have included the ACLU, Island Def Jam Music Group, Disney Channel, Sprint PCS, Lockheed Martin, and Adobe Systems.
Micah has won numerous awards for both creative and Web development, including a 2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment award, the 2002 London International Advertising Awards Gold Award and the 2001 Industrial Design Society of America's Industrial Design Excellence Gold Award.
He lives in California with his wife and mammoth music collection, and he is known for his affinity to his home state: Nebraska.
Micah Laaker’s Specialties:
Design management, Information design, interaction design, visual design, online branding and development, illustration, interactive entertainment development, instructional writing,
Micah Laaker’s Experience
-
Director, User Experience, Applications Platform
Yahoo!
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; YHOO; Design industry)
October 2007 — Present (10 months)
-
Senior Design Manager, Developer Network
Yahoo!
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; YHOO; Design industry)
February 2007 — October 2007 (9 months)
-
Senior Design Manager: Network Personalization, Open Content (RSS) Platform, and Membership
Yahoo!
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; YHOO; Internet industry)
March 2005 — January 2007 (1 year 11 months)
-
Design Manager, My Yahoo!
Yahoo!
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; YHOO; Design industry)
November 2004 — March 2005 (5 months)
-
Creative Director
Fearless Concepts/Island Def Jam Music Group
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Design industry)
March 2003 — October 2004 (1 year 8 months)
Lead multi-disciplinary creative team on projects for Island Def Jam Music Group. Establish processes for project development. Manage staff and freelancers. Develop creative & architectural specifications to direct development efforts.
-
Design Consultant
Sedapa
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Design industry)
August 2001 — February 2003 (1 year 7 months)
Develop creative concepts and executions for the ACLU, Harvard University Physics Department, Wiley Publishing, LuckyPix, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and Wireless Generation.
-
Art Director / Manager, R&D
Iguana Studios, Inc.
(Design industry)
1999 — 2001 (2 years)
-
Art Director
BlairLake
(Design industry)
1997 — 1999 (2 years)
Micah Laaker’s Education
-
University of Kansas
BFA w/ Honors, Visual Communications (Graphic Design & Illustration), 1993 — 1997
- Activities and Societies:
- University Daily Kansan,
Student Union Activities,
Kiosk Magazine
-
Omaha North High School
Additional Information
Micah Laaker’s Websites:
Micah Laaker’s Interests:
Information design, Illustration, Arts & Crafts movement, Art Deco movement, Small books, Self-publishing tools, Syndication/Distribution technologies, Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Nebraska, southern Africa, Sudan, Darfur, Congo, non-profit management, personal identity management, cryptozoology, RSS, widgets, badges, Ethiopian iconic art,
Micah Laaker’s Groups:
Association for Computing Machinery,
Art Directors Club,
BayCHI,
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum,
Graphic Artists Guild,
Interaction Design Association,
Nebraska State Historical Society,
Society of News Design
-
BayCHI member -
Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières member -
KIVA member -
Art Directors Club member -
Graphic Artists Guild member -
Interaction Design Association member -
KU Alumni Association member -
Society of News Design member
Micah Laaker’s Honors:
2006 resfest|10 International Screening: Filmmaking With A Purpose,
2005 Media That Matters Film Festival: Civil Liberties Award,
2004 Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards: Best Use of Technology by a Music Label,
2004 Moodboard Magazine: Take Ten New York (NYC's Top 10 Creatives),
2002 London International Advertising Awards Gold,
2001 Industrial Design Society of America Industrial Design Excellence Award: Gold,
2001 Web Marketing Association WebAward Competition Standard of Excellence (x2),
2001 Wow Web Designs Award,
2000 London International Advertising Awards Finalist,
2000 Web Marketing Association WebAward Competition Standard of Excellence, 2000 New York Festivals Finalist,
2000 Shockwave.com Sites With Life Award,
2000 Shockwave.com Shocked Site of the Day,
1998 The Ad Club of Kansas City Omni Award Bronze (x2),
1998 Direct Marketing Association AMBIT Award
