Pete Arden

Current

• Owner/Principal at Hex15 Consulting, Inc.

Past

• Director, Web Services (contract) at NCsoft
• User-Experience Architect (contract) at Charles Schwab
• Site Producer for Rugby World Cup (contract) at MediaZone

• UX Designer & Community Strategist (contract) at Walt Disney Internet Group
• Director, Product Design & Planning at PlanetOut Inc.
• Executive Producer, Games.com at Hasbro Interactive
• Senior Director, Marketing at NextPlanetOver.com
• Senior Producer at Organic Media
• Marketing Manager / Marketing Director at Island/Polygram Records

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Education

• New York University

Recommended

5 people have recommended Pete

Connections

184 connections

Industry

Internet

Pete Arden’s Summary

I create online strategies and interactive products and services for consumer-oriented entertainment companies.

Pete Arden’s Specialties:

Product strategy • Experience design • Website development • Interactive marketing

Pete Arden’s Experience

• Owner/Principal

  Hex15 Consulting, Inc.

  (Internet industry)

  2005 — Present (4 years )

  Hex15 Consulting provides product development expertise, user-experience design (UXD), and strategic insight for consumer-oriented online businesses.

• Director, Web Services (contract)

  NCsoft

  (Public Company; Computer Games industry)

  March 2009 — August 2009 (6 months)

  Oversaw production and development of corporate, studio, and MMORPG game sites, including Aion (NCsoft), Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet), and City of Heroes (Paragon). Recruited and worked with outside vendors on site development and visual branding projects. Managed a team of web developers, designers, and producers, making several key hires after the company relocated from Austin TX to Seattle WA. Streamlined internal project-management processes and communication between NCsoft West and its studio partners.

• User-Experience Architect (contract)

  Charles Schwab

  (Public Company; SCHW; Financial Services industry)

  November 2007 — June 2008 (8 months)

  Designed a series of web-based applications used by Schwab field staff nationwide for retail marketing and customer-relationship management. Proposed a radically different user experience for the Schwab.com homepage that would exploit consumers' online search-and-research behavior, and developed a new page-level information architecture for Schwab's intranet site.

• Site Producer for Rugby World Cup (contract)

  MediaZone

  (Privately Held; Online Media industry)

  May 2007 — November 2007 (7 months)

  Managed all aspects of the development and roll-out of RWC Plus, the broadband video site of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Created project plans, functional specifications, user flows, and wireframes, and led production of both the website and event-related video programming. Implemented marketing, e-commerce, and SEO initiatives to increase sales and viewership.

• UX Designer & Community Strategist (contract)

  Walt Disney Internet Group

  (Public Company; DIS; Internet industry)

  2006 — 2007 (1 year )

  Consulted on online community and next-generation travel and e-commerce services. Designed social media applications that allowed users to interact with the Disney brand and each other in new ways. Conducted consumer research to test concepts and implementations.

• Director, Product Design & Planning

  PlanetOut Inc.

  (Public Company; LGBT; Online Media industry)

  2002 — 2005 (3 years )

  Streamlined and improved the overall user experience for PlanetOut's network of lifestyle-focused content and community sites. Implemented social networking strategies and developed tools for the creation of user-generated content. Managed the migration from various legacy systems to a single CMS. Authored network-wide standards for website design and development based on industry best practices. Devised unique, branded marketing opportunities and integrated functionality for key partners and advertisers.

• Executive Producer, Games.com

  Hasbro Interactive

  (Public Company; HAS; Consumer Goods industry)

  2000 — 2001 (1 year )

  Devised the feature set, information architecture, programming guidelines, and community strategy for Games.com, Hasbro’s popular casual-gaming site. Brought Games.com from inception to public beta release in 5 months, maintaining a balance between optimal user experience, market imperatives, technology constraints, and cost.

• Senior Director, Marketing

  NextPlanetOver.com

  (Retail industry)

  1999 — 2000 (1 year )

• Senior Producer

  Organic Media

  (Public Company; OMC; Internet industry)

  1998 — 1999 (1 year )

• Marketing Manager / Marketing Director

  Island/Polygram Records

  (Entertainment industry)

  1991 — 1996 (5 years )

Pete Arden’s Education

• New York University

  BA , Interdisciplinary Studies , 1998

  Self-designed major combining history, philosophy, and psychology. Studied the cognitive basis of scientific discovery, particularly the interplay between knowledge, experience, and intuition.

Additional Information

Pete Arden’s Interests:

Rugby, typography and graphic design, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, history of science, comics and graphic novels, film scores, music remixing, new media, distributed culture, science fiction, role playing games, travel.

Pete Arden’s Groups:

American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIST), ACM SIGCHI BayCHI, San Francisco Fog RFC.

•    BayCHI
•    Interaction Design Association
•    Information Architecture Institute (IAI)
•    Video Gaming Industry Executives

Pete Arden’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch