Cynthia DuVal

Current

Director at Rock Hollow Studios

Past

On-line Portal Concept Design Project Manager at Red Hat
Senior User Researcher at IBM Lotus
Principal Member of Technical Staff at Verizon

Senior Member of the Research Staff at Verizon Laboratories
Ethnographer/Usability Specialist at Microsoft Mobile Electronics
Consultant: Activity Theory and Learning Research at Apple Computer
Ethnographer at Xerox PARC
Qualitative Market Research Intern at Interval Research
Ethnography Intern at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
Founder, Designer and Artist at Visual World Design (Sole Proprietorship)
Production Assistant at Lucas Films

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Education

University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Oregon

Recommended

9 people have recommended Cynthia

Connections

130 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Cynthia DuVal’s Summary

I am an ethnographer, artist and design researcher.

Make the most of your ideas and designs!

Use ethnography to discover innovation opportunity and both deepen and fine tune your understanding of your target markets. I can help you apply this knowledge to improve design and business outcomes.

I do strategic design, market and innovation research for high technology companies, Internet start-ups and innovation teams to help align business goals with customer values and needs. I can also help you identify innovation opportunities and new product and service ideas that compliment and extend your brand as it is developing. Goal: Collaborate, motivate and facilitate user centered design research for cutting edge creative adventures.

I am also an artist and contemporary art consultant and advocate; if you have interests in contemporary American Northwest painters, film-makers and techno-artists working at the frontier of artistic production contact me. Goal: Curate art shows featuring under represented and obscure contemporary artists.

Cynthia DuVal’s Specialties:

I provide service and mentoring to help you integrate user centered design principles and customer and client perspectives into business, marketing, design and engineering strategy and project planning conversations, documents and work processes.

I specialize in contemporary painting, techno-art and film artists of the American Northwest.

Cynthia DuVal’s Experience

Director

Rock Hollow Studios

(Internet industry)

July 2005 — Present (3 years 6 months)

---Rock Hollow Studios is a qualitative design and market research studio dedicated to helping innovation teams and leaders succeed
--Providing consulting services designed to help start-up companies design and deliver products and services that align with customer values and needs and communicate in a language that investors and customers understand.
--Artistic production and arts advocate for under represented and obscure contemporary American Northwest artists.
On-line Portal Concept Design Project Manager

Red Hat

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

December 2005 — September 2006 (10 months)

In this consulting engagement I worked with on-line business and IT strategists, global business managers, developers, operations teams, marketing program managers and Red Hat partners and customers to define requirements for on-line customer and partner portals. I facilitated portal concept design and website design activities, facilitated collaboration among global stakeholders and delivered a set of concept designs and a strategy roadmap for customer and partner portals.
Senior User Researcher

IBM Lotus

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Computer Software industry)

July 2001 — July 2005 (4 years 1 month)

--I advised on the development of user-centered design and user research work practices and planned and project managed several collaboration software research studies.
--Worked with high profile customers including JP Morgan Chase, Hewitt Associates, GlaxoSmithKline, Countrywide and IBM Research/Watson to improve customer satisfaction and retention related to the design of emerging software applications
--Facilitated a collaboration between software architects, service engineers, designers, writers and curriculum develpers to improve the delivery of new products
Principal Member of Technical Staff

Verizon

(Internet industry)

2000 — 2001 (1 year)
Senior Member of the Research Staff

Verizon Laboratories

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Telecommunications industry)

August 1999 — July 2001 (2 years)

It was my job to plan and conduct ethnographic research to identify product design opportunities related to broadband to the home. I also did a user experience field study of the Verizon Video on Demand service. Some of the outcomes of these research projects can be accessed via www.verizon.net today.
Ethnographer/Usability Specialist

Microsoft Mobile Electronics

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

July 1997 — July 2000 (3 years 1 month)

This was a three year contract position in which I planned and conducted research to support the Mobile Electronics Interaction Design Team. We were responsible to design and user experience test emerging Windows CE PDA's, the Auto PC and Microsoft's first smart phone. I did a "day in the life" field study with 20 mobile professionals, conducted usability lab tests of technical prototypes, and did several user experience test studies of small screen devices in use for the first time. I also helped coordinate the multimodal user interface design for the Auto PC and earned two patent awards with my colleagues for the speech interface design.
Consultant: Activity Theory and Learning Research

Apple Computer

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

May 1995 — October 1995 (6 months)

Planned, documented and analyzed a field study of collaborative learning activities for the Apple Advanced Technology Learning Group. The research was designed to inform an interactive learning prototype being designed to support collaborations between Apple, area schools and the San Francisco Science Museum staff.
Ethnographer

Xerox PARC

(Public Relations and Communications industry)

1993 — 1994 (1 year)
Qualitative Market Research Intern

Interval Research

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Consumer Electronics industry)

June 1994 — December 1994 (7 months)

I was hired to do ethnoraphic research for the Qualitative Market Research Group at Interval. I traveled with a team of videographers and market researchers to Lollapalooza concerts across the US and photographed teen culture as it related to the music, the venues and human computer interactions with Electronic Carnival kiosks. It was my job to develop a database of photographs taken of teen music enthusiasts attending Lollapalooza concerts and contribute to the identification and exploration of innovative interactive products for teens.
Ethnography Intern

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Research industry)

May 1993 — March 1994 (11 months)

I did ethnographic work as an intern for the Hardware Lab and the Computer Science Lab. While at Xerox PARC I did a study of hardware engineering collaborative work practices and interviewed and shot video documentary footage with the artists and scientists who were involved in the first season of the Xerox PARC Artist in Residence Program. Both of these projects were organizational change projects directed toward enhancing innovative thought and action and among PARC scientists and the San Francisco Bay area electronic arts community.
Founder, Designer and Artist
Visual World Design (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Design industry)

June 1980 — March 1991 (10 years 10 months)

Visual World Design was a design and fine art production company. It was a sole proprietorship in which I designed, printed and painted fabrics for interior design and clothing, designed a line of clothing, coordinated costumes for Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, painted costumes for a horror movie in LA, made and showed oil paintings, designed costumes for George Coates Performance Works and curated contemporary art shows at Bucci’s Café in Emeryville, CA.
Production Assistant

Lucas Films

(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Entertainment industry)

March 1988 — August 1988 (6 months)

Worked as a production assistant to academy award winnig costumer designer Milena Canonero and her esteemed assistants on the movie Tucker.

Cynthia DuVal’s Education

University of California, Santa Cruz

Master of Arts, Cultural Historical Psychology and Educational Research, 1991 — 1994

The focus of my studies was on sociocultural psychology (activity theory), creativity and creative collaboration. My thesis research was conducted with scientists and electronic artists who were participating in the first artist in residence program at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. My thesis was entitled: The Use of Artifacts as Tools for Thinking.
University of Oregon

BS Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology & Chemistry, 1972 — 1977

Studied cognitive psychology, chemistry and writing. Wrote my senior thesis on divided attention under the guidance of Professor Michael Posner.

Additional Information

Cynthia DuVal’s Websites:

Cynthia DuVal’s Interests:

Cultural history, cultural psychology, cultural and cognitive change, visual ethnography, activity theory, emerging technologies, innovation, education, art and technology, farming, gardening, sustainability, interdisciplinary creative collaborations, Internet applications, product adoption, apprenticeship learning.

Cynthia DuVal’s Groups:

The Greater IBM Connection: IBM's alumni program for past and present IBM employees
On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs
Renewable Energy Business Network
Interaction Design Association
Visual Artists and their Advocates
Art marketing
Creativity Champions
Innovation Management Group
Market Research Global Alliance (MRGA)
Front End of Innovation
Climate Savers Computing Initiative
University of Oregon
Documentarians
pdxMindShare - Portland's Career Community
Startup Weekend
VERIZON CONNECTIONS
User Experience
Florence Festival of Creativity - Festival della Creatività, Firenze (Toscana - Tuscany)
Design Research
Digital Artist Outsourcing Group (InArtists)
Ethnography Forum
Apple - Current and Former Employees
Ex-GTE Alumni
University of California-Santa Cruz Alumni (UCSC)
Comic Book Business for Creators and Creations
Art of Licensing
Patron of the Arts