Game designer, concept realizer, usability disentangler, and strategic advisor on advanced concepts startups
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
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- Senior Director of Product Design at Stealth Company
- Concept Developer at Stanford University
- Intellectual Property Advisor at Sublinks aps
- Managing Director at The Planet a/s
- Past
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- CTO, Co-Founder at Sublinks aps
- Managing Director, Co-founder at Subsense.com
- Managing Director, Co-founder at The Planet
- Course Instructor and Examiner at Space Invaders
- Head of Educational Department at MouseHouse
- Photography and graphic design at Billedmageren (Self-employed)
- Art Director at Line Out
- Education
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- Aarhus Universitet
- University of Aarhus
- Aarhus Katedralskole
- Recommended
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connections
- Industry
- Information Technology and Services
- Websites
Mads Rydahl’s Summary
In my last two positions I've managed small creative software development teams and brought a dozen commercial computer games to market. I am an excellent communicator and my combination of technical experience and verbal and written skills has ensured timely and successful completion of all projects that I have controlled.
I have fourteen years of professional experience within the field of interactive design; I designed my first corporate website in the early 90s, I've received several prestigious international awards, written a full featured 3D game engine from scratch and developed numerous puzzle, arcade and 3D games for international clients.
I'm a very fast learner and I have extensive hands-on experience in a number of programming environments and most visual design packages on the market today, including the Adobe product range, 3DSMax and Maya.
Mads Rydahl’s Specialties:
My work centers on the casual gamers market. My broader focus includes the study and integration of novel interaction mechanics, adaptive feedback and reinforcement learning mechanisms in the context of experience design.
I currently reside in San Francisco.
Books on my bedside table:
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The Science of Leonardo – Fritjof Capra
The Search by John Battelle
Rainbows End – Vernor Vinge
Edison in the Boardroom – Suzanne Harrison
Mads Rydahl’s Experience
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Senior Director of Product Design
Stealth Company
(Internet industry)
January 2008 — Present (9 months)
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Concept Developer
Stanford University
(Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Higher Education industry)
2007 — Present (1 year)
Designing and evolving a pilot project to extract knowledge and value from the historical archives of The Stanford University Libraries, and capture life-stories from renowned scholars and Nobel laureates.
The project leverages semantic web technologies and novel entity extraction algorithms to capture and disseminate knowledge and value from previously inaccessible personal archives and research materials safeguarded in archives around the world, effectively capitalizing on the “Long tail of Knowledge” by democratizing access and pioneering interface design in the field of information search and discovery. -
Intellectual Property Advisor
Sublinks aps
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
February 2006 — Present (2 years 8 months)
Supervising the commercialization of the company’s intellectual property, including numerous pending and issued patents within the field of information discovery and structured data recommendation systems.
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Managing Director
The Planet a/s
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Games industry)
January 2001 — Present (7 years 9 months)
Successfully refocused and evolved the company from web services and Advergaming to Casual Games. Grew a reliable network of talented game development contractors to support independent productions under bootstrap development budgets, and developed a solid relationship with Casual Games Publisher Gametrust.com.
The Planet has produced and delivered numerous 2D and 3D arcade, action and puzzle games for large corporate clients such as LEGO, Gametrust.com and Carlsberg as well as for small start-ups. Our casual game "Shroomz - Quest for Puppy" was awarded "Web/Downloadable Game of the Year" at the 2004 Billboard Entertainment awards in Los Angeles.
The Planet's games are distributed through market-leading channels such as AOL Games, Yahoo Games, Shockwave.com, Real.com, Oberon, Big Fish Games and Miniclip Tournaments.
The Planet can be found at http://www.planet.dk/ -
CTO, Co-Founder
Sublinks aps
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Services industry)
October 1999 — February 2003 (3 years 5 months)
Co-founded the company and directed the international patenting process of a novel class of recommendation systems. Patents currently issued in the US and pending in Europe and elsewhere.
Sublinks is a nascent search technology and innovation company which holds patents for a number of novel methods within the fields of recommendation systems, knowledge management, and information search and retrieval. The company manages a family of patents in The US and The European Union to protect the rights of its inventions.
Google Patents link to our first issued American patent:
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT7073132 -
Managing Director, Co-founder
Subsense.com
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)
January 1999 — November 2000 (1 year 11 months)
Founded and ran a web services company with Daniel Spikol, information architect and former creative director of the LEGO Group’s web site.
Subsense handled management, process control and design of various New Media projects, including a webcommunity for Danish media Empire Zentropa and movie director Lars von Trier, corporate design and interface development for American foodportal e-licious.com and concept development for renowned Danish electronics company Bang & Olufsen. -
Managing Director, Co-founder
The Planet
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Online Media industry)
August 1995 — December 1998 (3 years 5 months)
Co-Founded and lead award winning design studio The Planet with three former colleagues from MouseHouse.
The Planet's client portfolio includes advanced interface concepts development for Bang & Olufsen and CD-ROM design and Website for LEGO’s very first multimedia production, which won the prestigious Danish design award The ID Prize, Best Product at the Scandinavian Interactive Media Event (SIME) and the Danish Ad Agencies Golden Prize in 1996.
With a creative management group and a commitment to innovation and design excellence, The Planet has created celebrated web sites and online experiences for corporate clients including LEGO, Carlsberg, and MicroWarehouse. The Planet's own website has been featured in dozens of books on web design, and was the first Scandinavian site to receive a number of international awards, among which were Macromedia Shocked Site of the Day and The Original Cool Site of the Day.
The Planet can be found at http://www.planet.dk/ -
Course Instructor and Examiner
Space Invaders
(Educational Institution; 11-50 employees; Higher Education industry)
October 1994 — November 1998 (4 years 2 months)
Over the four years I worked for Space Invaders I've taught, examined and censored hundreds of students in new media production, covering topics as diverse as PhotoShop & Illustrator basics, Motion Graphics and the programming of interactive experiences.
Space Invaders was the first Danish education in multimedia production and design, and educated most of the first generation of new media workers in Denmark. Space Invaders was a privately owned organization driven by artistic values, but with a focus on both technological and entrepreneurial innovation.
http://www.invaders.dk/school/facts.php3 -
Head of Educational Department
MouseHouse
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Higher Education industry)
October 1994 — July 1995 (10 months)
Grew an educational department to deliver short-term and ultra-focused post grad courses for the growing danish New Media Industry, utilizing the existing in-house competencies of the parent agency.
MouseHouse was one of the first full-service new media agencies in Denmark, focused entirely on CD-ROM production and interactive content. -
Photography and graphic design
Billedmageren (Self-employed)
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Design industry)
January 1991 — July 1995 (4 years 7 months)
Photographed popular and aspiring rock stars for publicity use, both in my studio and at live gigs, did the sleeve design for various commercial and promotional CD releases. My favorite part, however was creating super-sized promotional posters that left a strong visual imprint around the city.
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Art Director
Line Out
(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Music industry)
April 1993 — January 1995 (1 year 10 months)
Worked on the conceptualization and realization of a new Danish Music Magazine. For one year after the launch, I served as both Assistant Editor and Art Director, single-handedly managing the digital production of the magazine from beginning to end.
LineOut is a successful Copenhagen music magazine targeted at professional musicians, and founded by the two largest associations of Danish musicians.
Mads Rydahl’s Education
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Aarhus Universitet
Art History 1993 — 1996
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University of Aarhus
Political Science September 1992 — July 1993
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Aarhus Katedralskole
August 1986 — June 1989
