Owner, Design MatriX and Design Consultant
Greater Los Angeles Area
- Current
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- Owner at Design MatriX (Sole Proprietorship)
- Past
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- Program Manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc.
- Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Interactive Systems Corporation
- Systems Designer at Sunn Classic Pictures
- Systems Designer at Social Engineering Technology
- Instructor at California Institute of the Arts
- Education
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- California Institute of the Arts, School of Design
- Kansas City Art Institute, Industrial Design Dept.
- Connections
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25
connections
- Industry
- Design
- Websites
Gary Swift’s Summary
My roots are in industrial design, in particular, automotive design. As an industrial design major I developed an expertise in systems, design methodology and computer-aided design - not just CAD, but using computers to take apart and solve complex systems design problems. After teaching these subjects at the California Institute of the Arts and applying them to a number of diverse design problem areas, this led to a 15-year career in the computer software (UNIX) industry.
The first phase of my career was right brain: industrial, graphic, environmental and architectual design. The second was left brain: software design and engineering. The current phase integrates the two. I understand the creative problem solving process and user design requirements better than the average (technology-oriented) software engineer; and I understand the technology "under the hood" better than the average (arts-oriented) designer.
If you are looking for someone with the methodology to unravel user design requirements, generate creative design solutions, and implement the nitty-gritty technical details, I'm your guy.
I've been lucky enough to have worked on the "cutting edge" of design and technology during my entire career. I seek to keep on that edge, and to work with people who want to make a contribution, a difference for the better, and have a ball doing it. For me it's not just a career - it's a mission and a lifestyle.
Gary Swift’s Specialties:
Systems design, strategic design, software design and engineering, design methodology, problem solving in product, information and environmental design, pattern languages, scientific visualization amd image processing. Technical specialties include UNIX, Solaris and Linux operating systems, Internet and Web technology (HTML, CGI, etc.), Interactive Data Language (IDL), Perl, Javascript, UNIX shell, and some C and Java.
Gary Swift’s Experience
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Owner
Design MatriX (Sole Proprietorship)
(Sole Proprietorship; Design industry)
1995 — Present (13 years)
Design consulting services specializing in Systems Design, Strategic Design, Software Design and Engineering (whole systems, user experience and user interface design, policies, procedures and processes), Internet/Intranet/Web design, Industrial and Product Design, Information and Graphic Design, Environmental Design.
* For details about my design services, see the Design MatriX website at:
http://www.designmatrix.com
* For details about my experience and a list of projects, see my resume at:
http://www.designmatrix.com/portfolios/Gary_Swift.html
Joint projects with other design companies and consultants are welcome. When required, other associates are available to fill out a team. -
Program Manager
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; SUNW; Computer Software industry)
January 1991 — October 1994 (3 years 10 months)
Part of the team aquired by SunSoft to port the Solaris operating system to Intel (x86) platforms, I was responsible for systems integration, source code configuration management, release engineering, engineering policies and practices, and software tools.
* Led a team to develop Common Source Code policies and procedures for merging the Solaris source code for Intel (x86) and SPARC architectures. This enabled the Solaris/x86 developers to synchonize it with Solaris on SPARC machines.
* Developed strategy and tactics to ship Solaris/x86 release 2.1 on the schedule for release 2.0, and to skip releases 2.2 and 2.3 so that Solaris 2.4 on x86 and SPARC were released together.
* Co-managed Systems Integration and Release Engineering for Solaris/x86.
* Served on various business, program and software engineering teams for Solaris 2.1 and 2.4.
* Participated in Sun's Software Development Architecture Team for the Software Development Framework (engineering standards and procedures). -
Senior Member of the Technical Staff
Interactive Systems Corporation
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)
February 1980 — January 1991 (11 years)
Interactive Systems was the first company to sell and support the UNIX operating system. In addition to our own UNIX OS products, we ported UNIX to many other architectures for other companies. It was acquired by Kodak about 1987, who sold the Product Division to SunSoft (software division of Sun Microsystems) in late 1990.
Here I led projects in UNIX operating system and application development, documentation, systems integration, quality assurance, release engineering and customer support. This included: managing the company's first Systems Integration Team, developing software tools and the first test suites (which led to establishing a QA department), promoting engineering standards, policies and procedures, and serving as Kodak's Quality Leadership Process (TQM, etc.) coordinator for Interactive's Product Division. -
Systems Designer
Sunn Classic Pictures
(Privately Held; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
1978 — 1980 (2 years)
As systems designer for the Marketing Research Dept., I designed methods, data bases and software for market research. This included statistical regression analysis of historical data, Delphi studies and trend analysis for market forecasting, and decision trees and production rules (modeled after the RAND Corporations's RITA artificial intelligence agent) for marketing strategies.
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Systems Designer
Social Engineering Technology
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Think Tanks industry)
1976 — 1978 (2 years)
"The SET", as it was called, could best be described as a Design Think Tank. Our major project was to design an environmental education system for the Office of Environmental Education, US Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), including computer assisted components for environmental modeling, simulation and forecasting, networking and teleconferencing, and problem solving. We also designed design a participatory planning and governance system for Southwest Community College in Los Angeles, including operations and governance manuals and methods for developing and funding new types of educational programs.
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Instructor
California Institute of the Arts
(Educational Institution; 51-200 employees; Higher Education industry)
1972 — 1976 (4 years)
As an instructor in the School of Design, Cal Arts, I taught courses related to analyzing and solving complex design problems in a systems context. These courses included Design Theory, Design Methodology, Bionics, Pattern Language, Futures Forecasting, General System Theory and a project-oriented Systems Design Studio. These courses were cross-disciplinary, attended by students in industrial design, graphic design, environmental design and architectural design. The Design Theory class even attracted students from the Schools of Art, Music and Dance.
Gary Swift’s Education
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California Institute of the Arts, School of Design
MFA, Design (systems, product, graphic, envionmental and architectural design), September 1970 — June 1972
I was a TA (teaching assistance) for my mentor in General System Theory, Futures Forecasting, etc. In addition I developed and taught my own course in Design Methodology. After I graduated I was asked to join the faculty because, in the dean's words, my leaving "left a hole in the curriculum".
- Activities and Societies:
- Student representative in the School of Design Governance Commitee. Participated in various curriculum developement task forces.
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Kansas City Art Institute, Industrial Design Dept.
BFA, Industrial Design (major); Graphic Design (minor), September 1966 — June 1970
In my Junior year I developed an interest in design methodology and applying computers to design problems. As a result I was given a stipend to travel to the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, to experiment with computer-assisted design tools there.
Additional Information
Gary Swift’s Websites:
Gary Swift’s Interests:
art, high tech, genealogy, American history, native California plants, gardening, hiking, all water sports, classic rock and blues guitar
Gary Swift’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
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