Ben Sykes

Ben.sykes@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/bensykes
http://linkedin.com/in/bsykes
http://coroflot.com/bsykes

+ OVERVIEW

• Dev design hybrid with 14 years experience designing human experiences, based on story and biological neural processes. NEURO DESIGNER - ARE YOU CLICKABLE?™

• Using JavaScript frameworks, created a way to “Drag & Drop” in Microsoft SharePoint for the GFS Ignition Portal at Microsoft.

• Conceived, Created and designed the search engine Information.com. (Global top 500 sites on the web – Alexa Rank)

• Successfully led the creative UI vision of the music website American Idol Underground from conception to over 1 million unique hits a week.

• Designed Siderean’s Seamark UI which was named by KMWorld, as one of the Top Trend-Setting Products of the Year! (2006).

IRISH MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE
Dublin, Ireland 2008

Lecture: What Species Is Your User The underlying biology of creating rich interactive experiences, and a strategy to bring your Silverlight applications to life.

NEXTGEN USER GROUP
Coventry, England October 20th 2008

INTERNATIONAL COGNITIVE DESIGN CONFERENCE Karlsruhe, Germany February 3-5 2009

CISCO SYSTEMS
Manager User Centered Design Voice Technology Group (VTG) 1/2008 - 2009

+ MANAGEMENT

• Hiring manager
• 7 direct reports
• Career goals and evaluation
• Team morale motivation.
• Disparate vendor management

+ PROJECTS

• Conference Clients
• Enterprise IM
• Web 2.0
• WebEx

+ CONTRIBUTION

• Project Management
• UI Spec Development
• Contextual Inquiry
• UED/Interaction Design
• Rapid Prototyping

+ TECHNOLOGIES

• Adobe Suite (all)
• Visio
• MS Project
• Expression Suite
• Visual Studio
• XAML

MICROSOFT
Product Manager / User Experience Lead
8/2006 1/2008

+ MANAGEMENT

• Team morale motivation
• Disparate vendor management
• Present Concepts to Executives
• UED Lead
• Coordinate with disparate dev teams

+ PROJECTS

• Ajax into SharePoint
• Microsoft Ignition Portal
• Web 2.0
• TSP Plug-in for Visual Studio (VSTF)

+ CONTRIBUTION

• Requirements Capture
• UI Spec Development
• UED/Interaction Design
• Rapid Prototyping
• Project Management
• Marketing Strategy Plan
• Contextual Inquiry and Test Plan
• Front End Web Development (CSS, JavaScript, C#)

+ TECHNOLOGIES

• Adobe Suite
• Visio
• MS Project
• Expression Suite
• Visual Studio / XAML
• JavaScript DOJO Frameworks
• CS 0

AMERICAN IDOL UNDERGROUND
Associate Creative Director
9/2005 8/2006

+ MANAGEMENT

• Design team hiring manager
• 10 direct reports
• Career goals /evaluation
• Vendor management
• Fremantle engagement

+ PROJECTS

• RIA's E-Commerce Music Website
• Print collateral (Rolling Stone/Music Connection)

+ CONTRIBUTION

• Online market strategy
• Visual design & direction (site and collateral)
• Requirements capture
• UI spec dev & style guide
• UI hotspot tracking / testing
• UED/Interaction Design
• Rapid prototyping

+ TECHNOLOGIES

• Adobe Suite
• Visio
• MS Project
• ASP.NET
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Data driven Flash AS2

OVERSEE.NET
Product Manager Search Engine Information.com 9/2004 4/2005

• 2 reports
• Presented to stakeholders
• Strategic partnerships
• Marketing strategy
• Revenue modeling
• Search Engine
• Product conception
• Market / user research
• Requirements documentation
• Analytics tracking
• UED/Interaction Design
• Rapid Prototyping
• Usability testing
• Adobe Suite
• Visio
• MS Project
• WAP/WML

DIGITAL EVOLUTION
Client Services Multiple Roles
5/2002 1/2004

Role / Project

• Project Director EMTM (Interactive Training)
• Sr. Web Developer Digev Corporate Web Site
• Project Manager / Dev Corporate Intranet
• Sr. UI Designer Sony APG Intranet
• UI Designer Nissan Brand Performance System
• Flash Developer The Zenith Insurance
• Lead Developer Hewlett Packard CRM Site.

SUPERFLY INDUSTRIES, LLC
Founder & CEO
Web Development, Design and Usability / Heuristic Evaluation Consulting. 1996 2006

+ MANAGEMENT

• Company direction and market strategy
• Business relationships
• Corporate budgeting
• Team building
• Disparate vendor management
• Technical / artistic staff interviewing
• RFP/RFI Response & Bid

+ PROJECTS

• 200 plus client base

+ CONTRIBUTION

• Proposal Drafting
• Project Management
• Spec Development
• Contextual Inquiry / Usability Testing
• Usability participant recruitment
• UED/Interaction Design
• Rapid Prototyping
• Visual design
• Hypervideo and interactive flash video
• RFID Video

• UPA Usability Professionals Association
• AIGA American Institute of Graphic Arts
• ACM SIGCHI - Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction.
• HFES Human Factors & Ergonomics Society
• STC Society for Technical Communication

Combat Veteran
U.S. Marine Corps Infantry
G. Co. 2/23 RCT-1

• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Provided humanitarian support.
• Part of the "21 Days to Baghdad" documentary.
• Made decisions under extreme pressure and noise
• Combat Leadership
• Took part in numerous press interviews from agencies all over the world.

Film

Television

Performer Skills

• Performance Skills: Host, Teleprompter

Employment Details

• Work History: User Experience, Product Manager, Usability Testing, Information Architect, Film, Internet
• Job Categories: Cinematography, Production, Writing, Casting, Producing, Editing
• Are you willing to work unpaid?: No
• Authorized to work in United States: Yes
• Primary Citizenship: United States
• Valid Passport: Yes
• Prior Job Title(s): Manager User Centered Design – Voice Technology Group (VTG) , Product Manager / User Experience Lead, Associate Creative Director