Resumé

I am a seasoned design leader with over twenty years of experience. I’ve worked for fast-growing tech companies, boutique design agencies, and non-profit organizations.

Everywhere I’ve worked, I’ve been able to help build strong and diverse design teams. I am a manager but prefer to work alongside my team, rather than to direct from a pedestal. I enjoy the collaboration and energy that comes from working together.

I have a pragmatic approach to user-centered design and strive for a balance between customer value and business needs. I’m self-driven and love to work on tough problems that make a difference in the people’s lives.

Work Experience

  • Lucid Software

    Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct 2020—Present

    Sr. Director, Design Operations

    • Manage design teams building and maintaining Instructure UI, the design system used in Canvas LMS Platform.
    TODAY

  • Instructure

    Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug 2019—Jun 2020

    Sr. Director, Design Operations

    • Manage design teams building and maintaining Instructure UI, the design system used in Canvas LMS Platform.
    TODAY

  • Ancestry

    Lehi, Utah, Nov 2011—Aug 2019

    Sr. Director, User Experience

    Director, User Experience

    Sr. Product Designer

    • Managed design teams releasing dozens of innovative features for web and mobile products, from concept through implementation.
    • Created a design system for Ancestry products. Worked closely with product management and front-end development to improve consistency across all products.
    • Created a design methodology and tools to document customer journey and improve the product with user-centered metrics.
    • Recruited and hired designers, growing design team from 5 to a diverse team of over 30.
    I have really enjoyed working with John. He is extremely thoughtful and takes great pride in his craft. Not only is he extremely talented, but he is a real pleasure to work with. I would definitely hire John.Kendall Hulet, CEO at Cake, former Sr. VP Product at Ancestry
    You will see lots of articles about hiring designers that say stuff like, “Full-stack designers don’t exist! Quit looking for unicorns! Respect specialization!” That’s because the authors haven’t worked with John. From visual design, customer research, solving intense interaction design problems, reworking challenging information architectures, writing, all the way to coding up design tools that give the team superpowers… he really does it all and does it all really well. If I didn’t love the guy so much I would hate him out of jealousy.Josh Penrod, CPO at Podium, Former VP of User Experience at Ancestry
    If they were smart, they would put you in chargeA.J. Jacobs, Best Selling Author, It’s All Relative
    2019

  • Academy of Art University

    San Francisco, Feb 2006—Nov 2011

    Adjunct Faculty

    • Taught the course “Advanced Scripting”-teaching art students advanced scripting concepts using Adobe Flash(RIP).
    • Taught group directed study courses to mentor and help students working on their MFA projects.
    2011

  • Family Search, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

    Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb 2006—Nov 2011

    Lead Interaction Designer

    Sr. Interaction Designer

    • I helped grow the team from 5 to over 40 interaction designers.
    • I led the design of an entirely new online store with 17,000 products. The effort included design and product photography
    • Designed website and financial application to assist in the distribution and payment of an international educational assistance program.
    • Established “Design Excellence” program to help train and improve the skills of a design team.
    • Compiled and developed guidelines and best practices for accessible design
    John is an excellent designer and team player. Worked with him on a project for the design and implementation of a Web portal for the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF)…His designs were top notch …his documentation was excellent, and his estimates to complete work were spot on. John is a very talented designer that I highly recommend.Raymond Babbit, Program Manager
    You rarely find this much talent and expertise in a single individual. John is exceptional at strategizing, concepting, articulating, managing, and executing top-notch user experience design. He's a walking wiki on the theory of design and user experience. He collaborates really well, he's affable and friendly to work with, and somehow he manages to do all this while expecting nothing short of great design from those around him. He inspires team members and peers to deliver high-quality product experiences. In short, John is pretty fantastic at what he doesCameron Moll, Author, Speaker, Design Leader at Facebook
    2011

  • Weber State University

    Ogden, Utah, Feb 2006—Nov 2011

    Adjunct Faculty

    • I taught various advanced graphic design, typography, and web design courses over a period of 5 years.
    John was one of my favorite professors at Weber State University. His ability to clearly teach and translate interactive design is proof that he has a great understanding of the field.Adam Yost, Former Student
    2011

  • Humaniz Interactive

    Salt Lake City, Utah, Oct 1999–Feb 2006

    • I helped grow the company from a two-person team in 1999 to a full-service agency with more than 15 employees.
    • Provided brand identity design, web design & development, flash animation, and specialized software development for dozens of clients.
    • During my tenure, Humaniz became one of the top boutique agencies in Salt Lake City with local and international clients.
    • In addition to contributing individually to design work, I filled many roles, including sales, account management, project management, company administration, and software development.
    2006

  • Iomega®

    Roy, Utah, Oct 1996–Oct 1999

    User Interface Designer/Graphics Coordinator

    • I provided the interactive design for international products, marketing strategy, and innovation efforts.
    • I oversaw the authoring of CD-ROMs for installation and instructions for the wildly popular Zip® and Jaz® computer storage products.
    • I was involved in the research & development for several innovative product design efforts, including an interface for an early digital camera.
    • Designed the interface for the first commercial digital music encoding app released in 1997 (RecordIt).
    1999

Education

  • MFA, Web Design and New Media

    Academy of Art University

    San Francisco, California, December 2008

    After 10 years working in the design industry, I decided to pursue a terminal degree (Master of Fine Arts) in design. I did this to broaden my knowledge and perspective in design, and to explore artistic interests outside of my career.

    2008

  • BFA, Visual Communications

    Weber State University

    Ogden, Utah, December 1996

    1996