Q: What makes you unique in the UX world Michael?
A: People tell me what they appreciate most about working with me is that I help them complete their visions. I love meeting someone who has a sketch on a whiteboard or a piece of paper and working with them to turn that sketch into a fully operational and profitable product or business.

Q: That sounds like a bit more than UX?
A: Yeah, I haven’t really found the right term for what I do. Business Visualization, maybe? It’s a hybrid of Visual Design, User Experience, and Information and Interaction Design, with some psychology and business process know-how thrown in. That helps me merge together these amazing ideas the business side gets with the realities of tech. The output is a faster, more direct path between the business vision and end user, which, of course, means we get faster, better results.

Q. Sounds like you’re involved in more than just the design stage
A. See...that’s a serious downfall to some products and projects. Design isn’t a stage in a larger process. Design thinking means design is part of the entire process. When I work with companies to visualize and design products or websites or wearables…to design solutions that are more meaningful in people's lives…then I have to be involved from start to finish. And yes, I wear multiple hats along the way from business strategist to interaction designer, from user experience designer to data architect.

Q. So I hear you’re also an “Arrr! Pirate Designer!”
Hahaha...no, I have to stop laughing because that is a really terrible joke! I am blind in one eye!

Q. I figured you lost it in a terrible Tabasco popcorn incident at a horror movie?
A. No, no…born with sight in just one eye. And, I hardly ever leave my home theater for a movie theater to be honest. If we went to a movie theater my wife and daughter couldn’t hide under the covers during the scary parts, so we have a pretty tricked-out home set up. But if I do go to a theater, I guarantee Tabasco goes with me. I can’t eat popcorn without Tabasco.

Q. Well it doesn’t seem to affect your design work!
A. No, it doesn’t at all. I think it has given me an edge, actually, because of where UX is heading. It’s so much more than attractive layout, and it has spread so far beyond screen design. It’s interactivity at every level, inside and outside of the business because of digital transformation. Because I see things differently, I think about them MORE, which gives me better insight into how other people see and interact with the world.