Eric Burns

Sketch it out. Show me what you're describing.

Ideas take many forms. Often they are written in an executive's email, scribbled onto post-it's during a workshop, or put into a long list of product requirements by a marketing team. Translating those ideas into visuals is the quickest way to get alignment, solicit feedback, and spark new ideas.

My preference is to grab a pencil and paper or a marker and whiteboard to bang out as many solutions as possible- from multiple variations for high-level interaction design models, down to detailed refinements to a single component of a screen. The ideas may be mine, or, just as often, they are the ideas of others.

We've often used my medium-fidelity sketches (those with a bit of color) to illustrate ideas that we take into concept validation sessions. This is a quick way to validate and prioritize which concepts we should (and shouldn't) take into further design refinement without investing time upfront to make them digital assets. Also, participants respond with more criticism and ideas when they see the designs are sketches and not final screens.

Let's go into the field.

Discovering the needs of our end users, client stakeholders, partners, and competitors is critical to our product development process.

My experience includes leading foundational, generative, and evaluative design research programs.

It's challenging and rewarding to conduct qualitative research. The results are insights, opportunity areas, and experience principles which guide our design process, motivate our team members, and keep us focused on solutions that can have real impact.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

- Mark Twain

I know I've been lucky to have traveled a great deal. Jobs, scholarships, curiosity, and adventures with friends and family have been the primary drivers.

Now, all that I've seen and learned influences my approach to design. 

My understanding of cultural norms, religious taboos, political history, economic trends, and mother nature's creations all shape how I craft products, services, and systems.

My happy place is on diverse project teams working on products with a global impact for a variety of end users.