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Blake W

- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Texas A&M University

Expertise

Design, Human-Computer Interaction, UX design, UI design, front-end development, Educational Technology

Bio

I'm a multi-disciplinary designer and creative technologist with expertise designing and prototyping human-centered user experiences. I drive value by inspiring teams with passion and vision while designing and implementing beautiful, simple, and top-notch user experiences. I bring deep experience with every stage of the design process including strategy, user research, customer journeys, personas, conceptualization / ideation, sketching, wireframing, prototyping, usability testing, and visual design. I can also bridge in to front-end development / collaborate very well with front-end engineers. My thirst for innovation led me to complete a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction. In addition to my core skills in design and high-fidelity prototyping I have a proven track record of research-driven innovation (4 patents filed) and I've conducted award-winning research related to teaching drawing skills with artificial intelligence. I've also worked for two of the world's most renowned computer science R&D labs, Microsoft Research and Adobe Research. In my free time I love traveling, staying active, and playing music.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Design an Educational App

If you have an idea for an educational app I can guide you on the design process from discovering user needs through research, generating design requirements, creating low-fidelity mockups, usability testing with users, and creating high-fidelity mockups that can be handed off to engineers for development.

Develop your Portfolio

For most art / design schools, admissions are competitive and a strong portfolio can be a key requirement. I have maintained a design portfolio for more than 10 years, and have gone through many iterations and discovered the key components they need to have to be: 1. Relevant and specific to your career objectives 2. Simple and easy to navigate through 3. Thorough, showing your entire design / thought process I can help you not only design and curate your portfolio but suggest the kinds of personal projects that will round it out and give you a competitive edge.

Coding skills

HTML, CSS, JS

Languages I know

English (Native), Spanish (conversational)

Teaching experience

I've taught design studios in grad school, and mentored many young designers on their careers, resumes, portfolios, etc. I've also created and led drawing workshops for teaching beginners basic drawing skills and spent my PhD developing educational technology for teaching drawing skills.

Credentials

Education

Georgia Institute of Technology
BS Bachelor of Science (2011)
Industrial Design
Georgia Institute of Technology
MS Master of Science (2015)
Human-Computer Interaction
Texas A&M University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy (2020)
Computer Science

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