Michael McMillan,UX Leader
People-focused UX leader and strategist, producing elegant designs to meet business objectives, and create thoughtful experiences and solutions.
Leadership Philosophy
Why do I love to lead designers and a design organization?
- The impact the design team can have on a company’s direction.
- The growth those designers will experience in their careers. Success to me is when business impact and personal growth influence each other.
There are 5 things I strongly believe in that help define my approach:.
- Never settle for good enough
- ABL: Always be learning
- Be able to jump into the weeds, then have the ability to quickly get out
- Make space for your team to grow and learn by empowering them to be responsible for their projects
- Trust your team and challenge them to do their best work
As a leader, it is ok to say I don’t know. But I also believe in proactively trying to find solutions. A growth mindset is a combination of humility and confidence and knowing when to have which. At this point in my career my main goals are to share what I know, learn what I can and provide guidance with integrity.
Tying it all Together(select below to learn more)
My career has been a model of adaptability, that has never quite fit neatly between the lines but has had one central theme: an instinctive focus on people. From my earliest days as a front-line leader to my current role in a more senior leadership role, I have the experience to lead through decision making, creating alliances, and by navigating the complex hierarchy inherent to cross-functional teams. What do they all of these roles have in common? My consumer obsession, and desire to bring a fantastic experience to life.
Chef
I feel at times that I was a foodie-hipster well before they were cool. As a chef, I insisted on the highest standard and established a high-quality product that earned 2 James Beard awards—Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, Best Single Subject Cookbook. Co-developed, planned strategy and assisted in layout of an award-winning cookbook and was personally recognized by the Executive Chef/Owner in credits. Oversaw all development, production and presentation for James Beard Event Dinner.
- Sauces
- Stews
- Knife Skills
- Grilling
- Ceviche
- Saute
- Pastry
- Creative
Marketing Specialist
Taking my love of food, I began channeling that inner creativeness and began using it to drive customer interactions through my marketing efforts. I started using Twitter in it's early days as a means to open a small window of discussion with the local community during my efforts with a small real estate company. I successfully developed and designed all internal and external communications to support all marketing campaigns including email invitations, online ad/landing page content and newsletter sponsorships.
- Market Research
- Strategic Directions
- Public Relations
- Content Strategy
- Email Marketing
- Online Advertising
Graphic Designer
Obsessing over clients’ brand’s identity can enlighten you to your inner weaknesses and challenge you to become better at what you love. I love to take that challenge and find new ways to be inventive using techniques to provide relevant design schemes and using color and shape to translate the emotion of a client's design. In essence, design should look and feel light and non-invasive as if you feel the section is just an exension of the whole, much like a sauce in cooking is a way to accent the main ingredients. Simple... a fantastic guiding principle.
- Branding
- Illustrator
- Photoshop
- InDesign
- Photography
- Logo Design
- Infographics
Visual Designer
Knowing the ingredients is a great place to start. Early on, I discovered a love for the intricate details of web development (and the sadness of IE6). Pushing the CSS envelope, I moved to LESS then SASS and have the ability to harness its greatness. Working on complex applications with dynamic data forces me to think on a large scale and be a master of flexible layout, thinking beyond basic, static, Photoshop layouts. Building rapid prototypes allows for quick iteration of concepts and experiences that enables immediate consumer interaction.
- WebDesign
- CSS/SASS
- HTML/HAML
- React
- Ruby on Rails
- Bootstrap/Foundation
- WordPress
Creative Director
Leading the charge! Brand focused, and creative driven. I'm at heart an optimist. Between design and technology, anything is possible. There are no bounds to progress and what I can accomplish. I've established a creative vision, focused on high-quality, and minimalistic design which won new clients and drove innovation. My passion, inspires teams to do their best work, learn more, and dream bigger. I'm a champion of cohesive, branding effort focused on the big picture, and based on what makes a unique identity.
- Creaive Direction
- Team Development
- Leadership
- Photography & Film Direction
- Storytelling
- Passion
- Brand Champion
- Coach
- Creative Strategy
UX Leader
How'd we get here? Designing for the interaction only seemed to be the next step in the customer experience. Figuring out why the user does what she does is challenging and exciting. Following best practices, then throwing best practices out the window after user testing proves otherwise, is a great way to stick it to all those internet trolls. Identifing users, staying open minded about their needs and finding common patterns in their interactions with products, allows you to develop products that will earn their trust and deliver high levels of satisfaction.
- Leadership
- Rapid Prototyping
- UX Research
- Figma
- User Scenarios
- Personas
- Design Thinking
