Berm Lee, Interaction Designer

I Live to...

  • Ship things with self-evident value clarify the entire development process, and make a terrific mess on the whiteboard every day
  • Promote disciplined creativity with resonant personas (user-archetypes) based on qualitative user research, and ensure a clear "why" for what we are building
  • Uphold integrity—down to the pixel—yet make the necessary tradeoffs to ensure that we ship
  • Generate shared energy from start to finish, facilitating constructive dialogue among executives, product managers, designers and development teams
  • Hear people say, "You did THAT in PowerPoint?"

Experience

  • metro.useicons.commetro.useicons.com | 2012.02 to present Created a set of 300+ AppBar icons for use on the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform (and in anticipation of Windows 8)
  • Striiv Inc.Interaction Designerwww.striiv.com | Beijing, China (with Redwood City, CA) 2011.06 to 2012.02
    • Helped a startup launch a smart pedometer: designed how the device syncs "walkathon" donations and updates with clean handling of error conditions, edge cases and COPPA compliance
    • Collaborated with a developers in California, Hawaii and China
    • Pivoted the design of Striiv Sync from desktop app to web app, back to (scaled-back) desktop applet to meet constraints in time and developer resources, negotiating compromises and building consensus around detailed specifications
    • Also produced final pixel-level UI, illustrations and icons
  • Saymeon Inc.Designer and Fellow Lab Rat | 2009.11 to 2011.03
    • Coralled, pruned, and shepherded the founder's myriad explorations while managing non-western developers working on computer vision
    • Cracked open a new challenge of developing for the Android platform
  • Various CompaniesInteraction Design Consultant2002.10 to 2009.10
    • Served 10 clients with interaction design, visual UI, and branding
    • Redesigned an operating interface for scientific optical equipment for both daily routine tasks and long-range experiment management
    • Clarified goals and momentum for an automated kiosk for a mobile services company
    • Introduced, taught, and practiced scenario-based design for an all-volunteer, non-profit effort to provide advanced linguistic analysis tools and computer-aided translation software for minority languages
  • SAP AGContract Co-Lead Designer, Eventus Concept Projectwww.sapstreamwork.com | Palo Alto, CA | 2006.11 to 2007.01
    • Co-directed the birth of a concept project that incited SAP to rethink basic assumptions about "business processes" and the tools that support people who respond to disruptions and surprise
    • Discovered the elusive glue that would finally pull together the promise behind enterprise software
    • Featured in CEO Henning Kagermann's keynote presentation at SAP's main industry conference, SAPPHIRE '07, and productized in 2010 as SAP Streamwork
  • SAP AGDesign Services Team, Office of the CEOwww.sap.com | Palo Alto, CA | 2005.09 to 2006.09
    • Provided design triage to high-profile projects, evolving SAP's offerings to a changing world of knowledge work
    • Assisted in coaching the teams in "design-Led Innovation," helping establish a practice of user-centered design in development
  • Yahoo! Contract Interaction Designer www.yahoo.com | Sunnyvale, CA | 2003.10 to 2004.03
    • Raised standards for clear thinking and alignment between design direction and product mandates via reality-based project scheduling, focused design sessions and clear communication as Contract Designer for Yahoo! Messenger and Lead Interaction Designer for Yahoo! Avatar 1.0
    • Received CNET Editor's Choice (Flash Video FLV) for Yahoo! Messenger 6
  • Cooper Interaction DesignInteraction Designer and Visual Designer www.cooper.com | Palo Alto, CA | 1999.04 to 2002.07
    • Led multi-disciplinary teams in inventing and improving a range of new products including knowledge management systems, a handheld for the college-age market, and a control terminal for implantable medical devices
    • Brought discipline to Cooper's visual design practice, helping move clients closer to solutions that can actually be built, leaving behind tools and practices still in use today at Cooper
    • Clients included SAP, HP, Informatica, Discover Financial, St. Jude Medical, Fujitsu Softek, Adobe, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and a "large semiconductor company."

Skills

  • Communication
    • Writing clear Behavior Specifications, Visual Style Guides, storyboarding, illustration, pixel-level UI, icons, animation, walkthroughs, facilitating discussions, furious whiteboarding
  • Tools
    • Adobe Fireworks, Photoshop and Illustrator, rapid prototyping using PowerPoint, familiarity with XHTML + CSS, Flash, unusual Microsoft Office hacks, GTD, PC and Mac omnivore
  • Languages
    • Native in English, business fluency in Korean, and beginner's enthusiasm in Mandarin Chinese
  • One more thing
    • 3D character animation using Maya, mentored by current professional animators in the industry, www.animationmentor.com, 2007-2009

Education

  • Pomona CollegeBA in Science, Technology and Societywww.pomona.edu | Claremont, CA | 1994.08 to 1998.05
    • Inter-disciplinary coursework in the history and process of science and technology. Advanced psychology coursework in cognitive science.