Existing at the crossroads of design and creative direction, I’ve worked with many clients from small startups to international corporations, some of which include Coca-Cola, Disney, Microsoft, Ford, Universal Media Group, Providence, Driscoll's, and many more. Within the last several years, my interests and professional focus has leaned towards Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality (AR/VR/MR) in the spirit of innovation + R&D.
I am currently a Sr. User Experience Designer at VML, practicing at a Design Lead position, among other roles when the project requires it. I am open to hearing about new opportunities in the Seattle and Philadelphia areas.
“Stu is the hardest working person I’ve ever worked with. He’s not afraid to have hard conversations, he’s generous with his time, and he’s the ultimate collaborator. In my experience with Stu, he is open about why things should work in a certain way, but it’s what the client wants, he will make it happen regardless. He understands the need to balance the right thing with client wants, which is rare for a creative in any capacity.
Stu is brilliant at self-management and is such a great example of how a creative process should work. He makes me a better PM in a lot of ways, one of which is he is not afraid of having the conversation(s) about how I can work with the team in a better way. He’s hardworking, earnest, kind, and brilliant at what he does - I don't kid when I say, I learn something new from him every day!”
-Danielle Deschaine, Strategic Program Leader, VML
“I've worked with Stu on several projects and enjoyed collaborating with him each time. It was quickly evident he knew the UX space inside and out. As a collaborator with shared tasks, he was both thorough and responsible, while being enjoyable to work with. He's also quite a good writer.”
-Doug Schumacher, Digital Product Designer, VML
“Stuart joined me on a fast moving and mission critical project and did an amazing job. In a very short timeline, he consumed all the information we had and turned around several variations of visual design and multiple iterations on those designs. I look forward to working with him again in the future.”
- Byron Baker, Head of Design + Partner, Blink UX
"Stuart's work brought the customer facing side of our business to a new level of professionalism. His work on our website allowed us to clearly convey our value proposition while providing us with an original interface that set us a step above our competition."
-Bret Kugelmass, Founder + CEO, Airphrame
“Stuart joined the team during a critical phase, and was able to very quickly get up to speed and start adding value. Despite the high pace and sometimes vague direction, he worked enthusiastically, patiently and diligently to solve the complex problem of delivering dynamic content to a responsive platform. Stuart provided well thought out solutions, and was able to successfully pitch them to senior management. I wouldn't hesitate to have him on the team again.”
-Peter McKeown, UX Director, CDK Global
"...I highly recommend Stu. He is a talented artist, valued team player and effectively carries out projects at any given phase or scale...any team would be fortunate to have him be a part of their creative department."
-Erica Mahony, Program Manager, LiveAreaLabs
"Stu is a highly talented designer...His knowledge of basic and complex design theory…made him a highly valued designer on our team. I could see that he put much thought into each design, structuring every component into a cohesive graphic, standing out amongst many others."
-Michelle Koelbl, Design Lead, Amazon Creative Services
"Stuart is a wonderfully creative designer […] His design process in thoughtful, deliberate and methodical and his design iterations are always purposeful. Stuart is also great team-player, a constant contributor of ideas and feedback - someone who invests in the team and as a result, helps improve team performance. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Stuart, he was a pleasure to work with - straightforward, creative, inspired and a lot of fun. I'll be following his design career with lot of interest."
-Rodney Edwards, Principal Design Manager, Microsoft
“Stu is versatile. He can crunch an icon to a tiny file size on the one hand, and design you a branded skateboard or poster on the other.”
-Rhea Loader, Senior UX Design Lead at Microsoft
“In an environment that was unstructured, short-handed and fast-paced […] Stu consistently proved to be a design partner who was supportive, detail-oriented and very hard working…He is a deep thinker and strategic solution provider, working quickly from idea to finished, refined, product."
-Stephanie J. Cooper, Visual Communication Designer at Microsoft
"Stu is hand's down one of the most thoughtful and outstanding designers I've worked with. He's extremely productive, and very responsive to time sensitive turnarounds...a strong advocate for quality and user centered focus on every project he works on. He brings thought provoking questions to the table every time a project begins and makes sure it's guiding principles and ideas follow thru past release of product."
-Alex Schoner, Lead Mobile UX Designer at Porch