Tesselation
Experiment with Canvas/JavaScript and random generation
 
Zane Amiralis
Interaction Design Director
Based in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Ok at German, fluent in English and Dutch.
Available for freelance: zane _at_ zane _dot_ nl

I am an Interaction Designer with a technical background and a good sense of business and brand.

Over the last 15 years I have participated and lead projects of varying length, team sizes and in numerous industries. Nearly every project I have worked on, has gone to market.

As I am not a Brand Designer, Marketing Specialist, Visual Designer, Animation Designer, Sound Designer, Front-end or Back-end Programmer, I work closely with these specialists to share ideas and deliver a realistic, viable product which is true to brand.

I work with teams according to an iterative design process. By producing a tangible prototype early on we can experiment, test and experience rather than theorise and talk.

 
First we must make sure everyone is on the same page

Kick-off

  • Understand the Business: History, Stakeholders, Products and Services, Mission, Brand and Future plans.
  • Understand the Project: Sponsors, History, Stakeholders, Business Model, Goal, Budget and Planning.
  • Identify approach: Common Sense/Lean/Agile/Minimum Viable Product.
  • Write a creative brief containing a mission, requirements and project planning.

Research

  • Involve Product Owner, Stakeholders (Visual/UI) Designers and Technologists in Research.
  • Review existing research and data a company may have.
  • Business: Industry, Market, Competition and USPs.
  • Products: Review and test existing products/previous version.
  • Audience: Customer/User Interviews, Stakeholder Interviews and compile to Personas.
  • Technology: Roadmap, Trends, Feasibility.
  • Compile and present research findings.

So we can tackle the right problem

Concepts

  • Involve Product Owner, Stakeholders (Visual/UI) Designers and Technologists in Concepting
  • Identify Use Cases & Product Requirements
  • Write User journeys
  • Build a number of low-fidelity concepts in a relevant medium
  • Proof the concepts with real data
  • Illustrate User journeys
  • Support Product owner to get internal approval
  • Continuous testing with Stakeholders/Target Audience

Prototype

  • Involve Product Owner, Stakeholders (Visual/UI) Designers and Technologists in Prototyping
  • Pen and paper sketches
  • Paper prototypes
  • Light interactive mockups
  • Transition prototypes
  • Design mockups on devices
  • Continuous testing with Stakeholders/Target Audience

And invest our resources wisely

Design

  • Involve Product Owner, Stakeholders (Visual/UI) Designers and Technologists in Design
  • Expression of brand in product
  • Interaction Models
  • Service Model
  • Product EcoSystem
  • Information Architecture
  • Customer Lifecycle
  • Continuous testing with Stakeholders/Target Audience

Build

  • Involve Product Owner, Stakeholders (Visual/UI) Designers and Technologists in Build
  • Provide Prototype supported by Interaction documentation
  • Document/Sketch for detailed interactions
  • Document/Sketch for Design for edge cases
  • A/B Testing
  • User Testing
  • Continuous testing with Stakeholders/Target Audience

And start improving the product with our users.
 
Crowdfunder
Heerlen ‘14
From August to December 2014 my brother and I worked on a crowdfunding project for an hdmi upgrade to the classic 1989 gameboy. We were backed €25.000 by 200 people, but fell short of our target. Having learned a great deal, we hope to try again in 2015.
Solo Traveller
Iran, India, Nepal ‘14
In November 2013 I took the train from Germany to Iran via Istanbul. And travelled through India for four months with busses and trains from Delhi to the south to Kashmir. Ending with a month of Nepal.
 
IxD Director
London ‘10-’13

At Method I grew to a Director whilst helping expand the London office from 3 to 35 full-time employers.

My most important contribution was to create a culture in which every employee could do their best work in an open and friendly enviroment.

Together we developed a design approach in which clients are full-time members of the design team and designers of all disciplines participate in every step of the process. This enabled an iterative approach with almost instant tangible results.

 
Interaction Designer
Stuttgart ‘07-'10
Early in my career I joined frog as a junior designer. I was fortunate to participate in a many different types of projects in these ‘formative years’. Mobile websites, tv media centres, early iPad interfaces, household appliances and medical interfaces.
Design Technologist
Heerlen ‘00-'07
Together with friends I started qliq. We built technically complex websites with easy to use interfaces. I handbuilt CMS systems, online shopping carts with order fulfillment systems. I still use these skills today when prototyping.