MJ

My given name is Michael but people call me MJ.

I'M A DESIGNER
As a kid, I took everyday things apart to understand how they work. In studio art, I learned to translate imagination into object. In my graduate studies at NYU, I realized the two can co-exist and compliment and that it is called Design Innovation. I've been hooked ever since, looking at how things could work in a new way and imagining how to delight and enrich every day life. 

I'VE BEEN FORTUNATE
Over the past decade, I have been able to study and learn from visionaries and pioneers, Red Burns of NYU's ITP, Hartmut Eslinger of frog and Bob Greenberg of R/GA. Their vision, organizations and processes taught me how to take ideas from insight to sketch and prototype to product launch. With core depth in UX and Design Research, I've been in on the ground level of new products including the voice recognition powering Siri, the first cloud services of AT&T and more recent, a connected city at sea for Carnival.

I BUILD WORLD CLASS TEAMS
At present, I lead Fjord San Francisco, a design studio owned by Accenture. I have grown the team from fifteen to seventy. Success is grounded in culture building, talent cultivation, and new practice expansion. I work hands-on and through process and structure. I insist on solutions that are elegant, simple, and informed by emotion. Prior to Fjord, I helped grow the Interaction Design and Design Research practice of frog, launched frog Sydney and transformed the RGA SF offering from single client campaign to a digital product creation offering. I believe the quality of a sustained product is a result of a thriving design culture. 

See the work