How it started

The first time I started to think about product design was when I was a teenager using a point-of-sale checkout keypad to buy something with a debit card. Someone had taped a small yellow sticky with "Push green for Enter" scrawled on it just above the numeric 10-key keypad. When the time came to enter my PIN, the 2-line LED instructions told me to press "Enter" when I was done. Sure enough, none of the keys were labeled "Enter," but there was a green key in the lower right corner, which, with the help of the hand-written note, I pushed to finish the transaction. I thought it was ridiculous that the people who created the checkout terminal hadn't coordinated better with each other to avoid such a simple mistake.

A few years later

Fast forward to my senior year of college, when I was still trying to figure out what I was going to do after I graduated. I was enjoyning a class I was taking in human factors engineering but I wasn't sure I wanted to work on things like the design of jet cockpits or nuclear power plant control panels. Then one day I noticed the horror show toolbar in an early version of Microsoft Word.

This toolbar made me think there might be a way to apply human factors principles to the design of software and other commercial products.

Making a career of it

I went on to get a Master's degree in human factors and I've been a product designer ever since. I've worked on many different products and systems: photo sharing websites, photo printers, self-checkout terminals, a game system UI, tax preparation software, practice management software for accountants, applicant tracking systems, corporate dashboards, complex query builders for marketing campaigns, and more. I've also worn just about every hat there is to wear as well: information architect, UI designer, user researcher, prototyper, visual designer, content designer, etc.

I still find product design endlessly fascinating, and I still love learning new domains and applying what I've learned to creating solutions that don't just work, but last. Nowadays, with UX being recognized as the secret sauce behind the success of so many of the most successful companies in the world, it feels like the possibilities for how I can help are just beginning.

Non-design stuff...

In my spare time I mostly hang out with my kids as much as they'll let me. I also write science fiction and have published the first two novels of a trilogy.

Contact

You can reach me at john@john-akers.com.