I'm an experience director and design strategist. My professional practice, Uncommon Places Design, offers experience design, facilitation, and capacity-building services to organizations.
I’ve done experience design in the context of corporate consulting, underground urban adventures, and educational settings. I love using game design principles to create better experiences that honor people’s agency, vision, and ingenuity. I’m most delighted when people surprise themselves by stretching beyond their known limits, and I believe good design can make this possible.
Some clients I've worked with include BlackRock, Starbucks, IBM, Google, Facebook, Samsung, NBCUniversal, Activision Blizzard, Ogilvy, Pfizer, Bayer, Ralph Lauren, and the Canadian Government. I researched the design of transformative social experiences by integrating lessons from well-done sex parties, funerals, and wilderness trips. This research is available online at the Patterns of Transformation website, which has been widely read within and beyond the experience design community. I teach thesis research and game design at the School of Visual Arts Interaction Design masters program.
A few more things about me:
- I'm a 5th-generation New Yorker. I love living in this city.
- I volunteer as a conflict mediator for the New York Peace Institute.
- In junior high, I was voted "most likely to discover time travel."
- Kayaking makes me happy, though I don't do it as often as I should.
- I have dyslexia and inattentive ADHD. I'm a big advocate for the benefits of neurodiversity.
