Finn Kisch

finn@finnkisch.com | 510.910.1975 | www.finnkisch.com
Interaction Designer who has wowed executives from Wells Fargo and Amazon, multiple startup CEOs, VCs, TechCrunch, gamers, agency directors, and (of course) end users galore with intuitive, elegant, and innovative Web products since 1996.

Interaction Design Consultant, 2006-present

3-4 month projects, 2-3 projects per year

MOG.com: online music player and music discovery Web site

• Led the design of an online streaming music player and interactive website to establish MOG as a trendsetting stronghold in a crowded market.
• Clarified goals and audience for each component, then recruited and interviewed user samples to understand users' attitudes, habits, and opinions of listening to music online.
• Crafted one primary and three secondary personas that were so spot-on to MOG's target segments, MOG had them framed and mounted on the wall.
• Produced a binder of resources and strategic recommendations that quickly became referred to as the "bible" for the product.
• TechCrunch: "The user experience and social aspects of this service put it far ahead of any online music service... an inspiration to the next generation of Web designers."

enjoy.com: social network

• Drove process design and workflow for an R&D phase social media product, manifesting scenarios that inspired the founder to completely revamp his product and strategic plan.
• Compiled a list of overlooked technical, functional, and behavioral issues stemming from alpha product design, while architecting the user interface and process flow.
• Created an exhaustive process map (nearly 10 square feet when printed) annotated with technical and usability notes.
• Owner: "In addition to organizing the data, Finn asked clarifying questions and identified potential implementation issues all along the way."

eyeguides.com: travel-related online marketplace

• Served as Visual Designer and Interaction Designer for an ex-Amazon executive with nothing more than a business plan. Crafted company brand and designed e-commerce Web site.
• Informed the efforts of the development team and a seasoned Marketing Director with extremely high standards for aesthetics and usability.
• Delivered logo, print/web brand guidelines, information architecture, and process flow documents as well as wireframes and fully skinned mockups.
• Owner: "An excellent job of developing a next-generation e-commerce site from the ground up. I will gladly put this head- to-head with the most well- known, successful brands in the industry."

Greylock Partners: technology VC

• Leveraged existing research to discover and clearly define the pain points of Greylock's primary audience, in order to guide the creation of desktop and mobile web sites.
• Purposefully emphasized customer research over company marketing for site design, creating a comprehensive filtering and sorting system to facilitate due-diligence efforts of fact-driven entrepreneurs.
• Delivered information architecture, wireframes, and content specifications under a demanding schedule.

The McHenry Group/PlanTools: financial reporting product

• Designed user experience, information architecture, and visuals for a richly featured retirement plan reporting product.
• Analyzed user community and examined common usage scenarios in order to support a range of approaches to finding and selecting funds.
• Designed a printed quarterly report to enable retirement plan managers to make critical decisions about fund allocation, regardless of experience or technical sophistication.

Other clients include Logitech, CallSource, MyMatrix, eventnetwork.com, Mohr Access, Ocean Beach Affiliates, Nike, PG&E

Interaction Designer: Warhorn, 2009-present

Convention management Web application, part-time

• Accepted the challenge of upgrading gaming convention management portal with an installed user base of 10,000+ community members.
• Handled everything from user research to interaction design, usability testing, wireframing, visual design, CSS coding, and even a touch of Ruby, in order to build a site that's truly aligned with user ideals.

Co-owner: EndGame, 2003-2006

Retail game store and online community

• Took Interaction Design acumen to the retail floor, partnering up with a former Sony PS2 marketeer and EndGame's founder to relocate and expand store, ultimately creating a physical and virtual social space for customers.
• Transformed Web site from a billboard to a community gaming hub with user forums to connect Bay Area gamers around tournaments, products, and meetups.
• Repositioned store as an inclusive activity center, running 1-2 game events 7 days/week, plus specialized gaming clubs, kids' summer camps, and hobby seminars for adults.
• Drew in the mainstream market by setting up store to evoke a GAP/Pottery Barn retail experience, combining a comfortable atmosphere with recurring ultra-professional brand throughout.
• Solidified core market of gaming geeks by emphasizing game industry knowledge through signage, regularly updated staff recommendations, product demos, and in-store events.

• 67% revenue growth in 3 years
• 49 5-star Yelp! reviews (of 61)
• 35% growth of existing lines
• Doubled store-wide inventory
• Multiple awards and noteriety
• International acclaim for store

Director of Usability & Design: Simplexity, 1998-2002

Web design agency, financial services sector

• Conceptualized, architected, and designed web technologies for mutual fund and investment advisor groups to help their customers make smarter investment decisions.
• Leveraged context-based information design to architect pages holding vast amounts of fund information, articles, performance data, fund manager commentaries, and calculator tools for a host of audiences: new investors, savvy investors, and existing clients.
• Completely revamped third-party (DST) online account management tool interface, from page layout and process flow changes to hand-coding the proprietary markup language.
• Clients: AIB Govett, Ashfield & Co., Barclay's Global Investors, benefitstreet.com, Dodge & Cox Investment Managers, Driehaus Capital Management, The Fremont Group and all subsidiaries (both Web and intranet), Husic Capital Management, Managers Funds, Matthews International Funds, Montgomery Funds, Oakmark Funds, Robertson Stevens Investments, Stein Roe Investment Counsel, Van Wagoner Funds, Wall Street Access

• DST was so impressed with my design work, they rolled my improvements into their core product permanently.
• Most of the mutual fund information architecture I pioneered is still prevalent in the industry, over a decade later.

Principal Interface Designer: Wells Fargo 1996-1998

Banking icon, Internal Internet Team

• Developed a strong foundation for Interaction Design career by working with a wide range of business units at this global corporation to understand their varying needs, preferences, and drivers.
• Led design efforts to construct a core suite of intranet pages, dubbed Homestead, to streamline and tie together disparate departmental sites across the enterprise.
• As a thought-leader for this new thing called "usability," delivered seminars to department heads in order to empower them at maintaining their intranets. Drafted an intranet style guide to help them put theory into practice.

• Received unanimous praise from departmental Webmasters for leading the charge in usability.
• Provided banking staff convenient, asynchronous access to cross-departmental info for the first time ever.