Darren DeCoursey

LipDub AI

Senior Product Designer

Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies

Forsta

Dialpad

I worked with the brand team to develop components, maintain the website design library and update designs for various web projects in Figma.

I partnered closely with the web engineering team on making sure designs were translated faithfully from Figma to the CMS. 

I also wireframed and mapped out user flows to help support user adoption and sign ups with the Growth team.

Specifically focused on conversion design, I A/B tested design variants for high performing landing and overview pages to increase sign ups and lead conversion.

Senior Web & Conversion Designer

Elastic Path

Overseeing the entire website experience, I led several key initiatives:

• Managed a smooth and successful website rebrand and platform upgrade, working with both a design agency and web contractor over the course of six months, with zero loss in organic traffic

• Oversaw website migration during Elastic Path's acquisition of Moltin, a competitor company, organized 301 redirect strategy with the Product team, and reorganized the site architecture, resulting in a 200% lift in traffic over the next two months

• Led the SEO and strategy, partnering with Digital Brand Services to boost brand visibility, and increase site traffic over 1.5x by migrating the primary eCommerce blog to the main domain

• Developed and led the entire CRO strategy from the ground up, including A/B testing, heatmapping, personalization and Google Analytics to increase the conversion rate for enterprise prospects

• Designed the App Marketplace experience for all integrations that could utilize Elastic Path's custom APIs

• Created user journeys and empathy maps to understand the pain points of their current customers in the B2B ecommerce industry.

Outside of the day-to-day web activities, I also:

• Working cross-functionally with the product team, I designed and executed the complete User Experience for the launch of their enterprise Free Trial, starting with customer interviews, then wireframing, prototyping, and final UI delivery to the web engineering team

Senior Web & UX Designer

V2 Games

• Created a UX design pipeline for mobile games company from the ground up. 

• Established a process for iterative testing, prototyping and reporting on KPI's and metrics for Unity-based mobile game projects.

• Managed the UX team, built out documentation and heuristics guidelines for developers and UI designers to follow.

• Helped develop the interface and user flows for several titles, including "Beast Brawlers,": an innovative approach where players battle it out in a real-time Player-vs-Player arena in quick rapid-fire battles. Voted Top 10 Game of 2017 at the Google Play Indie Games Festival.

• Designed cut scene visualizations, reward system and player swapping mechanic for “Fantasy Football League” mobile and tablet based iOS and Android game.

Lead UX Designer

Centre for Digital Media

I organized and prepped class materials as well as marked and graded written assignments. Gave guidance on group activities and organized brainstorming sessions. 

The course provides an overview of the broad range of topics associated with User Experience: everything from design research and heuristics evaluations to wireframing and prototyping are covered.

Assistant UX Instructor

Sensate Digital

Specialized in the ideation, design, prototyping and building of interactive exhibits and User Interfaces for museums and knowledge centres located in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Co-Founder

Qube Films

Was brought on board Qube Film's latest film "Way of the Wicked" as their visual effects supervisor and principle artist.

• Managed and planned continuity for onset crew to best capture plates for visual effects augmentation.

• Oversaw practical special effects shooting and planning for stunt sequences.

• Successfully delivered 35 final shots on time and under budget.

Visual Effects Supervisor

Gener8 Digital Media Corp

• Worked with Gener8's cutting-edge, proprietary technology to generate 3D imagery from 2D shots.

• Improved pipeline efficiency, collaborated with IT partners, and customized software scripting to automate tasks.

• Worked closely with junior and senior employees to maintain depth and detail continuity among various stereo sequences.

Projects include: "Iron Man 3", "Thor: The Dark World" "300: Rise of an Empire"

Stereoscopic Visual Effects Artist

“Colour it and put a border around it!”

That's the advice my father would always give me about my homework assignments in school. My father was a marketing professional. I should have known his words would put me on the path to becoming a designer.

But it wasn't a straight path. My first love was making movies. Designing special effects, shooting miniatures, blowing them up in my backyard. Trying to replicate scenes in “Empire Strikes Back” with toys and a cheap camcorder on a chilly fall day.

After completing my degree in Art History, I raced into visual effects because it was my passion. I learned all about colour, composition, lighting, dimension, and motion. Oh, and I was fortunate to work on some sweet blockbuster movies and television series too. However, I spent enough years in the film industry to realize that a crucial element was missing: interactivity.

That's why I decided to switch gears and pursue a Masters Degree and focus on learning interaction design. Working with teammates from different backgrounds, exploring UX research and cognitive science with academics. This felt more ME.

Fueled with a desire to make engaging and accessible digital products and web experiences, I spent the last six years in the tech industry, evangelizing the power of UX.

What kind of projects have I been involved in? Mobile game menus, web designs for SMB and Enterprise-level tech companies, tablet-based ecommerce demos, interactive touchscreens for museum exhibits and large-scale LED displays for music festivals.

When my father started to experience cognitive decline, I began to notice how much technology had failed him. Almost every digital experience felt like a chore. His frustrations became my frustrations. It instilled in me a deep, personal understanding of empathy, and how important user testing and accessibility are to the core of every product design.  And it made me want to design better.

And while he's no longer with me, I would like to think that he inspired me to add colour and a border around everything I do.

Specialties: Product Design | Web Design | UX Research | Wireframing | Prototyping | Design Systems | Interaction Design | Motion Design | Conversion Optimization | Copywriting | 3D Visualization | Installation Design

Ghazal(Q) Jenab

Arisa Art and Technology

Design Consultant

• Conducted user-centric research to define target audience for AI-based product in dubbing industry.
• Collaborated with engineers and AI researchers to simplify complex workflows into user-friendly product concept.

LlamaZOO Interactive Inc.

The LlamaZOO platform visualizes geospatial, engineering, and IIoT data in context for actionable Spatial Business Intelligence.

● Digital Twin Software Design:

Designed complex features for digital twin software, enabling real-time remote monitoring of physical environments.
Conducted design workshops to translate 2D user flows into immersive 3D experiences for HoloLens users.
Developed custom components based on mixed reality toolkit (MRTK) guidelines.
Collaborated closely with the development team to hand-off signed-off designs and over saw the correct implementation of the UI designs. 

● User Experience Refinement:

Collaborated with key stakeholders and subject matter experts to refine UX flows and implementing design thinking process and enhanced user experience.
Utilized feedback to improve the usability and functionality of digital twin software.

● Design System Management:

Managed the design library for all products, ensuring consistency across the platform and creating custom, ready to use UI components .
Maintained and executed designs using the LlamaZOO Design System in Figma.

● Prototyping and Custom Tools:

Created low, mid, and high-fidelity prototypes and wireframes for desktop, AR, and VR platforms.
Designed custom tools, including 3D digital tours and attribute editors, to enhance the LlamaZOO platform's functionality.

● Solo Design Leadership:

Solely led design efforts and workshops during the Senior Designer's maternity leave.
Played a pivotal role in turning clarity software applications into a Hololens 2-compatible platform.

Product Designer

East Van Showcase

With the goal of bringing back the magic of East Van Showcase film festival back to the community during the dark times of Covid-19 the team decided to rebuild the experience into a 3D virtual environment for the awards ceremony.
Collaborated with filmmakers and the community to plan and execute festival events, ensuring seamless coordination and successful outcomes.

Effectively managed a team of 3D artists, overseeing the delivery of assets in alignment with the established schedule and quality standards.

Assisted the Director in conceptualizing the virtual festival's environment, contributing to the development of a captivating and immersive vision.

Maintained close communication with the lead designer to convey and implement the festival's creative vision across all aspects of the event.

Assistant Director

Hammer & Tong

Prototyping and Testing:

Sketched, wireframed, and developed prototypes for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences.
Conducted qualitative and quantitative user tests to refine user experiences.
Paper prototyped experience flows for qualitative user testing purposes.
User-Centered Design:

Shared user test results and feedback with the Tech team to guide design decisions for better implementation.

Asset Communication:

Created 3D models of basic assets to enhance communication of design ideas efficiently.
Art Production and Ideation:

Conducted brainstorming sessions and workshops to foster a user-centered design and design thinking culture within the team.

Leadership and Training:
Trained interns and junior designers for building wireframes using design thinking process.

UX Designer

Advanced Intelligent Systems Inc.

Innovative Robotic Concept: Pioneered the concept of the CartPuller robot, leading to the successful patent application.

Detailed 3D Modeling: Created intricate 3D models of the CartPuller robot, facilitating a deeper understanding of its design and functionality.

Branded Presentation Template: Developed a professional and on-brand presentation template for the company, enhancing visual consistency in communication materials.

User-Centric Application Design for IOS tablets : Crafted a user-centered UX flow, Prototyping and assets creation for the AIS IOS application using adobe XD tailored to the needs of the BigTop robot, optimizing the user experience and productivity.

YDX Innovation 

Miigo is an interactive toy companion that demonstrates emotion recognition for children with autism. 
Designed the look and feel of the toy.
Developed user test for a variety of user friendly fabrics for the toy.
Contributed to the user research  and storyboarding process.
Built various prototypes and iterations.

Industrial Designer

The course offers a comprehensive exploration of various User Experience (UX) topics, encompassing everything from design research and heuristics evaluations to the intricacies of wireframing and prototyping.
Course Material Management: Organized course materials, ensuring they were readily accessible for students.
Facilitated Group Activities: Offered guidance and support during group activities, fostering collaboration and teamwork among students.

Assistant User Experience Instructor

My Viva Inc. 

Your Viva, a gamified iPhone Location based Augmented Reality application, helps its target market by introducing them to low barrier physical activities. 
Conducted qualitative and quantitative research to tackle the problem and understand the audience.
Researched for practical methods of habit forming products.
Contributed to the Game design Process.
Sketched, Wireframed and built prototypes and conducted user tests.

User Experience Designer/ User researcher

CAST (Center of Advanced Systems and Technologies)

Research and Design:

Conducted in-depth research on the historical evolution of humanoid robot body design.
Designed the concept and character profiles for robots, fostering unique identities.
Prototyped robot shells to identify and address design flaws for enhanced functionality.
3D Modeling and Production:

Utilized 3D modeling using techniques to create detailed robot parts for 3D printing and production using Solidworks.
Team Leadership:

Successfully managed a team of three members, fostering collaboration and efficiency.
Promotion and Storytelling:

Developed 3D models for the SURENA mini humanoid robot, contributing to its design and prototyping.
Employed storytelling as a strategic approach to promote SURENA robots, presenting them as relatable and diverse superheroes.
Aimed to increase children's interest in robotics by positioning the robots as national heroes.

Head of Industrial Design team

Hi, I’m Ghazal, a product designer with a background in both tangible and digital design. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design and a Master’s in Digital Media.

I love exploring user pain points from fresh perspectives, finding unique and unconventional solutions that truly make an impact.

I’m especially passionate about the XR and AI industries and how emerging technologies can transform SaaS tools to bring people closer together.

taplio

The Battle

Darren DeCoursey

Ghazal(Q) Jenab

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