Tom Gebauer

Graduate of the Class of 2007 with a BFA in Graphic Design and Visual Communication

Sr. Director of User Experience & Design at Advanced Digital/ Advanced Publication Inc.

• How a person interacts with a given system --> Scientific -->quantitative measurement (User Experience.. Analytical side).
• How Something Looks--> part emotional --> artistic and visual communication (Design)

Making Life style brands, how to use areas of business, art and design, software engineering and cognitive technology. This all adds up to what User Experience is, how people interact and have a "connection" to what they use either digitally and physically.

User Experience is based on measurement 

• tangible business- profit or loss
• design
• bond

Exists Everywhere 

• Human Factors/ Human Computer Interactions (HCI)
• grounding interactions

All of the factors that help create a business to be more customer focused.  How the people or consumers interact with products and the company, making it more user friendly.

Agencies today are both in Traditional and Digital media, there is not limit to who needs help with consumer design and how they interact with the company.

Advanced Publications Inc.

• Largest privately owned company in the world- Owned by S.I Newhouse
• Highly diversified 
• Lots to do and improve on in this sector, because some view the company as "evil" for taking away jobs or limiting services or just having a bad experience with a website or telephone operators.  With the used of new technologies and new design to appease the public and get back on the good side of consumers by offering services that are user friendly.

His more current work has been for the NJ.com website, taking a confusing and poorly designed website and breaking it down to its most simple components.

1. Starting with the original website, heat trackers were focused on what was getting used the most on the site
2. A simple sketch of a new site was drawn up
3. Digital blue print- wire frame design
4. Then a test site is put up for the public to use and interact with
5. Second launchings to fix any bugs or tweaking of buttons.
6. Final website.

Never stop getting inspired, and dont be scared to work in different sectors, the more you learn the more possibilities you have.

Over all I thought the talk was great. Tim started off with telling us who he was and what he likes to do, its a departure from what we normally see and it made it easier to connect with him as he spoke to us.  Digital isn't my discipline but he made it exciting for me to listen to and understand.  He has a wealth of knowledge and highly engaging.