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Summary: I specialize in product design, user experience and architecture for websites and online applications.
Having co-founded 4 Internet startups, one of which is due to be publicly traded, and a digital agency, my role has always been design or product related from VP Product, to both managing and delivering User Experience. I’ve managed projects ranging from the design of websites for large corporations to online applications or the creation of features such as RSS and the bios used by Social Network Services such as Twitter and Facebook that are used by more than 500 million people.
My digital design skills are grounded on my background as a UK qualified architect, where I trained working for Norman Foster.
Om Malik: “David has a nasty habit of predicting the future before everyone else.”
My USP is that I am both more strategic/business savvy and more technical than most product people. By spotting trends, I can decide what to create pro-actively, from a business or market perspective rather than relying purely on research, and I can specify the ‘how’ in more detail, including the technical architecture.
To get a feel for what I think current Internet product trends are, here’s a recent conference talk on digital trends.
Work
2010-present
Swiss Designed - Product Design & User Experience consultancy. Geneva and London.
2009-present
Venture Partner, Siderian Ventures (Clean Tech Investments)
2006-present
Founder Curations, New York. Social Shopping, a collection of sites for design items and smaller retailer shopping . Creation of the first visual bookmarking system: Wists and related sites such as Oobject (This is a hobby project).
2004
Co-founder (With Max Levchin, founder Paypal), Entrepreneur in residence, MRL Ventures, San Francisco (Companies spun out include Yelp.com and Slide.com (acquired by Google))
1999-2003
Co-founder (With Nick Denton, founder Gawker Media): Moreover.com, San Francisco. News search provider for Yahoo, MSN and corporations. Sold to Verisign.
1997-1998
Co-founder: Origins Network. London. Subscription based Genealogy service. Profitable since 2001.
1996-1997
Co-founder: RTA, Soho, London. Digital Agency based (spin off from RTA Design). Developed first large scale Intranet in UK, managing staffing for 60 hospitals. Developed Genealogy search engine.
1994-1995
Co-founder: RTA Design, Soho, London. Trade show and event design: Caterpillar, Wolverine, Levis. Winner of design for millennium bridge competition for Oldham, England. Featured in Building Design, Blueprint.
1993-1994
Architect: Fisher Park, London: Stadium concert set design, Pink Floyd, U2, Rolling Stones.
1992
Architect: Valode et Pistre, Paris. Paris Wine Vaults conversion.
1989-90 (1991 part-time)
Architect: Norman Foster and Partners, London: Cranfield Library, Kings Cross Masterplan, Norman Foster Apartment.
Teaching/Presenting:
Visiting Critic: Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University.
Visiting Critic: Columbia University, Undergraduate Architecture Program.
Visiting Critic: University of North London, Undergraduate Architecture Dept.
Visiting Lecturer: University College London, Post Graduate Architecture Dept.
Speaker at various Internet conferences including SXSW and O’Reilly Media.
Education:
1993
RIBA Chartered Architect.
1990-1992
University College London/Turin Polytechnic, Italy: Architecture Post Graduate Diploma.
1986-1989
University College London: BSc. Architecture.
Publications/standards:
Co-author RSS 1.0 (widely used internet standard) Link
Co-author RSS Ping (a method for enabling real-time search across the web) Link
Co-author Bio, ‘One Line Bio’ (standard for simple biographical information, used by Facebook, Twitter, SixApart). Link About
A more descriptive ‘about me’ is here.
RSS