About Michael
I am a…
Blogger, Brainstormer, Connector, Designer, Idea generator, Parent, Photographer, Writer/Editor
Bio
I'm Director, Experience Design at TED. For two decades, I've led design and development teams, won some awards, worked with great clients, taught here and there, judged some competitions, guest-lectured, sat on design and tech panels, and had my work featured in a few books.
In addition to design, I write (a lot). In addition to having essays posted on TED, TED-Ed, Fatherly, The Mighty, and Yahoo!, I'm a featured writer at Medium and Top Writer for 2018 at Quora.
I’m dad to twin boys, one of whom is autistic, both of whom inspire me to try to make the world a little better.
I love design, technology, science, philosophy, and the arts. I'm a curious explorer, skeptical humanist, and as nerdy as I am earnest.
I do better with naps.
I'm passionate about
The power of design to clarify, inspire, and improve, and humanize.
An idea worth spreading
We each play the role of diplomat for our family, our gender, our race, our nationality, our philosophy, our humanity and, of course, ourselves. We should remember this in all our words and actions.
Areas of expertise
Brand & Marketing Strategy, Content Strategy, Information Architecture, Photography, Usbility, User Experience, User Interface Design, Web / UX / App Design, Writing
The TED story
In 2012, I saw Faith Jegede Cole's talk, "What I've learned from my autistic brothers." One of my twins had been diagnosed autistic just a few months earlier, and I was struggling to come to grips with at this meant for his life, and for ours.
Faith's talk completely changed my perception of our situation. In particular, this passage stays with me: "Normality overlooks the beauty that differences give us, and the fact that we are different doesn't mean that one of us is wrong. It just means that there's a different kind of right."
Little did I know that a few months later, through one work connection and a few lucky breaks, I'd find myself working at TED helping to shape TED's digital experiences and, perhaps, change the perceptions of others just as my own had.
Things you might not know
Whistling.