Story Teller
I love to tell stories, invoke curiosity and instigate conversation. Through over 20 years of experience on the leading edge of technology I have told the story of a company, product, or service through words and graphic images. Today technology and ingenuity enables user interaction with the stories I’ve created building a unique and different experience every time. By creating a user experience that invokes a user to interact with a company's story, or product, a company that is a good listener will become better at what they do and a user will become empowered by the experience.
My passion is to build consciousness and promote change in how we see and experience things, opening up new ways of thinking. Creating thought provoking experiences around an application, consumerism, the environment, or social change keeps discovery and innovation alive. I have a mix of creative thinking and analytical thinking that allows me to do just that. I thrive on understanding a product, or service, its audience and it's purpose well enough to craft a design and strategy that delivers results beyond expectation.
Michelle Gartner
User Experience Expert
While pursuing her BFA in graphic design and computer graphics Michelle discovered an interest in how computers work. Establishing an early relationship with computers through computer graphics programming and helping to create some of the first animation programs in 1984 fueled that interest. Following a four-year career in graphic design, with some of the top advertising agencies, creating on some of the first Apple computers she moved from Chicago to Silicon Valley. This is where she got her first experience with how humans can interact with computers and start creating improvisational stories. She was designing elements for flight simulation and was involved in building the Apache helicopter flight simulator to be used for Desert Storm training. It was an invaluable experience, but one that left a mark that is still felt today when she talks about how these systems were used to promote violence. Michelle moved on to pursue a masters in computer science quickly realizing that the design of systems was much more interesting then programming them. Virtual reality, film, video, 2D and 3D motion graphics, mobile devices and the Web are what filled the next 20 years.
Pursuing a career path that evolved as the computer matured Michelle worked for companies on the leading edge of technology changing the way we do things. At Eastman Kodak and Avid Technology she was a user advocate and new product innovator developing and marketing software tools used in creating digital media. Migrating to the Internet world in 1997 Michelle worked for Netscape, Broadvision and Swan Systems changing the way people interact with the Web. She helped create some of the first eCommerce websites for Sears, Roebuck, Grainger and United States Postal Service as well as some of the first Web portals. At the Grass Valley Group she worked closely with engineering, product management and account management teams to sell, market, and maintain existing technology, and emerging technology, for motion picture film. As a product marketing manager at Adobe systems, Michelle managed the Adobe OpenHD program managing the 15 industry leading partners including HP, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and nvidia opening up the world of HD creation. She also worked for AMD in product marketing promoting their latest graphics technology and Allstate managing the Web for Allstate Roadside Services. Michelle has dabbled in social media creating a ratings and reviews program for Charles Schwab, developing a community website for Levi’s Shape Whats to Come managing and designing the social media for Expedition Bhutan, a group chasing the meaning of Gross National Happiness. Her more recent endeavors are more socially oriented and expand to include environmental stewardship, as one of the founders of How Green Is It and One Million Green Communities. This is complimented by Michelle’s experience in Web consulting and project management for local companies, such as Truckee Trails Foundation, Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee and The Gateway Mountain Center.