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☰ Ben Sykes - Designing Experiences For Humans ☺

ABOUT BEN


   

History



People are very willing to click multiple times. In fact, they won’t even notice they’re clicking if they’re getting the right amount of information at each click to keep them going down the path. Think progressive disclosure; don’t count clicks.
― Susan M. Weinschenk

Ben Sykes in Dublin
 Years Experience
 Passionate About
 Leadership Style
 Tools I Use Most

 18

(since 1995)

  • Creating experiences that both delight (dopamine, oxytocin) and influence behavior.
  • Set expectations
  • Service to team
  • Remove roadblocks
  • Catalyze growth
  • Hands off
  • Keynote
  • Balsamiq
  • Omnigraffle
  • Sketch
  • Prototyping tools

 

Ben Sykes is a dev / design hybrid with a focus on interaction (IxD), user experience (UX) and behavior design. He has always had a strong desire to tell stories, and started out in Hollywood working in TV & film on such projects as Melrose Place, American Beauty, and Murder In The First.

In the mid 1990’s, Ben started a web design consultancy and worked on a variety of projects with  Warner Brothers Music, Artisan Entertainment, Digital Evolution just to name a few.

In 2003, he joined the Marine Corps Reserves and was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon his return, he continued to design and develop with such companies as : Oversee.net, American Idol Underground, NSA, NASA, & Oracle.

More recently, Ben has worked with  Microsoft, where he led multiple UX initiatives; Cisco where he managed and built the Irish UX team and helped integrate WebEx / CUPC; and Google where he was a lead designer on the AdWords team and was instrumental in the creation of multiple features such as the DisplayTargeting Tab, Alerts, and Google Help. He then went on to lead the design of the big data visualization of self-service dashboards backed by the Google Data Warehouse.

Ben currently serves as a User Experience Design Advisor to multiple start-ups and has been designing & facilitating the curriculum for the Apprentice Program and Job Search Standup for General Assembly’s UX Design Immersive students as well as teaching Interaction Design at San Francisco State University.

View Resume




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Contact

ben.sykes@gmail.com
1-650-681-9016
Skype Me™!

Big Tweets

  • What's next? Interfaces? Apps? Mind-controlled prosthetic arms that work in daily life are now a reality #ux -- http://t.co/7qSy5h1XnQ about 22 hours ago from Buffer ReplyRetweetFavorite
@bensykes
I am so happy for the opportunity to recommend Ben! Ben’s mentorship through Job Search Stand-up ses…
Allison Marie CooperUX DesignerWorkboard Inc.
Ben has been invaluable in helping me navigate the world of UX as an aspiring designer. He’s helped …
Edward LewisContent Strategy and UXSupamoto
I took a class Ben taught on Interaction Design. Ben’s energy, knowledge and inspiring enthusiasm op…
Dennis KwesellIntegrated Art Director
Ben is a great UX career mentor who has very creative advice on how to go about starting in UX, chan…
Aïcha DoucouréUX Design ResearcherUber Technologies
Ben Sykes is a creative, friendly, highly organized consultant. He would be of value to anyone wanti…
Neeli CherkovskiWriter
What’s really stood out about Ben’s work on AdWords has been his enthusiasm about the product and hi…
Geoff DavisStaff Quantitative User Experience ResearcherGoogle
Ben is great to work with. He is calm, considerate, humble and effective. He understands the big pic…
Hans von SichartUser Interface DesignerCisco
Ben has been a wonderful hiring manager to work at Cisco!! His approach to has been diligent, but fr…
Kelcey StoneSr. Technical RecruiterAdecco @ Cisco (business partner)
Ben was a great manager to work for. He has great people skills. Ben is a great motivator, and has a…
Jim TomaskoTechnical LeaderCisco
Ben brought solid process management skills in gathering team requirements for our portal site. Our …
Trevor ParkinsonOperations Solutions ManagerMicrosoft
Ben Sykes is one of the few I would entrust to bring a proposal through to fruition. I would have ab…
Joe GardeFounderOnline Meeting Rooms
Ben has a great visual understanding of how the web is viewed. When building my website, he applied …
Clark WalkerDesigner
Ben Sykes is a great mentor. He’s very pragmatic and honest, with a wealth of knowledge in UX design…
Rafaela LausUX DesignerVoxer
Ben Sykes was an excellent teacher. He set expectations clearly, provided guidance through readings …
James DocktorInstructional DesignConsultant
I attended several of Ben’s workshops while enrolled as a student and after graduating the General A…
Mike LeeUser Experience Design & Marketing ConsultantFreelance Consultant
I had the pleasure of working with Ben to design and build a curriculum to help junior User Experien…
Adrian M RyanProduct Manager, Global Outcomes ProgramGeneral Assembly
Ben worked on a project as our graphic artist for us at west coast cigars. we were really impressed …
Frank BellaviaClient
Ben was my instructor for 6 weeks after I completed General Assembly’s User Experience Design Immers…
Zoe Edmead FisherExperience DesignerGreat Fridays
Ben kept us ahead of schedule and maintained everyone’s spirits in the face of daunting odds and unr…
Alison RugeSr User Researcher, Voice TechnologyCisco
Ben Sykes is a person who stays up-to-date on web technology and is innovate as he leveraged web 2.0…
Daniel EkbergProgram ManagerVolt Professional Services - Microsoft
Ben did an outstanding job of bringing order to a chaotic project where product requirements and the…
David AbkowitzIDSA, Principal, Snap!
Ben was instrumental in helping me with my resume. He is positive, encouraging, and full of useful i…
Phoebe YangUser Experience DesignerParcel Puppy
Ben is quite simply a fabulous designer to work with! I’ve greatly enjoyed his passion for designing…
Uday GajendarSr Interaction DesignerCisco
Ben joined my team at a critical time and quickly got up to speed. He brought with him expert domain…
Neil RamshawDesign ManagerGoogle
Ben has helped me with a complex (nearly impossible) computer problems. I would recommend Ben highly…
Thomas VolzPrivate CPA
Ben is a dedicated and passionate teacher. His classes were filled with creative, interactive drills…
Lissa DotyUser Experience Designer (UX)General Assembly
Ben brings to the table an insatiable appetite for detail orientation and the skill set to lend rele…
Mateo NaresUser-Centered Design Engineer IIICisco
Ben is professional and creative. Give Ben some creative freedom and the results will surprise you. …
Kevin ShenkPhotographerKevin Shenk Photography
Ben was in charge of my job search, post course completion, and preparation at General Assembly SF. …
Taylor Glas-HochstettlerUX ConsultantFligoo
Hands down Ben is the best UX Designer in the industry. Ben couples a keen eye for detail with a kin…
K. David PirnazarCo-Founder/CEOsamesurf.com
Ben is an incredibly personable and supportive teacher. He brings years of practical industry experi…
Meghna DholakiaInteraction DesignerNuance Communications
Ben is an insightful and talented UX Designer. He understands the user experience as just that, a ch…
Phil YoungSr. UX Designer | UI Designer | Visual DesignerBackbase
I have attended several of Ben’s Workshops at General Assembly, including the User Experience Design…
R. George KomotoUX DesignerSustainable Silicon Valley
Ben’s experience in UX really shines through in the way he gets to the bottom of problems and expl…
Andrew KoutsoftasProduct ManagerMetricStream
He is one of the “Top talent at Microsoft” I really enjoyed working with him. His depth and breadth …
Sam ChughtaiExecutive Management ConsultantMicrosoft
I had the opportunity to sit through Ben’s course on finding a job in UX at General Assembly when I …
Amanda YarmolichDesigner - UX | UI | VisualSEPHORA
I couldn’t have asked for a better and more available professor for an interaction design course. Be…
Elisa HeikenUX ResearcherSAP AppHaus
It was a pleasure to work with Ben. Ben is a very energetic manager with a keen eye for detail who p…
Michael SimonsonCreative Director Consulting - Americas / Sr. User Interface/User Experience Design ConsultantBackbase
Ben helped us remain objective when considering our ideas of what users needed in a collaborative fi…
Jeff PapineauWeb Dev Staff EngineerYouSendIt
Ben lead a series of follow up seminars for graduates of the General Assembly User Experience Design…
Ben DedrickUser Experience DesignerSlalom Consulting
Ben’s been an absolute pleasure to work with. He’s informative, understanding, and listens to multip…
Micah GrossmanCo-Founder, Product ManagerRingadoc
Ben Sykes is a technology leader and cutting edge professional in the UI/UX space. I represented him…
Michele SloanSales and Recruitment ManagerOriginate Resources/Originate Labs, Inc. (business partner)
Ben’s determination on working hard had helped Oversee grow to it’s potential. I remember coming to …
George ShemtovLead Senior Graphic DesignerOversee.net
Ben was a great mentor to me while I was working with his team (GDP) as a 20% UI designer. Whenever …
Lisa DingBlogger Community ManagerGoogle
There are key qualities of delivery Ben carries. His diverse experience background helps deliver qua…
Milan DaveSolutions ManagerBackbase
Ben was the instructor for my San Francisco State University Interactive Design class. He delivers c…
Deborah ChinUser Experience Designer, Print Designer, Production Artist
Ben Sykes was an incredible attribute to GA’s UXDi course as we finished up and started searching fo…
Alice BartonUser Experience Designer (E-Learning)Selfish, Inc.

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  • PROJECTS
    • Archived Projects
    • UI Specs
  • LABS
  • ABOUT
    • History
    • Lean UX Process
    • Teaching | Mentoring | Speaking
    • Testimonials
    • Resume
  • CONTACT
  • ★ FREE STUFF