Gunthar on the Cotopaxi summit

Howdy!

I'm Gunthar

I’m a Product Designer and User Experience Director, working at the intersection of research, technology and design, creating new products, services, and platforms. 

Currently, I am consulting and advising for technology startups and non-profits. I have a particular interest in collaborating with mission-driven organizations focussed on climate related technologies and services.

LinkedIn

Services

I am particularly attuned to the needs of startups and other organizations that are just getting going building their design organization and practice.

Design Leadership
• Design org design and building
• Design strategy
• Product development process
• Design sprint facilitation
• Mentoring and coaching
Design Practice
• Design operations
• User research
• Product design
• Interaction and UI design
• Design systems
Some good books about design

Experience

Leadership positions at innovative organizations spanning industries such as reality capture and analysis, video authoring, social media, financial technology, health and wellness, gaming, and more.

Multiple patents and industry firsts.

Educational background includes degrees in Anthropology and Digital Media & Information Design.

Approach

I strive to be a collaborative, energetic and inclusive leader and practitioner who is invested in my team and organization’s growth and success.

Product
Create and deliver high quality user interface and experience design that helps the organization realize its objectives and fulfill its mission.
Craft
Develop a product design and user experience practice that drives quality and efficiency in product development, and sets a vision for the future.
Research
Understand our users and their behavior via interaction with users and stakeholders. Be well versed in UX design of similar and competitive products.
Team
Implement top flight design by building a growth-oriented design organization closely aligned with product, engineering, marketing and executive leadership.

Technology for Conservation

Technology Consulting and Field Operations

2021-2023

Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to work with a number of organizations focussed on conservation and restoration of forests, particularly in the Choco-Andino of Western Ecuador.

I've provided consulting on software development and practices and platform level technologies, as well as leveraged my experience in reality capture and field operations to gather data and provide capacity-building training.

Very exciting to be able to contribute to the missions of these groups, and see the latest technical capabilities serve the needs of communities, policy makers, scientists and change leaders to address the pressing needs to understand, conserve, and restore forest lands.

Site Reality Capture

Director of Product Design and User Experience

2019-2022

First design leader at industry-leading reality capture SaaS startup, joining as the organization focused on growing its enterprise customer base and scaling ARR.

Contact me to learn more

Healthy Eating Made Simple

Director of Design & User Experience

2017-2018

Zipongo (now Foodsmart) provides software tools and services with the working premise that "food is medicine."

While there I lead a major redesign of the mobile product, architected UX and service design for new business initiatives targeting health systems, provided creative direction for growth & engagement content initiatives, photoshoots, and video production, and built the design team and practices..

Empowering Entrepreneurs

Director of User Experience

2013-2016

250+ entrepreneurs raised over $300M with CircleUp’s help.

Circleup's mission is to provide capital and resources to promising companies working across the CPG space, a sector which doesn't have the same pathways or needs as technology. A particular focus of the organization is to create more neutral, software based mechanisms that provide access and foster inclusivity to services and resources critical to entrepreneurs.

As the first product hire, I partnered with the founders and engineering leads, lead design across product initiates, built the design team and practices, ran research projects, and sat on the senior team.

A Platform for Play

Franchise User Experience Director

2011-2013

Zynga's go-to hub and optimized game play experience for its millions of dedicated players.

• Standalone gaming portal, new account system, engaging interactive features, third party game development.
• 1 Million DAU within first 6 months.
• Increased NPS and player retention.

Broadcast Yourself

Staff User Experience Designer

2007-2011

UX Lead on multiple product areas during YouTube’s high-growth early years. 

Design for home page, video upload & management, user channels & profiles, site navigation & information architecture, television applications, and more. 

Worked in conjunction with product and engineering teams to create systems and practices for social networking and sharing, personalized content discovery, video quality, content syndication and APIs. 

Patents: US8069414, US8468201. US9553947B2. Multiple Filings.