Cheryl Platz: Professional Resumé
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Overview
I am an interaction designer based in the Seattle area. I am currently employed full-time as a Senior User Experience Designer at Microsoft, working on Windows Intune and System Center Configuration Manager 2012. I've always been passionate about both technology and the arts, and in experience designI have happily found a way to apply both on a daily basis.
Part of my joy comes from learning new and complex problem spaces. I've designed for everything from video games and location-based entertainment projects to IT software and reconnaissance robots. I also bring strong leadership skills to the table, with experience leading creative teams of up to 15 people and shipping software products on ambitious schedules.
Education
Carnegie Mellon University
B.S. in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction, 2002
Carnegie Mellon University
Entertainment Technology Center Graduate Study, 2002-2003
Work Experience
Senior User Experience DesignerMicrosoft Corporation, November 2007 - Present
Member of the Server and Management Studios team, with the charter of improving the user experience for IT Pros.
- Drive long-term design efforts towards Metro for IT, including early visualizations, concept cars, and storyboarding.
- Designed graceful solutions for products that manage hundreds of thousands of devices and objects
- Aggressively championed important wide-ranging experience improvements for SCCM 2012
- Worked with a design team to provide design guidance for new features in Windows Intune Wave C.
- Extensive mockup work and prototyping across all levels of fidelity
- Co-authored and evangelized UX Trends for IT Professionals 2012 research across product groups
- Contribute to the creation of interface guidelines to be used across all System Center products.
- Treasurer of the Board for the Women's Leadership Council, a groundbreaking networking organization within Microsoft for over 300 women
- Selected for Microsoft's Emerging Leader Bench Program, FY2011 and Leader Bench Program FY12
Amaze Entertainment / Griptonite Games, November 2004 - November 2007
- Managed interdisciplinary project teams of 8 to 15 people, with budgets approaching $2M.
- Created and managed project schedule, as well as many game design documents.
- Acted as primary liason for external clients, localization teams, contractors, and QA.
- Supervised interface design and play testing efforts
- Wrote product pitches and concept documents for new game development projects, often leading to full game designs.
- Other contributions: in-game scripting, cutscene creation, writing in-game dialog
- Shipped Titles: Disney Friends (DS), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (DS/GBA), Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (GBA)
Maxis / Electronic Arts, May 2003 - November 2004
- Managed day-to-day production tasks, including design, scheduling & asset management
- Supervised the localization process for multiple titles, including Language Testing
- Served as the liaison between Production and Testing, and with external developers
- Participated in press tours, interviews, and E3 demos for multiple games
- Wrote original in-game text for multiple games incl. The Sims: Makin' Magic and Sims 2.
- Shipped Titles: The Sims Makin' Magic (PC), The Sims Bustin' Out (GBA, PS2/Xbox/GC, NGage), Sims 2 (PC), Urbz: Sims in the City (GBA/DS)
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts / Destination Disney On-Site, Summer 2002
- Prototyped and developed several interface design projects w/ large potential audiences.
- Created site flows, HTML mockups, and functional prototypes using VB and Flash.
- Coded several network applications for Walt Disney Imagineering used to help prototype the Disney’s PhotoPass project, which is now open to the public.
MAYA Design Group, May - September 2001, Jan - March 2003
- Produced interface wireframes and mockups, performed expert analyses & wrote design deliverables for several large clients.
- Coded an internal utility for visualizing employee utilization and work hours from company databases.
Carnegie Mellon University / Entertainment Technology Center, Fall 2002
- Provided one-on-one assistance and support for the ETC's Building Virtual Worlds class.
- Specialized in assisting texture artists using Deep Paint 3D and 3D modelers using 3D Studio Max.
Interviews, Reviews, and External Links
- Interviews, Reviews & Articles
- Interview for Carnegie Mellon's homepage:
"Happily Ever After" (June 2011) - Interview for Webgrrls International:
"Mentors and Motivators: Meet Cheryl Platz" (January 29, 2011) - Interview for "Microspotting":
"Platz on Pausch, Pikachu and pursuing your passions" (January 14, 2010) - Published article in CMU ACM Journal, Issue 2:
User Experience for Technical Disciplines at Microsoft" [Page 4] - "Disney Friends" review in USA Today (9 out of 10 stars!!)
- Interview with PlanetDS.de about Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest DS
- Transcripts of live chats as 'MaxisCheryl' for the Urbz (EA/Maxis):
- Video
- Disney Friends DS promotional trailer
- Video of my demo at the Nintendo DS Press Launch for The Urbz DS (Gamespot)
- The Microsoft Management & Services Division Recruiting Video (I make a cameo appearance several times)
- Complete list of my shipped video game credits (MobyGames.com)
