Curriculum Vitae
I am a Web, Mobile, UX and Product Designer with experience in human-centered design, design strategy, visual communication and user experience. I design products that solve a complex array of business and workflow challenges. I'm a life-long learner, a leader by example and I am committed to the quality of my craft.
CURRENT ROLE
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
QUMULO — Seattle, WA (remote)
May 2018 — present
I’m the Creative Director at Qumulo, responsible for establishing the vision for and directing the creative of the corporate brand identity across all channels — website, printed collateral, video, trade show booths, social media, etc. Additionally, I’m responsible for ensuring consistency, alignment, and design coherence between the Qumulo marketing and product user experiences.
In addition to my responsibilities as a leader in the organization, I also have to be very hands on and work daily on a variety of design projects. This role is 100% remote — I work with teams at in Seattle (HQ), Minneapolis and other remote locations.
Additionally, I was responsible for:
Setting the vision for design at Qumulo
Leading and growing a team of passionate, dedicated designers toward realizing that vision
Building a culture that understands and appreciates the value of design and raising the collective design IQ of the company
Curating the corporate brand — establishing and maintaining design standards
Overall creative direction for digital marketing Qumulo.com and related sites as well as printed marketing materials for events and trade shows
Growing the business by applying design process and methodology to solve workflow problems
Fostering collaboration between design and the rest of the organization
PAST EXPERIENCE
DESIGN DIRECTOR
SPS COMMERCE — Minneapolis, MN (remote starting July 2017)
October 2016 — March 2018
In my role as Design Director, I was responsible for establishing the vision for and directing the creative of the corporate brand identity across the product and marketing ecosystems. This is an expanded role that grew out of my previous role as Product Design Manager. As Design Director, I continued to lead the Product Design team and set the vision and standards for the design process, methodology and UI construction for our suite of enterprise software products.
Additionally, I was responsible for:
Setting the vision for design at SPS Commerce
Leading and growing a team of passionate, dedicated brand designers and product designers toward realizing that vision
Building a culture that understands and appreciates the value of design and raising the collective design IQ of the company
Curating the corporate brand — establishing and maintaining design standards
“Chuck is an outstanding leader, manager, and as important, creative designer.
Over the four years I managed Chuck, he excelled at team development and team building, at managing to a very high design quality and consistency, and ensuring that he delivered regardless of the unpredictability of circumstances.
Chuck created the department and discipline of Product Design at SPS, and over time I added the role of Creative Director where he was responsible for the corporate brand, and for ensuring consistent execution of the brand across all departments of the company.
Chuck manages extremely well across organizational boundaries, and managing remote workers and teams. He has a very rigorous training and development regimen, and builds consensus and support comfortably. He’s an accomplished leader and I would hire him again, in a heartbeat.”
PRODUCT DESIGN MANAGER
SPS COMMERCE — Minneapolis, MN
September 2013 — October 2016
As Product Design Manager, I've had the opportunity to wear many hats. At different times, I've been everything from design architect to creative director; from UX workshop host to lead UI designer; from product strategist to design mentor. I developed a design process and methodology and lead the UI construction for complex enterprise software projects with a broad scope and evolving objectives. Fundamentally, I work closely with Product Management to contribute to the overall product strategy through concept generation, prototyping and shepherding the design team to create a delightful user experience.
Additionally, I was responsible for:
Setting the vision for product design at SPS Commerce
Leading and growing a team of passionate, dedicated designers toward realizing that vision
Crafting and cultivating the design and interaction patterns for SPS Commerce products
Growing the business by applying design process and methodology to solve workflow problems
Fostering collaboration between design and the rest of the organization
“Chuck hired me two years ago to help build out his team and conquer new markets with innovative products at SPS Commerce. In that short span of time I’ve grown a lot of respect for his style, skills, and passion for cultivating an atmosphere of high quality design.
He has an innovative way of managing his teams; by treating them like adults with clear expectations. Chuck believes in a clear work/life balance, a refreshing mindset for an industry that burns people out.
Management aside, his attention to detail and artistry is unmatched; he’s an absolute craftsman and visionary for designing interfaces. He’s not afraid to get into the trenches with his team and chip away at the work to be done. Chuck has made me a better designer by mentoring and challenging me to push the limits of what I thought was good enough.”
PRINCIPLE USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
SPORT NGIN — Minneapolis, MN
October 2011 — August 2013
Sport Ngin (formerly TST Media) is the world's most powerful online sports management platform. During my tenure at Sport Ngin, I established the entire user interface and interaction patterns for architecting the next generation of administrative tools used to manage tournaments, leagues, registration, permissions and account management.
I created the interface and user experience patterns for two iPhone apps. The Sport Ngin mobile app, which allows users to access real time scores, statistics, schedules, events and roster information for their favorite teams as well as participate in social media sharing of photos and videos. The USA Cup app was a customized version of the Sport Ngin mobile app, designed to specifically serve players, coaches, officials and parents participating in the Schwan's USA Cup soccer tournament - one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the world with over one thousand teams represented. Both of these apps enjoyed tremendous success and appeared in the top listings for the sports category in Apple's App Store.
In my role as Principal User Experience Designer, I was responsible for the interaction, usability, information architecture and visual design (down to the pixel) for all of Sport Ngin's organizational management tools, mobile apps, and other application-related initiatives. In addition to my day-to-day tasks of design creation, I also led the User Experience team, tasking the other designers, monitoring their workloads and providing creative direction for all projects. As a leader within our Product Management team, my efforts were split between product strategy, visioning, mentoring and tactical implementation.
“Chuck is one of the most talented designers I’ve ever worked with. He is a skilled communicator and is committed to craftsmanship in every sense of the word. Chuck continuously demonstrates a rare combination of user empathy, high-level problem solving and meticulous attention to the details that matter. He not only creates amazing work, but also has a profound impact on those who have the privilege of working with him.”
UX DESIGNER
THE NERDERY — Bloomington, MN
February 2011 — October 2011
As a designer on the User Experience team, I enjoyed working with a number of great clients including Best Buy, HID, Fampus and the Central Bank of Belize.
I worked directly with clients and project managers to craft solutions to business problems. Depending on the project, I was responsible for everything from project documentation and wireframes to moodboards and high-fidelity mockups.
One of my favorite projects during my time at the Nerdery was a ID badge printer UI design for HID. This was notable for a couple of reasons. One, it was a unique opportunity for me to apply my design skills to something other than a web interface. And two, the UI needed to be virtually free of text, since it had to be universally understood without language translation/localization. That was a tremendous challenge, but really fun and put my icon design skills to the ultimate test.
Additionally, the project for Central Bank of Belize was particularly fulfilling. I was able to create a design that completely fit their brand essence while at the same time highlighting the content important to their users. This was a fun project because it was one of the few projects I've worked on in which I did not create, nor was I involved in, the information architecture and wireframe phase of the process.
Throughout my time at the Nerdery I was depended on for my design expertise and experience as a veteran in the design industry, lending some stability to a quickly growing team of young UX professionals.
UX DESIGN LEAD
ASCENDIO — Irving, TX
May 2010 — February 2011
I work directly with clients, translating business goals and objectives into compelling design solutions. I manage a high volume of campaign-oriented projects for retainer clients. I'm entirely responsible for the visual design and front-end technologies to deliver a quality user experience.
My role as UX Design Lead requires me to wear many hats including project manager, copy writer, information architect and client counselor. For most projects, I'm expected to deliver wireframes, sitemaps, visual design mockups, and HTML prototypes, while adhering to aggressive project timelines. I am also heavily involved in CMS integration and deploying front-end code into our .NET framework.
SENIOR INTERACTION DESIGNER
ROSETTA STONE — Arlington, VA (remote)
May 2006 — September 2007 and February 2008 — May 2010
As a remote member of the Web Strategy team, I was responsible for the continuing enhancement and improved user experience of Rosetta Stone’s network of websites.
I provided an experienced "voice of the user" perspective to a team of marketers and product managers, creating wireframes, mockups and prototypes for web pages, landing pages and screens for our online application.
As the Design Lead, I worked closely with creative and production teams to suggest, experiment with and implement ideas for improving conversion while developing, enforcing and maintaining front-end coding and graphic design standards.
“Chuck offers an unusual blend of technical competency and design skills. This blend allows him to not only produce satisfying design recommendations for web- based technologies but also implement these designs in highly efficient and technically maintainable ways. Chuck worked remotely and was absolutely reliable during that time. I’d hire him again or use him on a contract basis should the need and opportunity arise.”
INTERACTION DESIGNER
SABRE — Southlake, TX
September 2007 — February 2008
As a member of the User Experience Team, I worked directly with product managers to make recommendations for improvements in the user experience for travel-related websites, online tools and other applications used by travel agents. I developed wireframes, mockups and high-fidelity prototypes to aid testing, development and release of web-based or desktop applications.
During my short time at Sabre I had the privilege of working on some very high-profile projects, such as the Travelocity iPhone site and leading the redesign of virtuallythere.com.
WEB DESIGNER / FRONT-END DEVELOPER
EDS — Plano, TX
June 2005 — May 2006
I led front-end web development for re-launch of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI), one of EDS' largest and strategically important accounts, providing the Department of the Navy with a full range of network-based information services on a single, enterprise-wide intranet, linking more than 400,000 workstations worldwide.
I was responsible for architecting the development of re-launched Web site, including information architecture, navigation, custom graphics/branding elements, and front- end coding of HTML and CSS.
“Chuck is one of the most talented visual designers I’ve worked with. His intuitive, natural command of look and feel resonates with the audience immediately. But what makes Chuck effective in his role as a UI designer is the fact that he ALSO has a command of front-end technologies that bring design to life. He understands the trade-offs that modern day Web designers must deal with every day — speed, markup, flexibility, standards compliance, accessibility, usability and aesthetic. And that combination makes him appreciated by marketing executives and developers alike. ”
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
HOMECOMINGS FINANCIAL — Dallas, TX
November 1997 — May 2005
Primarily responsible for cultivating a strong connection between employee engagement and management goals and objectives. I built a communications platform within the loan servicing division to deliver information to an employee base distributed over three geographical locations. I worked closely with the senior management team to create and deliver monthly presentations, newsletters and management reports to employees.
I accomplished a complete transition of information delivery from a paper-based medium to an online medium. Through sustained achievement, I was able to grow a communications department, overseeing a team of communications analysts. During my time there, employee satisfaction rates were consistently high due, in part, to the efforts and success of the communications platform.
“Chuck is the most advanced communications professional I’ve worked with in my career. He is extremely effective in the communications discipline, having the critical attributes of high creativity, technical savvy and a sense for practical application. He also brought the message to life, delivering well beyond my expectations”
TECHNICAL INVENTORY
Expert web, mobile, UX and product designer producing agency-quality products with Sketch, Fireworks and Illustrator.
Skilled at creating and presenting high-fidelity designs by creating thoughtful and comprehensive prototypes and click-throughs.
Ability to create flexible and cohesive design systems by identifying necessary design patterns and interaction models.
Experience building design teams from the ground up and establishing process and methodology for execution of high quality products.
Unique ability to communicate and engage with an audience to present complex concepts and data with imagery, typography and other graphic design techniques.
Advanced standards-based Web developer, developing hand-coded HTML, CSS and some jQuery.
Experience designing and developing web sites with WordPress as a CMS and other PHP-based templating systems.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
EDUCATION
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY
Nacogdoches, Texas
Bachelor of Science, Agriculture (Landscape Design), 1995
METADATA
AWARDS & CERTIFICATES
Best Functionality, Overnight Website Challenge, 2014
GMAC-RFC Partner Award, 2002-2005
GMAC-RFC Celebrate Leadership Award, 2002
Certificate in Web Design, Collin College, 2000
GUEST SPEAKER
SPS Commerce Product+Tech Meetup — 2016
SPS Commerce Product & Platform Event — 2013, 2014, 2015
DFW Adobe Users Group — September 2007 and November 2009
ME, ELSEWHERE
DRIBBBLE — http://dribbble.com/chuck
TWITTER — http://twitter.com/chuckmallott
LINKEDIN — http://linkedin.com/in/chuckmallott
MY SIDE PROJECT
Bookstack — http://getbookstack.com
I WROTE A BOOK!
Foundation Fireworks CS4 (ISBN 978143021618-6)
MORE RECOMMENDATIONS
“As a supervisor, Chuck sets a bar that’s hard to hit but is always there to help you hit it. As an interface designer, his work is pixel-perfect. As a UX designer, he nails every level of the usability pyramid. During periods where work is lax, he keeps the ball rolling; during periods of intense pressure, he keeps his cool. Chuck has talent, integrity, a good sense of humor. I’m privileged to have worked with him, and I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without his inspiration and encouragement!”
“SPS hit the jackpot when Chuck came to work with us, but I also gained an important and influential person in my life. He has become a design mentor, a leader by example, and I am inspired by his tenacious insistence on quality in everything he produces.
Chuck understands that great products solve problems. Through a bulletproof design process that starts with user understanding, he crafts the kinds of digital experiences that truly delight. He brings to the table a depth of knowledge that is rare and exceedingly useful. Did I mention that he built our company’s UI pattern library and design platform from the ground up?
Chuck is also an honest, sincere, and humble individual. I am happy to know him and learn from him!”
“Chuck is one of those hard to find web designers. He has a good sense of design and an excellent understanding of HTML and CSS. He knows the standards and he knows how to make them look good. We used Chuck in a Ruby on Rails shop and he was more than capable of diving into our dynamically generated code, making careful alterations, and doing all the layout work right along side the developers. A couple hours of Chuck’s time is worth a great deal to a project!”
“Chuck may be the most talented designer I’ve ever worked with. Not only does he have a deep technical knowledge of web presentation, but his instincts about the look, feel, and usability of the web are spot on. He combines this with a talent for image design and creation; his skill set is hard to match.”