Team:

Brief Bios of our Principals.

David Simkin - User Experience Architect

David is the primary developer and holder of the mental model: a user-centric representation of the product, how it works and how users interact with it. David starts by gaining an understanding of the big picture. This includes gathering inputs from stakeholders/users, and reviewing product concepts, key functionality, market space, target users and company/product directions. Through an iterative user-centric design process, he creates a high-level mental model and a high-level information architecture, which serve as the foundation for an implementable, usable, supportable solution.

David has extensive experience in design, be it ground-up or recasting existing applications to fit new interaction models and user interfaces, and in synthesizing and validating product concepts through iterative design. His techniques include the use of task analysis, focus groups, storyboarding, and rapid prototyping. David is expert in the realm of enterprise applications, whether delivered natively or through the web, and is rapidly expanding in the consumer application arena. He has designed for the gamut of Web-based interfaces, including Web 2.0 and rich web interfaces such as AJAX, Flash/Flex and Java, as well as for native Windows, Mac and Unix based applications.

David holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Northwestern University and has been designing User Interfaces since 1984. He founded Mental Models in 1994 to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the user-centric design of products. He has previously been employed by Bell Labs as a Chief Architect and by Make Systems as their Industrial Design Director. All of David's professional experience has been "in the trenches" -- as a designer, architect, and engineering manager. This has provided him a perspective built on the foundation of solid fundamentals as well as the realities of "getting products out the door." David has been successful at carrying the user-centric perspective through all phases of the Product Realization process - from design to implementation; and several of the products he has designed have won industry awards.

Aaron Simkin - Interaction and Creative Designer

Aaron takes in all the inputs, including the high-level mental model, the high-level information architecture, and the client requirements, and -- through a continuation of the iterative user-centric design process -- generates the detailed design needed to realize a complete and consistent solution. Aaron’s focus encompasses detailed user interaction design as well as visual design/aesthetics, including interface tone, style, layout and graphic design. The contributions of Aaron and his team reinforce and carry the Mental Model established for the application through all aspects of the design process.

Aaron spent nine years in the advertising industry as an Account Manager at various agencies, including J. Walter Thompson and Ammirati Puris Lintas; working for such clients as Bell Atlantic, Sprint and Compaq. In this role, Aaron led teams of creative-, technical- and business-focused contributors in order to achieve his clients’ tactical and strategic marketing and communications objectives. Aaron has had success generating leads, encouraging product trial, building sales, and developing brand identity.

By the mid 1990’s -- as the web and the worlds of software development and brand identity began to intertwine in new and interesting ways -- Aaron left New York City for Silicon Valley, joining Mental Models in 1996.

Aaron graduated cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics.

Elise Raphael - Functional Designer

Elise serves as a bridge between the high-level mental model and the more detailed design, ensuring that functional product requirements are met. Elise starts with an understanding of the overall project, scope of work, timeframes and product space, and then focuses on gathering and representing client product requirements, including application or web site requirements and feature/function requirements. This functional product perspective rounds out the Product Realization process, ensuring that the solution derived during the iterative design process supports the features the user requires, in addition to offering superior usability, interaction and aesthetic design.

Elise has a broad background in strategy, specifications, product management/marketing and project management. She has extensive experience defining, building, launching and marketing innovative technology-based products and services, with a focus on enterprise applications. At Mental Models, Elise also manages client projects, bringing resources to bear as needed and managing project execution and delivery.

Elise has worked as an independent marketing consultant for several high-tech companies; and has served as Director of Product Management at Avaya Inc. and Director of Product Marketing at Network Tools, Inc. She has also held senior marketing positions at Netsys Technologies (acquired by Cisco Systems) and Make Systems. Prior to these positions, Elise worked in a consulting capacity for Fortune 50 clients while at AT&T Bell Labs. During her tenure, Elise has fully managed several industry award-winning software solutions. Elise and David began working together 15 years ago and Elise has worked with the Simkin brothers on many Mental Models projects over the years since then.

Elise holds an M.S. in Operations Research from the University of California/Berkeley.

But Wait, There's More.

In addition to the principals, the team also includes Software Engineers, Web Designers, a Senior Systems Architect, plus award-wining graphic designers, illustrators and print production designers. We also have on-going relationships with QA Testers, Usability Testers, Copywriters, and Tech Doc/Help System writers.

Our Team is able to scale-up for the largest jobs, yet our clients rest assured knowing that their projects always benefit from the detailed (some would even say "loving") supervision of our founding Principals.