Russ Unger's Bio

Russ Unger is a User Experience professional in the Chicago area who has worked with some pretty impressive companies, including Happy Cog, a well-recognized web design firm. He is co-author of the book “A Project Guide to UX Design” for Peachpit Press (Voices That Matter) and is co-authoring a book on guerilla research methods with Todd Zaki Warfel due out in 2011. Russ is a co-founder of Sketchcamp Chicago with Gabby Hon. Russ is also founder of UX DayCamp, a single-day camp-style event for sharing ideas in UX Design. Russ is also on the Advisory Board for the Department of Web Design and Development at Harrington College of Design.

Russ' workshops have been attended and put to use by a variety of companies, from lean start-ups to large corporations. Russ is currently available for opportunities--from helping your start-up and/or established company, to leading workshops with your teams. Use the Contact Form to reach out today.

Russ has been working on websites since 1993—when there was only Notepad to code with and Mosaic was the only browser around. That was when he found his interest in User Experience Design and Information Architecture began to thrive. Since then, he has worked with a variety of companies--from start-ups to everyday household brands--helping them infuse User Experience strategies and tactics into their designs.

In addition, he previously served on the board of directors of the Information Architecture Institute as president and as director of events and marketing of the global organization, as well as remaining active as a volunteer and mentor. Russ worked as the producer for the 2008 IDEA Conference, and was the chair of the 2009 and 2010 IDEA Conferences. He has been a program reviewer for a variety of conferences, including IA Summit, Interaction, and SXSW.

He has been both an author and editor for Boxes and Arrows and UX Magazine, well-known online User Experience Design magazines and occasionally authors a blog post or an article when inspiration and/or timing strike. Russ continues to support his book release by attending UX Book Clubs across the world--both in-person and via video / audio discussions. He has attended book clubs in Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Edmonton, Minneapolis, and Richmond. And just for fun, he likes to sing Hootie and the Blowfish songs when the opportunity to karaoke presents itself.

The Right Way to Wireframe, Russ Unger - UXI Live 2011 from User Experience Israel (UXI) on Vimeo.

Russ speaks on User Experience Design and has given the following presentations:

Russ has worked with a number of major brands, including Arizona State University, AMC Theatres, Sharpie, Kraft, Kmart, Gatorade, Quaker and Celebrity Cruise Lines, as well as on large scale Intranet and Extranet applications for such companies as Volkswagen Credit, Audi Financial Services, Information Resources, Inc. and Marsh. From Television to Banking and all industries in-between, Russ was worked on projects and products including desktop and mobile applications, biometric and hand-held devices and just about any platform. He has been involved in the Information Architecture for large scale public-facing sites for such companies as Metromix, Oprah.com, United Airlines and Hewlett-Packard. He has also worked off-line, creating unique biometric applications and has worked as the Design Lead for Motorola’s Connectivity domain where he was responsible for creating user interfaces for mobile applications in Motorola's Consumer Experience Design group.