Riquis.com - Richard Alvarez's Online Portfolio

Hello, I'm Richard

Welcome. Scroll down to learn more about who I am, what I do, and how I do it

What I Do

UX Leadeship

I lead UX teams to understand where clients and projects fit on the UX maturity scale and engage in the right mix of research and design.

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Case Study: Design Sprint

Product team should take a customer-first appraoch. This is one of three big reasons they are so valuable and why I enjoy running design sprints.

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Workshops

Planning, facilitating and post workshop anaysis - In person or virtual, let's have fun in our discovery. I like calling it innovation facilitation.

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Customer Success

I'm lucky to have worked so many incredibly talented, and honestly, just all-around good people.

About Me

Me, dreaming of other foods I can put hot sauce on

Hi. I've been working in corporate, agency and start-up environments for over 25 years. What I've learned is that the digital space is constantly evolving, and there's always something new and exciting to learn. I'm currently the UX practice manager at Saggezza. My goal is to always strive for collaborative UX thinking, streamline workflows, and of course, create great user experiences. What I love most about UX is the chance to connect with people, uncover issues, and be a part of a team creating solutions!

Outside of UX, I enjoy running and baseball. I've run 3 full marathons in 4 different countries. I have a passion for learning and trying new things. As a kid, my first gaming console was a Magnaovox Odyssey II. From there, I moved on to Atari, ColecoVision, Sega, Nintendo, Playstation, and XBox. Going outside of my comfort zone with an English degree, I moved to Seattle to work at Microsoft in 1991. My love for all things digital blossomed and I never looked back.

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My Journey

May 1991

Bachelor of Arts

DePaul University

I majored in English with a minor in Spanish literature. My older sister studied computer science, and with her help, I learned to program in C.
May 1991

Microsoft

Associate Developer

Working on Windows 3.1, I get my first taste of software product developmnet. Even then, I remember asking "why" more than "how".
Sep 1991

Masters candidate

DePaul University

The bad news was I wouldn't complete my Masters. The good news was that in order to pay for school, I taught myself HTML and began freelancing building web sites.
June 1992

El Valor

Technology Instructor

Began volunteering at this non-profit organization in Little Village teaching computer skills like Word, Excel, Email, and Windows to folks rejoininng the workforce after incarciration.
Sep 1993

Don Johnston, Inc.

CD-ROM Interactive Developer

Developed in Macromedia (later Adobe) Director, our team created interactive storybooks on CD-ROM teaching reading skills to kids with special needs. The best part was that I met Jenn, who I would one day marry!
August 1995

Whittman-Hart

Interactive Consultant

Jenn didn't want to date someone she worked with, so I made it easy for her and got a new job.
September 1996

Design Access

Interactive Developer

New skill, Macromedia Authorware, to create corporate eLearning content.
August 1997

Jack Morton

Interactive Developer

Taking my interactive skills to the World Wide Web. I was still creating a ton of CD-ROM and desktop content, though.
May 1999

Britannica.com

Interactive Developer

News skill, Macromedia (later Adobe) Flash. I devised a way to make Flash dynamic (before it was in V4) using Microsoft ASP and Macromedia Generator. This workflow allowed editors, designers, and developers to work simultaneously. I turned my documentation into the first book on Generator/Flash Web Development published by New Riders. I was told it sold well in Brazil!
September 1999

Medill Graduate School of Journalism, Northwestern University

Lectorer

A guest speaker opportuntiy turns into a class, which turned in an adjunct position, which turned into a full-time faculty position. It was just supposed to be one lecture about the Web.
September 2000

SupriseMedia

Principle / Interactive Developer

The success of my book forced me to incorporate. Apparently, Intel didnt want to contract a guy in his garage.
May 2003

MethodEngine

UX Director

My 2-person company combines with another 2-person firm and we go after larger accounts together. Working with Thermos was great, but my MethodEngine highlight was the digital creative we produced for the Lincoln Center's 50th Anniversary celebration.
February 2013

CafeXplorer

Principle

Is it too much to say Zoom was my idea? Our startup for bringing people to museums and cultural events in the virtual world was, maybe, just a little ahead of it's time.
March 2015

Saggezza

Senior front-end Developer

If today feels like yesteday, you're doing something wrong. So I mixed it up and joined Saggezza to collaborate with peers to learn from and grow.
January 2017

Saggezza UX Practice

Practice Lead

I formed the Saggezza UX team to focus on user research and design utilizing design thinking to understand user needs and wants. We focus on how to build the right thing, and not just anything.
The Future

Here's where you join my journey

Want to change the digital world? We should talk...

Hello, I'm Richard

Welcome. Scroll down to learn more about who I am, what I do, and how I do it

What I Do

UX Leadeship

Case Study: Design Sprint

Workshops

Customer Success

About Me

Me, dreaming of other foods I can put hot sauce on

Bachelor of Arts

DePaul University

Microsoft

Associate Developer

Masters candidate

DePaul University

El Valor

Technology Instructor

Don Johnston, Inc.

CD-ROM Interactive Developer

Whittman-Hart

Interactive Consultant

Design Access

Interactive Developer

Jack Morton

Interactive Developer

Britannica.com

Interactive Developer

Medill Graduate School of Journalism, Northwestern University

Lectorer

SupriseMedia

Principle / Interactive Developer

MethodEngine

UX Director

CafeXplorer

Principle

Saggezza

Senior front-end Developer

Saggezza UX Practice

Practice Lead

Here's where you join my journey

Let's Work Together

Let's Connect

View my Resume

richafur@gmail.com