Ian Spangler

Designer in New York, NY, United States

Member since November 10, 2017

Ian is a UX/UI designer, educator, and startup coach with over 12 years of professional experience designing and developing web and mobile products for high-profile and emerging brands. From his tenure as an entrepreneur wearing multiple hats, he has honed a broad, multifaceted skillset that enables him to take projects from concept to launch. Ian holds an MFA in interaction design from New York's Parsons School of Design, where he now teaches.

Web Design User Interface (UI)Responsive Web Design (RWD)UI Design Mobile App Design Product Design WordPress Themes Web App Design Information Architecture (IA)UI Prototyping Photoshop CC iOS OmniGraffle Sketch 3 WordPress Show more

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Portfolio

Digital Design

Coach+ Smartphone App
- Education
- UX Design
- UI Design
- Paper Prototyping
- Wireframing
- Information Architecture (IA)
- User Testing
- User Research
- Interviews
- Mobile App Design
- Prototyping
- Sketch
- UX Strategy
AMC Networks Mobile Home
- Rapid Prototyping
- Sketch
- UI Design
- UX Design
- Mobile App Design
- Competitor Analysis & Profiling
- UX Strategy
BikeNYC
- Prototyping
- UX Design
- Interaction Design (IxD)
- UI Design
- User Research
- Competitor Analysis & Profiling
- Mobile App Design
Static.com
- Web Design
- Visual Design
- Content Strategy
- Media
- Bootstrap 3
- CSS3
- HTML5
- Responsive Design
- Corporate Branding
- Front-end Development
- Coding
The Imagine Film List
- Information Architecture (IA)
- User Experience (UX)
- Interaction Design (IxD)
- User Interface (UI)
- Wireframing
- User Flows
- Movies
- TV Shows
- Celebrities & Influencers
- Sitemaps
- Publishing
- Books
- Adaptive Design
- Mobile Design
- User-generated Content
- Databases
- HTML
- jQuery UI
- JavaScript
- Fluid Design
- Photoshop CS6
- OmniGraffle
- Usability Testing
- CSS
Static Media Editorial Websites
- UI Design
- Visual Design
- Responsive Web Design (RWD)
- Movies
- Pop Culture
- News
- Photoshop CC
- Celebrities & Influencers
- CSS
- UI Specifications
- Style Guides
Entertainment Marketing Designs
- Visual Design
- Graphic Design
- Template Design
- Typography
- Movies
- Film & Television
Disney Handy Manny Flash Cards App
- UX Design
- UI Design
- Visual Design
- Educational Games
- iPhone
- Film & Television
- Entertainment & Leisure
- Interaction Design (IxD)
- Content Management Systems (CMS)
- Research

Employment

Adjunct Professor (Part-time)
2019 - PRESENT
Parsons School of Design
- Taught a course in professional development, including portfolio-building, to graduating students in strategic and integrated design.
Technologies: Apple Keynote, Canvas, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop
UI/UX Designer and Creative Director (Consultant)
2017 - PRESENT
Ian Spangler Design
- Led and executed on digital projects with the agencies Designity and Toptal.
- Defined strategy and architecture for brand-elevating website overhauls, managed designer workflows, and provided constructive iterative feedback.
- Collaborated closely with clients, estimating scope and cost, providing regular progress reports, and delivering on key business objectives.
- Laid down the foundation of UX design thinking for an education platform, conducting market research, surveying users, and wireframing solutions.
Technologies: JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5, Balsamiq, WordPress, InVision, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop
Principal Designer (In-house Consultant)
2016 - PRESENT
ZergNet
- Worked cross-functionally with C-level leaders, engineers, marketers, business developers, and content editors as an integral one-man design department within a high-growth media startup.
- Designed and iterated on CTR-optimized website designs for six editorial and news brands receiving 60+ million visitors per month.
- Defined or elevated visual identities of ZergNet-owned-and-operated properties across multiple channels.
- Devised CSS-driven spec systems, annotations, and brand guides for interdependent sites that help ensure accurate translation of designs.
- Designed traffic-growing widgets for Rolling Stone, Thrillist, New York Post, Hollywood Reporter, and other sites.
Technologies: CSS3, HTML5, Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop
Co-founder and Director of Product (UX + Tech)
2013 - 2016
The Imagine Film List
- Co-designed, and built from scratch, the premiere social platform for promoting books as movie and TV shows, attracting 300+ best-selling authors.
- Translated complex business requirements into a UX architecture scheme and onboarding flow that helped spur an 11% average conversion rate with 100,000 users registered in the first nine months.
- Devised a series of innovative, intuitive forms that inspired users to publish hundreds of thousands of story and casting ideas.
- Facilitated a collaborative design process that included research, user scenario definition, wireframing, prototyping, and user testing.
- Defined visual styles and micro-interactions for the application UI based on branding and input from co-founders.
- Assembled and led a team of two full-time developers and contractors to expand and evolve rich custom features and admin tools.
- Prepared user activity reports from Google Analytics data and SQL queries to inform on progress and actionable plans for improving user engagement.
Technologies: CSS, Web Technologies, Google Analytics, JavaScript, HTML, Adobe Photoshop, OmniGraffle
Interactive Designer
2011 - 2013
Townsquare Media
- Worked as a UI/UX designer with product managers, art directors, and developers on a vast suite of national music news and radio station websites.
- Devised wireframes and user flows for mobile sites, a streaming music player, and an online auction system for an eCommerce website.
- Designed themed versions of entire sites plus interfaces for editorial features, onboarding, loyalty programs, and a flagship mobile application.
- Helmed a design system that successfully transitioned 300+ websites to a responsive, mobile-friendly framework.
Technologies: OmniGraffle, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Interactive Developer/Designer
2007 - 2011
True North, Inc.
- Served national clients such as Disney, ABC, Glamour, and Toys ‘R Us as a creative technologist and digital art director in a mid-sized agency.
- Crafted custom-coded media websites, microsites, animations, desktop widgets, Facebook apps, and games.
- Planned, led, and managed the execution of internal web applications from UI/UX planning through development, QA testing, and launch.
- Provided key contributions to three ECHO-award-winning campaigns.
Technologies: CSS, Unity3D, PHP, OmniGraffle, jQuery, HTML, Adobe Photoshop, Flash
Interactive Designer and Developer (Consultant)
2006 - 2006
Sanborn Media Factory
- Designed and hand-coded front ends of marketing sites and emails for high-profile publishers including GQ, Architectural Digest, and Bon Appetit.
Technologies: CSS, Flash, HTML, Adobe Photoshop

Other Experience

CMS Web Design: A Guide to Dynamic Content Applications (Publication)
https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/cms-web-design
A lion’s share of websites and apps in the online media space are powered by content management systems (CMS). The optimal way to design for these applications is putting content first, style second.

Education

Master's Degree in Design & Technology (Interaction)
2005 - 2007
Parsons School of Design - New York, NY
Bachelor's Degree in Film
1998 - 2002
Vassar College - Poughkeepsie, NY

Certifications

UX Designer
SEPTEMBER 2018 - PRESENT
Interaction Design Foundation (IDF)

Experience

Photoshop CC14 years
HTML8 years
Media8 years
UI Design6 years
Sketch 34 years
Education2 years

Tools

Location

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Designer in New York, NY, United States

Portfolio

Employment

Adjunct Professor (Part-time)

UI/UX Designer and Creative Director (Consultant)

Principal Designer (In-house Consultant)

Co-founder and Director of Product (UX + Tech)

Interactive Designer