About

My name is Dave Mulder. I’m a user experience designer living in Lansing, Michigan. If you don’t know what a user experience designer does, that’s okay. Allow me to briefly explain: I don’t make a lot of the products you use, I make a lot of the products you use *better*.

Alright, maybe I stole that line from BASF. But it’s true.

My emphasis has been on digital products. (Websites). But I haven’t always been a user experience designer. And perhaps I’m being a bit forward with the term. I’ve been a website designer and developer since the late 1990s. I’m talented with HTML and CSS. I know my way around Photoshop.

User experience design looks at a broader picture. I haven’t just built websites, I’ve spent years building websites that *work well*. I’ve watched as usability went from something that had to be sold to clients to what clients absolutely need to be successful.

So how do you make something that works well?

• You need to understand the people who use your product.
• You need to understand how people use your product.

Yes, those are different.

Understanding the people who use your product involves research into motivations. It’s about diagnosing the underlying disease instead of treating its symptoms. When you understand the core, the WHY, you can tailor a solution that solves a real problem in a meaningful way.

Understanding how people use your product is related to interface design. Most usability testing operates at this level of user experience, trying to make a product intuitive by identifying points of frustration.

Combine these approaches, get serious about it, and you’ll end up with a product that works well. That’s why I try to do as a user experience designer.

Day Job

I work at Michigan State University as a website developer, though my real title is *Information Technologist*. Though I occasionally reference events from my office, all opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Entrepreneurship

The short story: In 2011, I co-founded SoapBox, a backchannel for classrooms.

The long story: I love my day job, but I also like solving problems and that’s what entrepreneurship is about. I’m very interested in the intersection of mobile and educational technology, so I pitched an idea at Startup Weekend Lansing 2.0 and that idea eventually became SoapBox. SoapBox’s other co-founder is John Pytel, a brilliant Chicago-based marketer. He’s a White Sox fan, but don’t hold that against him.

Personally

I’m an avid reader. I play basketball. I write about food. I drink craft beer.