WHAT'S IN THE BOX
Multidisciplinary designer with expertise in immersive computing.
- SERIALMikeAlger
- OPERATIONAL35 Years
- MANUFACTUREDLas Vegas
- ASSEMBLYUtah
- UNIT LOCATIONSilicon Valley
FOR USE WITH
- XR Design
- Prototyping
- Vision Work
- Interaction Design
- Motion Design
- Video Production
- Visual Effects
- Photography
- Editing
- Graphic Design
FIELD TESTING
SENIOR INTERACTION DESIGNER
- YouTube
- Since November 2019
Lead designer for the XR team comprising efforts that involve 3D and real-time graphics like YouTube VR, avatars (aka VTubers), the "metaverse," and such. Introduced features like hand tracking, movies, and comments to YouTube VR, which consistently ranks near the top of Oculus' "Most Popular" experiences.
SENIOR INTERACTION DESIGNER
- Since November 2015
User experience for XR and future headset displays. Worked to design a cohesive visual and interaction language and communicate specs by making physical and digital prototypes for human centered interface and interaction design, giving guidance on inputs and form factors, and helping discover the most valuable use cases that define product strategies.
OPERATION
While it's true that I can't show most of my work, these are things that only use public knowledge products and technologies.
PRODUCT REVIEWS
Confidential project, product, and team names redacted.
Mike is the most proficient interactive VR designer on the ████████ team. He has combined a traditional UX background with rapid prototyping very high fidelity interactions, visuals, and animations. Where other designers rely on hand gestures, sketches, and verbal descriptions, Mike can come up with a creative idea and then show you exactly how it will look and feel. This is extremely useful for making discoveries on what actually works and what doesn't as the team explores an entirely brand new territory for design.
- Design Lead
- 2017
I can't speak enough to Mike's impact on this project - from fleshing out the biggest concepts to the smallest details of ████████. He has used his wide range of skillsets to create mocks, high-fidelity visuals, motion examples, and fully-functioning prototypes. Additionally, he has endured an abnormally long crunch period, dutifully filing bugs and working closely with ENG to improve the implementation.
- Senior Interaction Designer
- 2018
I have been very impressed with Mike's work on ████████ and I believe that many of the techniques that are being explored here are going to be as important to VR as physics based scrolling was to mobile. This is one of the fundamental things that the system absolutely has to get perfectly right.
- Design Lead
- 2017
Mike does an excellent job of showing instead of simply telling his ideas. He does so through the most appropriate medium, whether that be a simple sketch, 2d motion graphic, or a fully interactive prototype.
- Software Engineer
- 2017
Mike is a consistent contributor of design proposals - and is able to wear many hats, from video production, to detailed design spec creation. He is always willing to help the team, and is a pleasure to work with. I hope to collaborate more with Mike in the future, as he has many good insights.
- 2019
Mike joined the YouTube VR team mid-cycle and has already been fundamental to our team's progress. He's been helping define the vision for our projects where he's very thoughtful and communicative. Mike is extremely independent, solves ambiguous problems, and has influence well beyond himself in all our team projects. He's proven to produce high quality work, and have very deep and broad IC skills, including unique expertise needed to get the job done: creating videos, interactive mocks, unity explorations, etc. This has been especially important for a team like ours with such a diverse set of projects and design needs.
- YouTube
- 2020
Mike is highly effective at articulating design visions that address user needs and feedback. He employs paper sketches, storyboards, videos, digital mocks, and functional prototypes to articulate his vision and get feedback. His process ensures greater confidence in his designs' ability to satisfy user needs of the product.
- Product Manager
- 2019
PERFORMANCE
Ongoing Download Progress...
- BEGINNER
- INTERMEDIATE
- EXPERT
Professional
User Experience Design
XR
Video Editing
Photo Editing
Compositing
Stereoscopy
Graphic Design
Photography
Storyboarding
Interface Design
Web Design
Mobile Design
Environment Design
User Research
Motion Graphics
Branding
Project Management
Camera Operation
Lighting
Color Correction
Audio Recording
Audio Editing
Video Compression
Software
Photoshop
Illustrator
Figma
Sketch
Unity
Godot
Unreal
Premiere
After Effects
Cinema 4D
Maya
Blender
HTML & CSS
Indesign
C#
Javascript
Shaders
DOCUMENTATION
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
MASTER OF ARTS - MOVING IMAGE
- Distinction
- Virtual Reality
- Ravensbourne University via University of Arts London
- 2015
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE - DIGITAL MEDIA
- Cum Laude
- Film & Video
- Utah Valley University
- 2013
ASSOCIATE OF APPLIED SCIENCE - DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
- Utah Valley University
- 2008
AWARDS
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