Welcome to Brazen Careerist!

About Me

I’m Marci Ikeler (the last name’s pronounced just how it looks: “ike” + “ler”) and I am a digital experience designer.

I’ve spent the last 10 years working with advertising agencies, Fortune 500 brands, and start-ups to create design and strategy for engaging, effective, and elegant digital experiences. I believe that there are three main qualities that have made me successful:

* I “get” digital - I understand what’s going on in the digital space - what’s new, what’s old, what’s up-and-coming. I participate in social networks, blogging, and keep up with emerging technologies. This expertise allows me to deliver cutting-edge solutions for my clients.
* I know how to prioritize - How do you balance business metrics, creative innovation, technological complexity, and usability? Every project is different - but all successful projects start with getting all the goals on the table.
* Creative strategy, with a solid UX background - My background is in traditional user experience design, which includes the disciplines of information architecture, interaction design, usability testing/ heuristics, and ethnographic research. This means I’ll always keep your customers’ goals in mind.

I’m currently the Director of Digital Strategy at Publicis New York, where I work with traditional advertising teams and partner agencies to integrate digital thinking into the creative process.

My career has given me the opportunity to work with a lot of cool brands, such as 1-800-Flowers, Armani, Citigroup, DiscoverCard, Dove Chocolate, Foot Locker, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, net-a-porter, Pfizer, and Stella McCartney.

I live in New York’s East Village with my fiancé, Aaron, and my Yorkshire Terrier, Simsim. When I’m not at my computer (which is rare), I can be found playing video games, reading, cooking, and enjoying New York City.

Work History

• Publicis
• Director of Digital Strategy
• January 2009 to Present

• Consultant
• Digital Strategist/ User Experience Designer
• July 2007 to June 2009

• Freelance user experience consultant and project manager for clients in the financial, pharmaceutical, and fashion industries. During this time, I have partnered with several digital agencies for project work, including:
  * AKQA
  * createthe group
  * Nitro Group
  * Poke New York
  * R/GA
  * Undercurrent

  Through these agencies, as well as on my own, I have had the opportunity to work with the following clients:
  * Armani Casa
  * Cusp
  * DiscoverCard
  * Dove Chocolate
  * Foot Locker
  * Inertia Beverage Group
  * Johnson & Johnson
  * LoyalTV
  * Narragansett
  * Needham
  * net-a-porter
  * Poke New York
  * Smirnoff
  * Stella McCartney
  * Stereofame
  * TILE Financial

• Roundarch
• User Experience Design Lead
• August 2006 to July 2007

• * User experience lead - managed teams of Information Architects for high-profile projects at Citigroup Prime Brokerage;
  * Usability specialist - conducted international contextual inquiries and usability tests and synthesized the results into pivotal strategic documents;
  * Interaction designer - created rich internet designs for complex displays of financial market data, utilizing the capabilities of technologies such as Flex, Laszlo, and Ajax;
  * Design strategist - worked with technical teams, business stakeholders, and project management to determine project strategies and ensure the success of the end products;
  * Internal thought leader - educated colleagues on user research methods, software tools, project methodologies, and design deliverables.

• Carbon Consulting Group
• User Experience Design Lead
• Febuary 2004 to July 2006

• * Interaction designer - created comprehensive designs and functional specifications for multi-million dollar software and web applications;
  * Business analyst - worked with users and clients to gather requirements and identify pressure points;
  * Usability specialist - performed heuristic reviews and iterative user testing to optimize the user experience of all products;
  * Design team manager - led the creation of all user-facing materials, including user interfaces, help, and training;
  * Business strategist - delivered pitches to new clients to market Carbon's strengths, successfully expanding the company's business.

• Goldman Sachs
• Web Design and Usability Consultant
• March 2002 to Febuary 2004

• * Enterprise user-experience advocate - worked with senior management to integrate a design phase into all projects;
  * Interaction designer - designed and documented use cases for financial tools, market data resources, and content-driven web sites;
  * Usability specialist - performed heuristic reviews and iterative user testing to optimize the user experience of all products;
  * Technical lead - maintained a client-side framework used by all applications, using web technologies to develop Ajax style interactions;
  * Web standards evangelist - created an extensive library of web standards and design patterns which was heavily used by the development team.

• Shoplet.com
• Web Designer and Developer
• August 2001 to Febuary 2002

• * Web designer and developer – successfully redesigned a 9 million+ page web site to update the company’s image, improving sales;
  * Product marketing manager – created highly profitable email mailing list, targeting over 800,000 opt-in users with weekly newsletters;
  * Graphic designer – completely redesigned the company’s corporate ID while still maintaining brand recognition;
  * Business strategist – created presentations for third-party investors such as 3M and Dell, developing the company’s business and increasing its influence.

• CarbonMedia Inc.
• Web Designer and Developer
• September 1999 to September 2000

• * Web designer and developer – designed and implemented client web sites, ranging from complex e-commerce to online company brochures;
  * Print designer – created client branding and printed advertisements;
  * Multimedia designer and developer – created interactive Flash animations and interfaces using complex ActionScript.

• Honeywell Inc.
• Web Design Intern
• May 1999 to August 1999

• * Web designer and developer – created Honeywell’s largest intranet web site, controlled by a Content Management System, for an engineering team;
  * Continuity advisor – developed extensive guidelines and training materials on site maintenance to insure continuity.

Education

• New York University
• Bachelor of Arts, Visual Arts, Philosophy
• 1999 - 2001