EXPERIENCE
My name is R. Lance Garcia and I'm continuously consumed with what story, design, and technology can do for us all. I've grown into a creative & product design leader now based in Seattle —
by way of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Miami.
For over two decades, I've collaborated with top brands, non-profits, and government bodies, aligning their aspirational goals with task-based user needs to create digital and organizational solutions. By visualizing business strategy with customer-focused design, I've delivered industry-defining interfaces that maintain their creative soul.
As a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, I lead an incredible Design & Research team at the center of the Microsoft Azure Portal & Mobile app. Our creative side of the product trio includes non-stop collaboration with Product Management and Engineering to manage the framework and launch new experiences within our Cloud + AI division.
Before joining Microsoft, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead for PwC's Experience Center where I led multi-disciplinary teams on complex engagements, as well as pushed design methodologies to bring about change inside and outside of the firm. Key activities included design leadership, structured thinking to inform CX/UX/UI design, as well as talent and business development.
While at PwC...
As a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, I lead an incredible Design & Research team at the center of the Microsoft Azure Portal & Mobile app. Our creative side of the product trio includes non-stop collaboration with Product Management and Engineering to manage the framework and launch new experiences within our Cloud + AI division.
Before joining Microsoft, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead for PwC's Experience Center where I led multi-disciplinary teams on complex engagements, as well as pushed design methodologies to bring about change inside and outside of the firm. Key activities included design leadership, structured thinking to inform CX/UX/UI design, as well as talent and business development.
While at PwC...
- Led the global redesign of MetLife.com;
- Conceived and prototyped a new product for Starbucks that is now being piloted at select locations and should one day touch the hands of every barista at every Starbucks across the world;
- Brought all of Microsoft's Mobile App teams together in order to establish their first-ever universal Mobile CX Support strategy;
- Created the ideal future vision for the Financial & Health Care industries, as well as an enhanced method for the VA to better serve our Veterans;
- Built the first ever PwC-produced Virtual Reality app — for JLT;
- Worked with the Eddie Bauer team to ideate on a new experimental customer connection experience;
- Painted a picture (figuratively and literally) for Intuit to rethink what it means to be an employee at the software giant;
- Reconceived PricewaterhouseCooper's internal CRM application from the ground up - the singular tool that is used to track sales and pursuits for the largest accounting firm in the world.
Prior to joining PwC, I was an Associate Creative Director at Sapient where I led a number of notable engagements for ADT, Chrysler, Sprint, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Department of Transportation, M&Ms, Department of Homeland Security, DIY Network,Washington National Cathedral, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and three major initiatives for ESPN - including the redesign of the world’s most popular soccer portal, ESPNFC.com, in time for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
Prior to Sapient, I served as the Creative Director for two digital agencies in Japan (one of which I was a founding member), along with being the creative mind behind a number of projects for Nike, Nissan, Honda, ING Direct, Sony Music, Xbox, and Jetstar Airlines.
And way back when, I was an Interactive Art Director at
Stan Lee Media where we were all bequeathed with super human powers by the man himself - including the Backstreet Boys. (Feel free to send me a note to ask what mine is.)
Prior to Sapient, I served as the Creative Director for two digital agencies in Japan (one of which I was a founding member), along with being the creative mind behind a number of projects for Nike, Nissan, Honda, ING Direct, Sony Music, Xbox, and Jetstar Airlines.
And way back when, I was an Interactive Art Director at
Stan Lee Media where we were all bequeathed with super human powers by the man himself - including the Backstreet Boys. (Feel free to send me a note to ask what mine is.)
BELIEF
I believe that the unreasonable powers of creativity can solve almost any problem and truly is the last competitive advantage in business. Creativity has the power to alter human perceptions, affect our emotions, and when most successful, transform behavior. And unlike other strategy or management tools of the past (e.g. BCG's Experience Curve, Motorola's Six Sigma, Toyota Production System, and Academia's BPR) that only focus on better/faster/cheaper, creativity - and its offspring of design, innovation, R&D - can give today's more empathic customers what they truly desire: for products, services, and brands to provide personal meaning, pleasurable beauty, cultural resonance, and enhanced utility into their lives.
EDUCATION
My studies have included the MBA program at Imperial College London (with a concentration in ‘Customer-Focused Strategy’ + a one-year research study entitled: "The Value-Added of Creativity in Business"); a BFA in Animation / Entertainment Art from California State University at Fullerton; an AA Graphic Design from Long Beach City College; as well as playing football at the University of New Mexico, and initially the United States Air Force Academy.
INTERESTS
The five things that consume my life are: spoiling my wife as she spoils our two dogs; helping my two young daughters become the greatest hardware & software versions of themselves; reading non-fiction non-stop; traditional art & figure drawing; college football; and digital anything.