Setting
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 & experience design leader now based in Seattle —
by way of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Miami.
The growth has come from close to 20 years of creating digital, service, organizational, and systems experiences for the most influential brands, places, non-profits and governments in and around the world. By partnering closely with the key decision makers in those organizations (C-level, VPs, Senior Executives, Officials, et al), I've proven how to match business strategy & goals with human behavior & needs and turn them into credible-looking visions of the future. Then deliver data-influenced, user-iterated products into market that don't lose their creative soul.
As a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, I lead a UX & Design team focusing on a key aspect of their most important product of this particular decade: It is non-stop collaboration with Engineering, Marketing, Editorial, and Program Management to launch new experiences—just about daily—in order to best keep up with the speed and hyper-competitiveness of the Cloud domain.
Most recently, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead forwhere 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 a UX & Design team focusing on a key aspect of their most important product of this particular decade: It is non-stop collaboration with Engineering, Marketing, Editorial, and Program Management to launch new experiences—just about daily—in order to best keep up with the speed and hyper-competitiveness of the Cloud domain.
Most recently, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead forwhere 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...
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 Feel free toto ask what mine is.)Prior to joining PwC, I was an Associate Creative Director at Sapient where I led a number of notable engagements Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and three major initiatives for ESPN - including the redesign of the world’s most popular soccer portal.
Stan Lee Media where we were all bequeathed with super human powers by the man himself - including the Feel free toto ask what mine is.)Prior to joining PwC, I was an Associate Creative Director at Sapient where I led a number of notable engagements Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and three major initiatives for ESPN - including the redesign of the world’s most popular soccer portal.
Conflict
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.
resolution
My studies have included the MBA program at Imperial College London (with a concentration in ‘Customer-Focused Strategy’); 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 U.S. Air Force Academy.
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The five things that consume my life are: helping my two young daughters become awesome on top of awesome, reading non-fiction non-stop, figure drawing, college football, and digital anything.