Ariel Haney

MIMS 2012
User Experience Designer
Location Labs

My background

I was in digital advertising at Microsoft, working with clients whose campaigns ran on Microsoft properties such as MSN, Hotmail, and FOX Sports. I also collaborated with the mobile engineering team on new mobile advertising products, and made sure new products worked correctly for the user and could be supported by the ad operations team.

Why information — and why the I School

Talking with user experience designers working on Bing, I became interested in user experience research. I came to the I School because wanted a program where I could gain a deeper understanding of the technology I had been working on and learn social research skills that would allow me to pursue a career in UX research.

Best thing about the I School

My fellow classmates. Everyone comes here with a unique set of skills and perspectives. I've learned a lot from working in groups because my classmates have such diverse experiences.

An “aha!” moment

The classes I took first semester gave me solid frameworks that have helped me gain perspective on both new and old knowledge. For example, over winter break I talked with a friend working on her anthropology Ph.D. Taking Qualitative Methods enabled me to discuss her research topic and methodology on a deep level. Over break, I also decided to learn HTML and CSS. I soon realized that, between the XML and Python I had learned over the last semester, I already understood most of the concepts presented in my HTML/CSS book.

Information challenge that intrigues me

I'm curious about how space shapes people's perceptions of information; hence my interest in service design and user experience research. I'm also interested in how to structure the overwhelming amount of information that inundates us, and how to create content that can cut through all that noise.

Trends I’m watching

I think you’ll be able to tailor information to the precise needs of the situation using things like your calendar, your location, and who you are or have recently communicated with.