Welcome to John Gakau’s portfolio website.
Using proven UX and product leadership to deliver better performance and results.
Learn how he works with teams to make better things for people, so that people can do things better.
Success Stories.
Different isn’t always better, but better is always different.
John has helped clients across a range of industries improve experiences and organizational performance for nearly two decades.
He has worked with companies backed by venture capital and private equity; mature and established product and services businesses; associations, nonprofits, and public sector organizations.
Regardless of size or project stage, John has helped clients successfully work through change and digital transformations using collaborative, user-centered processes and tools to plan, design, and deliver better products and service experiences internally and to market.
Contact John to access the client success stories featured below.
About.
Knowledgeable, experienced, grounded, collaborative, and fun.
An information architect and experience strategy leader with an unrelenting commitment to helping teams create things that make things better for people.
Using proven user experience (UX) strategy and collaborative design tools and techniques, John works with organizations of all sizes to:
See John’s client success stories to learn how he’s helped clients like you.
Contact John to talk about how you can work together to improve experiences and results for your business.
Skills.
Holistic, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and rigorous.
Seasoned UX leader and inclusive practitioner with deep grounding in UX, product strategy, and service design for the creation of effective and engaging experiences for people across all touchpoints and stages of the relationship lifecycle.
Experience, Education + Training
“If we want users to like our products and services, we should design them to behave like likeable people.”
– Alan Cooper
Experience
Director, User Experience Strategy, Research + Design
Oversee and lead delivery of UX consulting services to client organizations looking to deliver better experiences, better performance and better results. Coach and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to conceive, ideate, develop and deliver people-friendly solutions, products and services internally and to market.
Head of UX
Built and led a mature UX organization centered on Lean UX and collaborative user-centered product discovery, strategy and design practices focused on accelerated speed to value and better outcomes for The Home Depot’s materials and services marketplace for the building and construction industry.
VP, Product + User Experience
Spearheaded an anytime syndication, social media and micro-community engagement strategy to soccer fans and professionals worldwide across web, mobile and emerging interactive channels. Led the product vision and user experience strategy for GoalFace.com and the company’s emerging products and services suite. Was very hands on and frequently played the role of Lead IA/UX Designer on all critical initiatives.
Manager, Information Architecture + User Experience
Championed and evangelized good UX practices and the strategic value of people-centered thinking and collaborative problem-solving techniques within Publicis Sapient and among its clients and their businesses. Managed, mentored, and guided UX professionals and work activities across all phases of client engagements on all assigned tracks of work.
Lead Information Architect
Partnered with client and internal team members to envision and create compelling, productive and engaging user experiences online. Led the definition and design of the information architecture, navigation, application flow, content taxonomy, functionality and usability for complex web-based and software experiences. Generated personas, site maps, interaction and task-flow diagrams, content matrices, wireframes, experience models, and other deliverables essential to a successful design and development process.
Training
UX Management Certificate
Specialized training in principles and methods to integrate UX into both large and small organizations. Learned methods and techniques to lead UX activities for mature or inexperienced multidisciplinary teams, as well as how to apply good UX and management practices to effectively plan, communicate, negotiate, guide, and measure UX work, people, and processes.
Lean UX & Product Certificate
A certificate program by the authors of the Lean UX book for UX and Product professionals who want to build user-centric, data-driven and outcomes focused teams and organizations. Learned how to use the Lean UX canvas and a variety of Lean UX research techniques to align teams, validate ideas, and guide delivery of user-centered solutions and successful outcomes at greater velocity and reduced risk.
Education
University of Michigan
Masters
University of Virginia
Bachelors
Testimonials.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
“Time and time again, John demonstrated a natural ability to work with all stakeholders to effectively develop and translate requirements into clean, high-value user experiences.”
-Jim S. Sr. Director, Product Experience and Design, AOL
“John was instrumental in helping our leadership team envision and deliver a UI strategy and framework for our product suite. I was impressed by his knowledge, passion, and rigor”
–Surajit C. CTO, Brabeion Software
“John’s rational, methodical approach to UX design, coupled with his ability to quickly understand and apply insights to our complex application domain, blew us away”
-Ed P, VP, Product Development, ISM Perfman Software
“John set a UX strategy and helped create a plan of action that led to improved usability and a better user experience for our products.”
-Nathan H, VP, Product Management, Telarix
“John is a knowledgeable, well-grounded user experience professional. His approach produces design solutions that maximize benefits for end users, and adapt to the needs of the business.”
-Heather H, Business Projects Director, Freddie Mac
Ideas.
The Amazing and Unknown Career of Art Allen: A Cautionary Tale for UX Professionals
“I’ve only thought about one problem in my life, which is how to improve Coast Guard Search and Rescue.” – Art Allen Image by Skeez A former colleague recently shared this story about former Coast Guard scientist Art Allen with me. Those of you who have been in [...]
