Heather Ford

Bio I teach and coordinate the User Experience Program for the Department of Interactive Media within the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts at Bradley University. I have been a professional in this industry with over fifteen years of fine art, digital creative, and UI/UX experience in the commercial and academic sectors. I am highly experienced in applying methodologies of user experience design and research to website, mobile, branding, and product design. I have been a designer for several Fortune 500 clients working with companies and organizations such as Disney, Maui Jim, United Way, NASA, Museum of Science and Industry, Nike, and Home Depot, utilizing a User-Centered Design (UCD) approach. I am also a co-author of "Mastering Mobile Learning: Tips and Techniques for Success" and have been a speaker for Nielsen Norman Group and the US UX Research Summit. I explore creating innovative and exciting user-centered design experiences, methods, and strategies that involve user interface, user experience, and fine art. These create innovative and exciting UCD skills, processes, and strategies that include the user's participation in a fine art and digital environment. I combine human-centered experiences incorporating drawings and illustrations, user interface and experience design, typography, printmaking, animation, and graphic design skills and techniques. When designing, the goal is to consider the user's perception, context, environment, and physical space while they are experiencing a new design methodology. I am currently a graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Graphic Design Degree in Visual Communications within the Art department at Bradley University. Artist Statement As we grow, the world around us grows. Every moment is an opportunity to love and grow. Through visual communication, data visualization, user experience, and illustration, I combine consciousness, spirituality, and brainwaves in correlation to technology to create immersive digital experiences. I use light, sound, and environments to be used to amplify endorphin brainwave frequencies in the viewer. The design work merges the areas of traditional fine art and technology-driven experience design with science and spirit. As we grow, the world around us grows. Every moment is an opportunity to love and grow. Through universal spirituality, I create art and design that integrates scientific and spiritual truth. I explore creating innovative and exciting user-centered design experiences, methods, and strategies that involve user interface, user experience, and fine art. I quiet my mind, keep my heart open, and become more grounded in my innermost presence. Humanity and the planet are going through a profound and powerful spiritual metamorphosis (the 5th dimension) individually and collectively, and the consciousness of humankind is becoming more self-aware and expanding exponentially. As a Spiritualist and medium, I have found that we are all going through a profound and powerful spiritual metamorphosis. Humanity's consciousness is expanding exponentially and currently moving into a fifth-dimension, one of the galactic proportions. The Buddhist Metta (Lovingkindness) belief begins by blessing oneself and gradually expands outward from there, eventually wishing good intentions for the entire world and all beings. Changing the world means changing you and the world will change. When we change ourselves we change the world. Quantum physics has shown that everything in the universe vibrates and resonates with a unique frequency. Science tells us that we live in a virtual sea of invisible fields of influence that impact our daily lives in profound ways, yet we typically have little or no conscious awareness. The Schumann Effect influences our brain waves, and the electromagnetic resonant frequencies around us can influence our bodies, and humans can affect the Earth's geomagnetic field through collective intent. User experience contains a visual design and a user's environment, circumstances, and a variety of an individual's senses. Design and art can be functional to create beautiful experiences that improve people's lives. I explore creating innovative and design experiences, methods, and strategies.