George Frederick

Experience

• 

  Flat Donkey Media

  Jan 2004 - Jan 2010

  Owner

  Freelance business, mostly for joy, skill sharpening and exploring new ideas.

• 

  The Star-Ledger

  Jan 2008 - Jan 2011

  Design Director, Innovation Director

  Led design for the 14th-largest newspaper in the United States. Built teams and enterprise design systems. Optimized workflow. Directed deadline-driven daily presentations and Pulitzer-Prize-winning projects. Directed and designed Emmy-winning tablet app publications following the initial release of the iPad.• Print design• Redesign• Content design• Information graphics• Tablet app direction; • Production and workflow optimization• Team recruitment and development

• 

  Advance Local

  Nov 2011 - Oct 2022

  Established product design and user-experience (UX) research teams at one of the largest media companies in the United States, reaching more than 73 million users per month. Strong track record for the win-win: improved user experience and revenue results. • Team recruitment and development• Product design• Customer-experience (CX) design• User-experience research• Facilitation and design thinking•Design operations• Brand expression and validation• Revenue design. Show less Powered disruptive, digital evolution of Advance Local and 11 regional news organizations. Reimagined and reinvented news publishing strategies and methods. Pioneered industry-leading solutions that enabled change.• Reimagining and execution• New roles and job descriptions• New workflows (human, technical)• Efficiency and software development• Product redesigns• Content curation strategies• Content audits• Facilitation (teaching, training, coaching); team recruitment and development Show less

  • Senior Director of User Experience & Product Design

    Jan 2015 - Oct 2022

  • Director Of Innovation

    May 2013 - Dec 2014

  • Chief Designer

    Nov 2011 - May 2013
• 

  Dictionary.com

  Oct 2022 - Apr 2024

  VP of Experience Design

  Built design team from the ground up. Led fast-paced redesigns and brand refreshes for Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. Introduced design system. Transformed dysfunctional design-engineering relationship into a no-churn operation and collaborative partnership. Improved usability, customer satisfaction, brand integrity scores, and revenue performance. Invigorated company culture through user focus, insight-informed design, and collaboration.• Strategic design planning; company goals• Prioritization and roadmapping• Team recruitment and development• Product design• Enterprise design system• Design operations• Facilitation and design thinking• Brand expression and validation• Revenue design Show less

• 

  George Frederick Design

  Apr 2024 - now

  Company Owner

  Consulting on product design and user experience.