Synect Media
2016 - 2018
Synect is a full-service partner dedicated to transforming airport communication. They provide proven creative content and strategy expertise for airports, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and other transportation organizations. Their service offering includes a centralized, automated content management platform for all facets of airport visual communications, design support for airport capital improvement projects, ongoing services to complement airports’ visual communications campaigns and strategies, creative content, and technical solutions that can span multiple locations and displays.
Size: ~20 employees when I joined
Synopsis
Roles: Lead UX Designer, Product Manager, Art Director, 3D Animator
Team size: 3-6
I joined Synect as a 3D animator, but transitioned to many other roles throughout my tenure based on shifting business needs. My priority was split between supporting our emerging business unit with airports, and our existing business unit with physical Microsoft stores.
Product Impact
Designed and led the launch of VRE, Synect’s design review tool
Designed and managed CLP, Synect’s internal production planning tool.
Led the creative direction for Low-Poly Sydnie, Microsoft’s marketing initiative for their Sydnie store launch.
Led the design and strategy of SDMC, Synect’s digital media orchestrator.
Led the design of SDS, Synect’s internal hardware and troubleshooting tool.
Team & Operations Impact
Established HCD design operations and tooling for our design team
Prioritized and vetted our backlog monthly
Led daily team standups across design, engineering, and product.
Performed weekly sprint planning meetings, and task-scoring sessions
Partnered closely and built alliances with engineering, product management, marketing, and sales teams
Leading cross-functional operations
During my tenure at Synect, I had the privilege of wearing many different hats in many different teams. Because of this, I also had the unique perspective of each team when it came to crossfunctional collaboration and was able to identify inefficiencies in how we worked and communicated across teams. As a product leader, I was able to align our teams’ missions and processes to complement one another. I’ve included some diagrams of charts I made to help executive leadership understand why a simple design critique would result in a 72-hour delay to their production schedule.
Chris joined smoothly to an established team and quickly became a vital part of it. He adapted quickly to the way we do things, learned new skills, and helped us improve our processes. He is a talented UX designer, with a great vision for the product as a whole and an inspiring emphasis on the end-user’s experience.
Mattan Margalith · Lead Software Engineer, Synect Media
Select Projects
Synect Digital Media Controller (SDMC)
I led the design and planning of Synect’s v0-1 SDMC initiative to allow airport staff to manage their digital displays. Our platform allowed staff to plan and schedule what content would display in which areas of the airport. We also had emergency overrides to allow for synchronized messaging in case of emergency scenarios. The complexity of the project was in the coordination of our platform with other third-party vendors airports contracted with.
Leading Virtual Review Environment
VRE is an application that allows users to visualize and critique video wall media in the context of where they would be displayed. I led this project in a 0-1 capacity serving multiple roles. As a production artist, I modeled the 3D environment and generated assets for our unity engineers. As a product designer, I led the discovery research, defined the common workflows, and designed the interactions and UI. This application was a multi-platform app and is supported on Windows, Oculus SDK2, and Hololens.
Content Layout Planner
One of the products I led from design to deployment was Content Layout Planner (CLP), an internal application used at Synect Media and Microsoft to plan and preview content for video walls. Animating content for a single video wall is challenging, but animating content for every video wall in every Microsoft Store configuration borders on insanity. Our tool enabled Synect’s animation studio to work in a modular manner thereby reducing the amount of content that needed to be created. After implementation, Synect was able to reduce render times by 50% and increase content production speed by 30%. With CLP, Synect’s animation studio was able to facilitate some of Microsoft’s largest in-store marketing campaigns globally.
Leading Synect Data Server
One of the products I designed was Synect Data Server, an internal system used to monitor and maintain various processes at Orlando International Airport. As content management operations scaled beyond Synect’s development team, Synect needed an interface that allowed non-technical users to be able to operate the system that drove video content allocation. At launch, we were able to provide Synect’s on-site technicians with access to video-wall statistics at Orlando International Airport. With data visualizations to help troubleshoot syncing issues, we were able to proactively prevent issues with content allocation.
Low-Poly Sydnie
I led the design of Low-Poly Sydnie as a creative director and production artist. As the premier video wall media company in Seattle, we frequently partnered with Microsoft for their marketing campaigns. I had the privilege of leading the marketing campaign associated with the opening of their new flagship Sydnie store.
