EXPERIENCE
My name is R. Lance Garcia and I'm continuously consumed with what story, design and technology can do for us all. I've grown into a creative & experience design leader now based in Seattle —
by way of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Miami.
The growth has come from close to 20 years of creating digital, service, organizational, and systems experiences for the most influential brands, places, non-profits and governments in and around the world. By partnering closely with the key decision makers in those organizations (C-level, VPs, Senior Executives, Officials, et al), I've proven how to match business strategy & goals with human behavior & needs and turn them into credible-looking visions of the future. Then deliver data-influenced, user-iterated products into market that don't lose their creative soul.
As a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, I lead a UX & Design team focusing on a key aspect of their most important product of this particular decade: Microsoft Azure. It is non-stop collaboration with Engineering, Marketing, Editorial, and Program Management to launch new experiences—just about daily—in order to best keep up with the speed and hyper-competitiveness of the Cloud domain.
Most recently, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead for PwC's Experience Center where I led multi-disciplinary teams on complex engagements, as well as pushed design methodologies to bring about change inside and outside of the firm. Key activities included design leadership, structured thinking to inform CX/UX/UI design, as well as talent and business development.
While at PwC...
As a Principal Design Manager at Microsoft, I lead a UX & Design team focusing on a key aspect of their most important product of this particular decade: Microsoft Azure. It is non-stop collaboration with Engineering, Marketing, Editorial, and Program Management to launch new experiences—just about daily—in order to best keep up with the speed and hyper-competitiveness of the Cloud domain.
Most recently, I was the Pacific Northwest Creative Lead for PwC's Experience Center where I led multi-disciplinary teams on complex engagements, as well as pushed design methodologies to bring about change inside and outside of the firm. Key activities included design leadership, structured thinking to inform CX/UX/UI design, as well as talent and business development.
While at PwC...
- Led the global redesign of MetLife.com;
- Conceived and prototyped a new product for Starbucks that is now being piloted at select locations and should one day touch the hands of every barista at every Starbucks across the world;
- Brought all of Microsoft's Mobile App teams together in order to establish their first-ever universal Mobile CX Support strategy;
- Created the ideal future vision for the Financial & Health Care industries, as well as an enhanced method for the VA to better serve our Veterans;
- Built the first ever PwC-produced Virtual Reality app — for JLT;
- Worked with the Eddie Bauer team to ideate on a new experimental customer connection experience;
- Painted a picture (figuratively and literally) for Intuit to rethink what it means to be an employee at the software giant;
- Reconceived PricewaterhouseCooper's internal CRM application from the ground up - the singular tool that is used to track sales and pursuits for the largest accounting firm in the world.
Prior to joining PwC, I was an Associate Creative Director at Sapient where I led a number of notable engagements for ADT, Chrysler, Sprint, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Department of Transportation, M&Ms, Department of Homeland Security, DIY Network,Washington National Cathedral, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, and three major initiatives for ESPN - including the redesign of the world’s most popular soccer portal, ESPNFC.com, in time for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.
Prior to Sapient, I served as the Creative Director for two digital agencies in Japan (one of which I was a founding member), along with being the creative mind behind a number of projects for Nike, Nissan, Honda, ING Direct, Sony Music, Xbox, and Jetstar Airlines.
And way back when, I was an Interactive Art Director at
Stan Lee Media where we were all bequeathed with super human powers by the man himself - including the Backstreet Boys. (Feel free to send me a note to ask what mine is.)
Prior to Sapient, I served as the Creative Director for two digital agencies in Japan (one of which I was a founding member), along with being the creative mind behind a number of projects for Nike, Nissan, Honda, ING Direct, Sony Music, Xbox, and Jetstar Airlines.
And way back when, I was an Interactive Art Director at
Stan Lee Media where we were all bequeathed with super human powers by the man himself - including the Backstreet Boys. (Feel free to send me a note to ask what mine is.)
BELIEF
I believe that the unreasonable powers of creativity can solve almost any problem and truly is the last competitive advantage in business. Creativity has the power to alter human perceptions, affect our emotions, and when most successful, transform behavior. And unlike other strategy or management tools of the past (e.g. BCG's Experience Curve, Motorola's Six Sigma, Toyota Production System, and Academia's BPR) that only focus on better/faster/cheaper, creativity - and its offspring of design, innovation, R&D - can give today's more empathic customers what they truly desire: for products, services, and brands to provide personal meaning, pleasurable beauty, cultural resonance, and enhanced utility into their lives.
EDUCATION
My studies have included the MBA program at Imperial College London (with a concentration in ‘Customer-Focused Strategy’); a BFA in Animation / Entertainment Art from California State University at Fullerton; an AA Graphic Design from Long Beach City College; as well as playing football at the University of New Mexico and initially the U.S. Air Force Academy.
INTERESTS
The five things that consume my life are: helping my two young daughters become awesome on top of awesome, reading non-fiction non-stop, figure drawing, college football, and digital anything.