Alex Ivanov

Past

PhD in Interactive Design at Simon Fraser University
Research Fellow at City University of Hong Kong
Associate Creative Director at Leo Burnett

Consultant at Mindset Creative Planning
Marketing Manager at Spedia.com
Intern at The Edmondson Group

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Education

Simon Fraser University
The University of Texas at Austin
American University in Bulgaria

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Recommended

3 people have recommended Alex

Connections

44 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Alex Ivanov’s Summary

A T-shaped Bio

Born & raised in Sofia, Bulgaria, I spent my teens in Oslo, Norway, and the past ten years in the US, Canada, and Hong Kong.

My education and work experience are just as broad, which may be why I sought the depth of a PhD. Hence the last five years at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, having just defended a doctorate in Interactive Design.

My thesis, plus applied work for local clients, are all about engaging members of virtual teams and online communities through what I like to call, Social Knowledge Visualization. It's a mix between Social Web Design and Information Visualization. Think of motivating participation in online support groups with collective mood trackers, or making a real-time web brainstorming interfaces more socially translucent.

The breadth / depth theme kind of crystallized ten years ago at UT-Austin's Masters program in Advertising. Mine was an exploration of creativity in account planning, the UK ad agency discipline of digging for consumer insights, and distilling these in inspiring creative briefs. I wanted to know if planners were ultimately researchers, making use of predominantly vertical thought processes, or if they threaded on creative territory by engaging in lateral thinking as well.

This lateral vs. vertical ideation framework found its way in my first publication -- at the Information Visualization Journal. Here I proposed a web interface for generating and evaluating ideas on a bi-directional canvas, via pictorial brainstorming and collaborative node scaling.

For the next couple of years I struggled to integrate such a system design with a theoretical research model grounded in the MIS literature. This exercise in futility led me to at least develop several Flash-based brainstorming interfaces and test them in dozens of collocated and distributed small group sessions. Visit Collabographics.com for the thesis.

Alex Ivanov’s Specialties:

Web interfaces for group work and collective knowledge visualization.

Flash prototyping of multi-user apps, Vanilla forum customization, Google Analytics.

Distilling consumer insights into inspiring creative briefs. Survey research incl. factor analysis, PLS models, etc.

Alex Ivanov’s Experience

PhD in Interactive Design

Simon Fraser University

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

September 2004 — September 2009 (5 years 1 month)

4 years of coursework, design research, and teaching at the School of Interactive Arts & Technology (SIAT). Focus on web interfaces for teamwork and collective knowledge visualization.

Defended PhD thesis Sep 28, ‘09: “Satisfaction with web-based meetings for idea generation and selection: the role of instrumentality, enjoyment, and interface design.” Study infused graphic design perspective within highly theoretical MIS field. Involved the design, development, and evaluation of several experimental multi-user web interfaces.

Research associate on project “Managing e-loyalty through experience design.”

Sessional instructor of Interactive Arts in Fall ‘07, and TA for three other HCI courses. Helped develop Information Design course.

Other contract work includes Nokia smart phone prototyping and brand consulting for SFU Business.

Voting Member of the SIAT Faculty Hire Committee for '07.
Research Fellow

City University of Hong Kong

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

May 2009 — August 2009 (4 months)

Designed experiments on study of the effects of different UI on web purchase intentions. Reanalyzed thesis data with Christoph Schneider (see HICSS pub).
Associate Creative Director

Leo Burnett

(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

April 2002 — June 2004 (2 years 3 months)

Developed TV & print campaigns for beverage brands, web branding for residential property, direct mail for hotel chain, copy for Tide detergent, art direction for roofing isolation, etc. Managed several accounts and served as the agency Account Planner, moderating focus groups and presenting client pitches.
Consultant

Mindset Creative Planning

(Privately Held; Education Management industry)

March 2002 — May 2002 (3 months)

Analyzed and wrote reports from focus group sessions for clients such as the Toronto Star daily, Clarica insurance, Listerine mouthwash, Equant telecommunications, and a local funeral home.
Marketing Manager

Spedia.com

(Internet industry)

January 2000 — January 2002 (2 years 1 month)

(Six months before dotcom slump, Spedia was the world’s most popular “get-paid-to-surf-the-web” online portal. We had 3 million registered members.) My work ranged from creative direction of web content for dozens of affiliates, managing Spedia’s marketing communications, and user experience consulting for all in-house R&D, incl. Spedia’s repositioning into B2B supplier of web traffic management solutions (now Sysmaster.com).
Intern

The Edmondson Group

(Financial Services industry)

January 1996 — April 1996 (4 months)

Copywriting for a couple of US Southwest industrial clients.

Alex Ivanov’s Education

Simon Fraser University

PhD , Ineractive Arts & Technology , 2004 — 2008

Selected Publications

The effects of perceived visual aesthetics on process satisfaction in GSS use (with C. Schneider). Proc. 43th Hawaii Int. Conf. on System Sciences, Jan 5–8, ‘10, Hawaii.

Perceived interactivity leading to e-loyalty: development of a cognitive–affective model (with D. Cyr & M. Head). Int. J. of Human-Computer Studies 67(10), p. 850-869, ‘09.

The role of social presence in establishing loyalty in e-service environments (with D. Cyr, K. Hassanein & M. Head). Interacting with Computers 19(1), p. 43-56, ‘07.

Plot-polling: collaborative knowledge visualization for online discussions (with T. Erickson & D. Cyr). Proc. 10th Info Vis Conf., Jul 4–7, ‘06, London.

Design aesthetics leading to loyalty in mobile commerce (with D. Cyr & M. Head). Information & Management 43(8), p. 950-963, ‘06.

A concept mapping visualization tool for web-based brainstorming sessions (with D. Cyr). Information Visualization 5(3), p. 185-191, ‘06.

Activities and Societies:

See activities under Experience.
The University of Texas at Austin

Masters , Advertising , 1998 — 1999

Activities and Societies:

2-year program in Account Planning—UK ad agency practice of hunting for consumer insights and distilling these into inspiring creative briefs.
American University in Bulgaria

BA , Mass Communication , 1992 — 1996