John Schrag is currently the Director of UX Research and Architecture for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment products –software used to create computer graphics animation for film, special effects, television, video games, virtual reality and architectural visualization. He’s spent more than 30 years designing software tools for designers ranging from graphic artists, typographers, industrial designers, automotive stylists, and animators, to filmmakers, sculptors, game designers, and architects. He was on the original team that created Maya, which is now an industry standard in animation and won an Academy Award in 2003 for Scientific and Technical Achievement.
John has presented at conferences such as UXPA, SIGGRAPH, SIGCHI, UXDX and UXStrat on the design of interactive 3d UI, user research methodologies, Agile UX, and virtual reality.
Outside of work, John was a founder (and for seven years the Artistic Director) of Singing Out!, Toronto’s LGBTQ chorus, which is now coming up to its 30th year performing. And after 30+ years of making software for incredible artists, he’s finally learning how to draw.