title Zephyr Eos

with Juice Technologies

type Web Application

  • User Experience design
  • Graphic design
  • HTML/CSS/Javascript coding
  • PHP coding/MySQL database
  • Product management

Our main products at Juice were for Electric Vehicles. We created a Software-as-a-Service cloud solution called Zehpyr which aggregated EV data. As part of our core product offerings, I developed several interfaces to demonstrate the software functionality and provide a public-facing website for our API documentation, shown here in a web app called Eos.

I needed to show the real-time charging information for several devices as well as allow for setup and configuration of new devices. The final solution was a PHP application which was provided as part of hardware pilots to early customers.

title Generation Zero

type Online Game

  • User Experience design
  • Graphic design
  • HTML/CSS/Javascript coding
  • Web services integration
  • Game design

As part of an internal project with a friend, we are developing a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) strategy game built entirely within the browser. It is implemented entirely in HTML5/CSS3 with jQuery and a SOA backend.

The game is currently in development and has a persistent game board and integration with location-based Google Maps. The game will allow players to interact with people within their geographic vicinity as a mobile platform. We are designing several interfaces including desktop, mobile and tablet.

We've implemented web sockets for real-time browser chat.

title Store Zero

type Mobile App

  • User Experience design
  • Graphic design
  • Product consulting

Store Zero is an HTML5 mobile app store where users can launch dedicated apps, rate and promote brands. As an outside consultant I've provided product strategy, wireframes, graphic design and requirements refinement.

The initial solution had a limited interface with a scrolling grid of app tiles. I've provided several concepts to the client and made usability recommendations to improve the customer experience.

title Neuron Data Mining

with ColdLight Solutions

type Web Application

  • User Experience design
  • Graphic design
  • Microsoft Silverlight coding
  • Product management
  • Requirements definition

The Neuron product was a Software-as-a-Service, cloud-based artificial intelligence solution that helped large companies analyze vast data without investing in hardware.

The solution was built entirely in Amazon Web Services. I designed a UI which visualized n-dimensional data as the type of AI we were utilizing (neural network) could have an infinite number of solutions depending upon how the business owner wanted to control for certain variables.

As part of this effort I wrote a patent for the design of the data presentation screen (top and bottom-left). The Goal Builder (bottom-right) was a visual tool for creating control variables.

title Corporate Identity

with ColdLight Solutions

type Website

  • Brand creation
  • Wordmark creation
  • Information architecture
  • Graphic design
  • HTML/CSS/Javascript coding
  • Wordpress implementation
  • Video production/editing

Upon joining ColdLight one of my first tasks was to refresh the corporate website and give it a more professional feel. The product Neuron was very challenging to describe in text so we opted to have videos featuring the key team members talk about the power of the product. We shot all of the videos in the CEO's office and I did post-production work to remove backgrounds and edit together a compelling story.

I also implemented Wordpress as the engine behind the site and customized several aspects to give a consistent look and feel.

Lastly I put together a simple yet intuitive navigation scheme that would help the user get to the information which was most relevant.

title Rapid Response Team

with Electronic Ink

for UPenn Health System

type Service Design

  • Researcher
  • Data visualizer
  • Design direction
  • Presenter
  • Team leader
  • Client liason

For this complex project while working for Electronic Ink I led a team of talented designers and researchers who observed a team of nurses who responded to in-hospital emergencies called the Rapid Response Team (RRT). For many months we learned how the service was delivered within the hospital and made recommendations for improvement.

Given the vast amount of research and visualizations we decided to create a custom deliverable of a Flash presentation which would enable viewers to navigate to the areas that interested them.

I created several custom data visualizations for the project and presented a case study on the effort at the 2008 IA Summit.

title Quality Dashboard

with Electronic Ink

for UPenn Health System

type Application

  • User Experience designer
  • Data visualizer
  • Crystal Xcelsius implementation

Working with the CMO of UPHS I created an interactive Quality Dashboard that would visualize metrics on a monthly basis. The technology was limited due to the reports format of a Microsoft Excel file. I implemented the dashboard using Crystal Xcelsius (now Business Objects).

I went through many different wireframes with the CMO to try and capture the information visually in a meaningful way. Part of the challenge was understanding what data was truly important and which was interesting, but not critical.

title Visual Inspection Software

with Electronic Ink

for Systech International

type Desktop Application

  • User Experience design
  • Interaction design
  • Information architecture
  • Mood boards
  • Project lead

This was a very exciting project as the legacy system was a powerful tool for performing visual inspection of packaging and products on an assembly line. The effort was to completely redesign the user experience to make the solution more intuitive to configure and monitor.

I led this engagement from the beginning by doing both current- and future-state product maps which conveyed all of the functionality in the system. The platform was moving from WinForms on NT to a .NET front end. This gave us much more flexibility on the design. I felt that a visual inspection system should have a visual configuration tool. The final design was created to create a visual replica of the physical line.

The final graphic design was implemented by a colleague after I set the visual tone through a "mood board." The goal was to visually differentiate the product within a white/sterile assembly line setting. The dark mood did just that.

title 9-1-1 Dispatch Software

with Electronic Ink

for IPC

type Desktop Application

  • User Experience design
  • Interaction design
Easily the best project I've ever worked on. We had a great, open client who knew that we could revolutionize their call center software for emergency dispatchers.
I worked with a cross-functional team and we implemented many prototypes using Flash. The product was a touchscreen-based solution and we created many touch paradigms. (This was before the iPhone.) I studied human peripheral perception and brought the idea of enlarging radios to simulate an approaching object. Often the dispatcher has 2-4 monitors in front of them and getting their attention is critical.
For this project we won the 2008 ID Magazine Design Distinction award and the work was featured in the New York Museum of Modern Art exhibit Talk To Me.

Bio

Aaron E. Martlage has spent over a decade innovating new products and improving the user experience for software solutions large and small. His unique combination of hands-on design expertise and business leadership provides a foundation for user-centric product creation with a deep understanding of the utility, healthcare and financial industries.

Mr. Martlage most recently acted as Juice Technologies' VP Global Strategy/Director, Innovation responsible for incubating and developing new cleantech products. His team of engineers and product specialists licensed and developed intellectual property into commercial products for the Electric Vehicle (EV) and home energy management markets. During his tenure Mr. Martlage developed an EV charging product based on a patent with partner San Diego Gas & Electric as well as invented and led the development of Zephyr, a cloud-based data aggregation platform for the utility industry. He established new business development and partner opportunities with several multi-billion dollar companies, including TE Connectivity, Belkin International and Convergys, to integrate technology and manufacture/market the Innovation Group's designs. Mr. Martlage worked to ensure the products met the market needs while providing a second-to-none consumer experience.

Prior to Juice, Mr. Martlage was Director of Product Design and Development with ColdLight Solutions, a Philadelphia-based early stage company developing Artificial Intelligence for deep data mining. He led the design and development of the system to detect trends in web traffic, electricity market pricing and banking data while also helping raise capital and establish strategic partnerships. Under his leadership, ColdLight won several awards including Microsoft Start-up of the Day and Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Technological Excellence.

Mr. Martlage was Design Director for Electronic Ink, a software user experience consultancy providing user-centered design and research to Fortune 500 customers around the world. His team was responsible for creating user interface concepts for web and desktop applications incorporating information architecture, visual and service design. While at Electronic Ink, he designed a visual inspection system for packaging and product assembly lines; led a service design project for a major teaching hospital; designed a black-box data playback system comprised of audio, video, radar and network data; and designed a 9-1-1 emergency dispatch system for which the team won the Design Distinction award from ID Magazine and was featured in the New York Museum of Modern Art exhibit Talk To Me in the summer of 2011.

While employed by the international conglomerate Siemens, Mr. Martlage led multiple teams of designers and human factors specialists for Siemens Corporate Research designing enterprise product user interfaces for the NYCT Subway PA/CIS System, building energy and security management systems, and medical imaging software frameworks in the US, Germany and Hungary. He has coordinated user experience testing in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and the US. Mr. Martlage also designed software user experiences at Siemens Medical Solutions for their next generation hospital information system focusing on cardiology, radiology, and the product portal.

Mr. Martlage has several design patents pending and is a certified Scrum master. He is a graduate of Boston University where he received a Bachelor of Science cum laude in Communications, Advertising.

Skills

Software Proficiency Skills Proficiency
Adobe Photoshop 5/5 User Experience Design 5/5
Adobe Dreamweaver 5/5 Interaction Design 5/5
Adobe InDesign 3/5 Information Architecture 4/5
Adobe Illustrator 3/5 Graphic Design 3/5
Microsoft Word 5/5 HTML 4/5 4/5
Microsoft Excel 5/5 CSS 2/3 4/5
Microsoft PowerPoint 5/5 Javascript/jQuery 4/5
Microsoft Visio 5/5 PHP 3/5
Balsamiq 5/5 MySQL 2/5

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