I have finally decided to simplify my blogging, and have thus decided to focus all my design blogging at Eye Forward, my new blog: Eye Forward. I hope you come and join me there!

In one capacity or another, I have been a designer for two of the largest banks in the world for the past five years. At Wells Fargo, I started as a graphic designer for the ATM group, and stayed there nearly four years. It was a tremendous learning experience, and a fantastic opportunity to work on one of the largest and most advanced ATM networks in the world.

Late in 2005, I left Wells and took a position with Bank of America’s design group. It is here where I sit now, surrounded by talented and dedicated design professionals, part of a sizable group withing a massive, conservative corporation – that made $30 billion in profit last year.

It is an odd combination of circumstances, to work in the midst of a small, progressive, agile organization, which is lodged within a massive structure that is a subsegment of a 170,000-person megacorporation. (Now that I think about it, this is analogous to living in San Francisco in a country ruled by Neocons). On the one hand, I am asked to be innovative and allowed to be quirky, but on the other hand business protocol is rarely, if ever, breached, and stereotypical corporate-ese and red-tape battles are as central to my job as designing screens or keeping track of the latest in Web2.0 geekery.

Despite the contrasts and contradictions of my job, it is a wonderful way to make a living: I get to design tangible products that help millions upon millions of people manage their finances; I create things of value; I am constantly challenged in intellectual, social, and philosophical ways; I use both my artistic and analytical talents; and I work among a cast of people who I respect and admire.

I will be using this blog to share the challenges, triumphs, and observations of a feisty designer working under the roof of a huge corporation; to take a look at the trends and quirks that are shaping the world of financial web-  and touchscreen kiosk- interfaces. And every once in a while, I promise to tell a joke. Now there’s an idea!