Mark Micheli

With a career spanning digital journalism, content marketing, product management, and UX design, Mark Micheli brings multiple perspectives to elevate the voice of users and unite cross-functional teams around customer experience, human-centered design, and product innovation strategy. As a service designer, user researcher, and product launch specialist, he is skilled at balancing user-centered design with business value, technical/policy constraints with creative vision, and stakeholder expectations with shifting priorities.

An Institute of Design (ID) Adjunct Faculty member since 2019, Mark has helped reimagine the graduate-level design research course Principles and Methods of User Research to focus on a practical mix of journalism, user research, and market research methods. He also mentors graduate students on application of research techniques to fuel the innovation process.

In addition to his work at ID, Mark is Head of Design Research, North America at Accenture Song (formerly Fjord). He was previously Vice President of Experience Innovation and Product Strategy at Kelton Global (a Material+ company), which he joined in 2017. At Kelton, in addition to leading its multidisciplinary innovation and experience design teams, he can frequently be found moderating UX tests, focus groups, ethnographies, design sprints, and innovation workshops.

Mark received a master’s degree in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and a triple-major bachelor of arts in magazine journalism, political science, and history from Drake University. He also is a graduate of the prestigious Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs in St. Louis.

Industry Experience

Mark began his career in Washington, DC, as an editor at The Atlantic’s government and defense division, where he helped launch new digital media brands and covered innovation, technology, and management during the Obama administration. Later, he led digital at Bloomberg (2014–17), where he launched the company’s first content marketing team and oversaw brand, product, and UX design strategy at Bloomberg Government. In between, Mark led a cross-functional product development and user experience team at Samsung (2016–17). Today, at Kelton Global (2017–present), he leads experience innovation and design strategy initiatives for a diverse range of clients, from Target and Google to Warner Bros. and the Harry Potter franchise. His work as a journalist has appeared in The Atlantic, Nextgov, and The Des Moines Register, among other outlets; a collection of Mark’s writing is available on his website.

Select Media

A Step-By-Step Guide to Qualitative Research During a Pandemic
Experience Innovation: How to Think in “Service Ecosystems”
Politics Are the Most Important Design Tool in CX (Whether You Like It or Not)
Dark Days for Medical Research