Founder & CEO at WideTag Inc, (openspime project).

Former Design and Vision Director, at Kallideas
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- Shots from my portfolio

/// WHO I AM (short bio)
Leandro has more than 10 years of experience as an interaction designer and manager of IxD teams. As designer/manager he specializes in next generation user interfaces that provide human-like interaction with intelligent virtual assistants. As serial innovator, he is workin to build a new, open Internet of Things. (SPIMEs)

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Leandro’s wide range of interests starts with HCI and end into Strategies. He had a role in innovating HCI with SrLabs (first computer using eyegaze and voice) or supporting an italian company involved in Robotic.
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About the Web, two web2.0 recent projects are: Clantropia (Game. Beta release incoming), Photoshaker (Flickr’s Mashup), meanwhile other new ideas are ready to join the web2.0 arena.

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As Design and Vision Director of Kallideas (Milan, Italy) Leandro is providing detailed specifications for the behaviors of such virtual assistants, including gesture, language, and social skills; defining emotional models that let these assistants respond to the moods of users; and designing visual user interfaces and voice-recognition systems.
Leandro is giving his contribute to set up a Research Lab (just called “The Lab”) inside the Kallideas Group and he lead the “vision” team, that is a group of people with competence in 3D rendering, graphics engines, flash development, etc.

Last but not least, Leandro -thought the high visility on italian newspaper of his personal project Idearium Island- inspired a new office department focused about SecondLife

US Press: Two articles about leeander’s job
- An Interview with Giorgio Manfredi, Founder and President of Kallideas (BAIAblog - The Voice of the Italian & American Business Community)
- From GUI to E(motional) UI - sept06 on UXmatters

Last show in CA
- Life Beyoond Embodiment - My speech at BayCHI (inside YAHOO headquarter in Sunnyvale, CA) - on SLIDESHARE

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Before joining Kallideas, Leandro was Advanced Design Director at the innovative startup SrLabs (2003), where he focused on eye-tracking for the usability market. While there, he lead a design team that created the world first hands-free, multimodal GUI with voice and gaze input (I-ABLE). People with strong disability (SLA) are supported by this machine.

A similar technology called PRO-BE is used also for special laptop produced by FIMI-Philips and sold (soon) all over the world. (I’m very proud to be the original designer of these UI).

Previously (2000), he was co-founder and Vice President of Altoprofilo (the User Experience Company), a large eConsultancy with offices in Milan and Boston.

Leandro studied interaction design at the Domus Academy, in Milan, Italy (’97, Apple Design Project). Before ‘97, Leandro worked 3 years as visual designer, starting from a printing company and quickly moved to his own designer studio.

Leandro is actively involved with the Milano Bicocca University, TorVergata University, and others. Leandro is a prolific writer on topics from IxD, usability, and UX to natural, multimodal user interfaces. He was the founder of Idearium.org, the first Italian eZine/community for UX designers, and is co-producer of the Interaction Frontiers conference.

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/// WHAT I DO
I’m involved in PRODUCT BEHAVIOUR DESIGN (that NOT means just GUI design). What it means? It means to be part (or lead) of all this following activities.
- strategy (service design but also market opportunities evaluations)
- evaluation of context, users, process, and relation beetween all of them.
- concept design (UCD could be a effective approach)
- great prototyping! (sketches , wireframe, blueprint, etc)
- usability test (traditional or eye-t)

Plus…
- team/project management
- teaching, sharing K, building community, etc.

All this on traditional tech project (everything that is mouse based), mobile and multimodal UI. Infact I worked on Medical instruments as well on web2.0 app, mobile services, virtual assistants, etc… well, multimodal UI, social applications, gaming and emotional UI are my favourite fields!

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/// ABOUT ACADEMICS…
In the last 5 years I collaborated with important academic institution:
ArsonavaSiena (member of the advisory board), University of Milano Bicocca (MIU Master program co-coordinator 2001/2004), Domus Academy (I-Design Master program), Rome TorVergata University (INTERFACCE ‘04, 05), plus other University and private Schools (as visiting professor). Since 2001, I’m leading IDEARIUM.ORG, the first italian eZine/Community about Interaction Design and one of the biggest italian projects on SECOND LIFE.

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In last two years -with Matteo Penzo- I co-produced the conference Frontiers of Interaction: a completely insane new approach to spread knowledge about IxD.
Frontiers of Interaction Conference is 50% a Show with live dj session, lights, robots and few journalist from biggest italian newspapers and magazines! See this images.

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Award Winning: APPLE DESIGN PROJECT 1997 with this "Memories of Relation" project (tutor: Marco Susani)

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