CHRISTOPHER MOOREHEAD

Information Design & Typography

I am a professional engineer (P Eng) and graphic designer (RGD) with proven expertise in building, enabling, and leading successful design teams, as well as facilitating complex cross-functional product development initiatives.

Until recently, I held the position of Head of User Experience (UX) at Caseware International Inc., a global leader in the development of audit and assurance software for accounting firms, corporations and governments. In this role, I functioned as the global UX leader for Caseware International and its distributor network, and was responsible for all aspects of Caseware’s UX competency, including leading the UX Research, Product Design, Design Operations, UX Content (technical writing and documentation), and Localization/Translation teams, as well as setting the UX strategy across Caseware’s product portfolio, aligning UX with all business, product and engineering requirements, and adapting all platforms and products to multiple languages and regions. I also oversaw the operationalization of design at Caseware, including design system development, work prioritization, workflow planning, and the scaling of design for rapid growth.

I have been a member of OCAD University’s Faculty of Design since 2011, and most recently taught Visual Analytics & Data Visualization, as well as Wayfinding & Information Systems. I recently joined the faculty at the University of Waterloo’s Stratford School of Interaction Design & Business, where I am an instructor in the Global Business & Digital Arts (GBDA) program teaching fourth-year capstone course Cross-Cultural Digital Business 2. 

From Engineering to Design

Whenever I explain to anyone exactly what I do for a living, the first question that I’m always asked is: How did an engineer end up in design? An interesting question, indeed.

Before attending design school, I worked for over 15 years as a mechanical engineer in a number of industry sectors, including automotive, computer hardware manufacturing, government, and consulting. My final purely engineering job was in the aerospace industry in North Carolina, designing and manufacturing air navigation and control surface positioning systems for US Navy fighter and electronic warfare aircraft. I also became an expert at navigating the byzantine intricacies of the US Federal Aviation Regulations—perhaps the most incomprehensible series of documents ever written.

My ongoing interest in graphic design and typography, combined with an intense discomfort with the ethical implications of my role as part of the North American military/industrial complex, eventually led me to the Ontario College of Art & Design (now OCAD University), where I entered the graphic design program in 2004.

During the summer of 2007, while still a student at OCAD, I was accepted into the summer design program at the Basel School of Design, where I had the privilege of studying under the direction of legendary German/Swiss designer and educator Wolfgang Weingart. The program eschewed any use of computer technology—we cut type from specimen sheets with x-acto knives, and set it by hand. When Professor Weingart deemed our designs to be acceptable, we were instructed to tape them down. (To this day, I consider the words “tape it!” to be the highest form of design praise.) I returned from Switzerland with an empty wallet but a new insight into typography, composition, colour, and form.

During my time at OCAD, I became interested in the emerging field of information design and data visualization. I quickly came to realize that, given the vast quantity of digital (and analog) information with which we are flooded on a continuous basis, the ability to depict complex information streams visually in a manner easily understood by the average reader would become the single most important skill that a designer could possess. Simply put: those who can control the visualization of data will rule the world.

I was also fascinated by wayfinding—a specialized area of design focused on assisting people in successful and efficient navigation, both of the built (urban) environment and virtual environments such as websites. Wayfinding and information design seemed like a natural fit for the unusual skill set I had acquired through my engineering and graphic design education and professional practice.

In a sense, my job has not changed much from my aerospace days. I am still involved in the field of navigation—however, the end result of my current work is far more beneficial to society!