Russ Unger is a User Experience Director for Happy Cog, a web design firm in New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco. He is co-author of the book A Project Guide to UX Design for Peachpit Press (Voices That Matter) and is co-authoring a book on guerilla research methods with Todd Zaki Warfel due out in 2011.

Russ has been working on websites since 1993—when there was only Notepad to code with and Mosaic was the only browser around. That was when he found his interest in User Experience Design and Information Architecture began to thrive. Since then, he has worked with a variety of companies--from start-ups to everyday household brands--helping them infuse User Experience strategies and tactics into their designs.

In addition, he previously served on the board of directors of the Information Architecture Institute as president and as director of events and marketing of the global organization, as well as remaining active as a volunteer and mentor. Russ worked as the producer for the 2008 IDEA Conference, and was the chair of the 2009 and 2010 IDEA Conferences. He has been a program reviewer for a variety of conferences, including IA Summit, Interaction, and SXSW. Russ is also on the advisory board for the Big Design Conference in Texas.

He has been both an author and editor for Boxes and Arrows, a well-known online User Experience Design magazine and occasionally authors a blog post or an article when inspiration and/or timing strike. Russ continues to support his book release by attending UX Book Clubs across the world--both in-person and via video / audio discussions. He has attended book clubs in Chicago, Philadelphia, Toronto, Edmonton, Minneapolis, and Richmond. And just for fun, he likes to sing Hootie and the Blowfish songs when the opportunity to karaoke presents itself.