Russ Prior is an Instructor and freelance front-end developer specializing in information architecture (IA), user interface (UI), and user experience (UI) for the World Wide Web. His design style and approach is typified by the terms simplicity, accessibility, and usability. Russ has over thirty years of experience in the design industry.Prior to his current status, Russ has worked as a Creative Director for two San Diego based media and web content development companies. He also served as a senior-level editorial art director; an early evangelist of computer-aided design and interactive marketing strategies. In the early 1990's, as an Art Director at Western Empire Publications, Russ was instrumental in integrating desktop computing into their magazines design and production process.In the mid 1990's, Russ contributed as a developer and instructor to the highly successful Defense Conversion Program at San Diego State University. The Defense Conversion Program retrained displaced aerospace engineers in the emerging field of interactive multimedia. With a 95 percent job placement rate it's first graduating class and teachers were personally praised by President Bush (senior) and the program funded for several more years.For over twenty years Russ has taught design, user interface (UI), user experience (UX), and front-end development at San Diego State University and MiraCosta College in San Diego. He also performs as a consultant to local as-well-as national technology based companies.Russ attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ, and received his BFA in Studio Art and Graphic Design in May of 1989. The U of A features a unique educational approach, which emphasizes the creative and conceptual process of independent study and research. This approach focuses on gaining the skills necessary to ask intelligent questions and to seek meaningful answers.Russ also attended the MFA program at San Diego State University. While there he researched human computer interface design and the relationships between visual stimuli and brain development in children. He left the MFA program in 1996 for a tenure teaching position at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA.In 2008, Russ received a Masters of Education in Curriculum Development and continues to work as an Instructor and freelance front-end developer. Currently he teaches in the School of Art + Design at San Diego State University.