About the Author

Ani Phyo is a sought-after experience designer, lecturer and instructor on the topics of information design, usability and user experience. She is a graduate of Cornell University, with degrees in business and human ecology design (the creation of inhabitant-centered spaces). She began work in the 1980's designing environments both on and off the Web for high profile clients, including ABC Cable Networks, Apple Computer, Baxter Healthcare, Disney, Pacific Bell, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster and Warner Bros.

Ani's obsession with the revolutionary nature of the Web reached a high point in the bustling San Francisco Multimedia Gulch scene of the early 1990's. In 1995, she designed and produced the world's first Netcast fashion show event. In 1996, as Director of Internet Media for Simon and Schuster, she designed a 12,000 - page curriculum Web site. Los Angeles beckoned in 2000, where she was an experience design consultant for Disney Channel and ABC Cable Networks creating seamless on-air and online convergence environments. She was also the global director of user experience for biotechnology leader Baxter Healthcare in 2002, designing online applications that aide clinicians in continuously monitoring the health of patients with rare diseases.

As a principal of SmartMonkey Media (smartmonkey.com), a media consultancy specializing in experience design, Ani continues to develop engaging synergies of new technologies for global audiences.

In addition to her love for Web and experience design, Ani enjoys being a chef of vegan organic living cuisine, creating guiltless culinary delights that are healthy, cruelty-free and environmentally friendly. She and her partner Ede also operate the vegan raw catering company, SmartMonkey Foods (smartmonkeyfoods.com).