Dean Schuster

Dean has been a champion of simplicity and clarity online since the early days of the web.

Headshot & Bio

Founder and partner of truematter, a user experience strategy firm, Dean has been advocating for user-centered digital products his entire career. He oversees truematter’s UX practice, leading strategic engagements for innovative regional organizations as well as the Fortune 100.

Dean’s work has always included researching, prototyping, and testing digital products with real users. He regularly speaks, writes, and teaches on experience design, user experience strategy, usability, user research, content strategy, and building UX-focused teams.

It’s not all UX all the time (even though it’s close). Dean is also an avid ultra marathoner, reader, and traveler.

Watch Dean Speak

Speaking Schedule

2021

Jan. 21	DXZA Johannesburg, South Africa (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Feb. 24	ConFoo Developer Conference Montreal, Québec (Virtual) The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Feb. 27	Scottish Summit 2021 Glasgow, Scotland (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Mar. 24	The DEVOPS Conference 2021 Tampere, Finland (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Apr. 3	UX Camp Chicago - Spring Edition Chicago, Illinois (Virtual) Understanding the Mysterious Behavior of Complex Digital Product Users
Apr. 22	UX Academy Workshop (Lucrat) Sofia, Bulgaria (Virtual) The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Apr. 26	GIDS Developer Summit Melbourne, Australia (Virtual) How Green Was My Delusion: Perception and Reality in UX
Apr. 28	Developer Week Europe Europe (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Apr. 28,29	Digital Marketing Europe 2021 Vilnius, Lithuania (Virtual) The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals Panel Discussion (Host): User Experience
May 11	Ignite Charlotte Charlotte, NC The Most Visually Insane Literature retrospective You’ve Ever Seen
May 18	Technorama 2021 Brussels (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
May 21	MiniVAte Virginia: Spring 2021 Virginia (Virtual) Understanding the Mysterious Behavior of Complex Digital Product Users
May 22	DevFest LIVE Budapest, Hungary (Virtual) The Science, Psychology and Secrets of Stellar UI
May 22	European e-Commerce and Digital Marketing Week Bulgaria (Virtual) The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals
May 27	DevSum 2021 Stockholm, Sweden (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Jun 8	Tulsa UX Tulsa, OK (Virtual) Why UX Matters: The Chips and Pickle Story
Jun 30	Developer Week '21 Nürnburg, Germany The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Aug 18-20	Code PaLOUsa 2021 Louisville, KY (Virtual) The Science, Psychology and Secrets of Stellar UI, What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Sep 8-9	The Tech Platform / User Speaking MeetUps Iselin, New Jersey (Virtual) The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Sep 13-17	The SPA Conference London, United Kingdom (Virtual) Understanding the Mysterious Behavior of Complex Digital Product Users, What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Sep 15-17	Music City Code Nashville, TN (Virtual) The Science, Psychology and Secrets of Stellar UI
Sep 24	UX Y'all Raleigh, NC (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Design
Sep 24	UXPA Boston Annual Conference Boston, MA (Virtual) Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex Interfaces
Oct 20	Quicken Loans Tech Con Virtual The Science, Psychology and Secrets of Stellar UI
Oct 26	Digital PM Summit Orlando, FL (Virtual) How To Say NO: A Meditation on the Refined, Delicate Art of Rejection
Oct 27	DevReach 2021 Boston, MA TBA
Nov 17	CHPRMS Asheville, NC How Green Was My Delusion: Learning User Experience the Hard Way
Nov 19	Build Stuff 2021 Vilnius, Lithuania What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development & The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Nov 23-25	DevOps Stars '21 Wilmington, Delaware (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development & The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Dec 6-9	IT Tage 365 Frankfurt, Germany (Virtual) What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development

Past Engagements

2020

Dec. 5	DevFest Siberia ~~Novosibirsk, Siberia~~ Virtual The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals
Dec. 2	Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society ~~Charleston, SC~~ Virtual The Lexie Transformation: How a Regional Medical Center Created a World-Class Intranet
Nov. 20	UX Sofia ~~Bulgaria~~ Virtual The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Nov. 17	DevDay 2020 ~~Louvain La Neuve, Belgium~~ Virtual The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Nov. 13	Build Stuff Lithuania ~~Lithuania~~ Virtual WORKSHOP: The Indispensable Principles of Designing Complex, Data-intensive Interfaces
Oct. 23	UXPA Boston Annual User Experience Conference ~~Boston, MA~~ Virtual Why UX Matters: The Chips and Pickle Story
Oct. 19	Digital PM Summit (Bureau of Digital) ~~Orlando, FL~~ Virtual Digital Products Gone Horribly Wrong (And the Project Managers Who Still Save the Day)
Oct. 17	DevFest Poland ~~Poland~~ Virtual The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Oct. 8	AAFCM ~~Minneapolis, MN~~ Virtual Why UX Matters: The Chips and Pickle Story
Oct. 5	Colorado Springs Tech (UN) Conference ~~Colorado Springs, CO~~ Virtual What the Soviet Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development
Oct. 2	Intersection Web Conference ~~Milan, Italy~~ Virtual The Indispensable Principles of Designing Data-intensive Interfaces
Oct. 1	Career Mingle ~~California~~ Virtual The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals
Sep. 19	Surat Tech Talks ~~India~~ Virtual The Science & Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Sep. 16	University of South Carolina Columbia, SC Visiting Speaker: ARTS546 Graphic Design II
Aug. 12	Manage Digital ~~Minneapolis, MN~~ Virtual The Art and Science of Managing Clients
Jul. 30	SciFiDevCon Virtual What the Society Space Program Taught Me About Digital Product Development & The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Jul. 21	Webinar Virtual The Fundamental Anatomy of Digital Product Goals
Jun. 15	Progress Next / DevReach US (Cancelled) Boston, MA The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Mar. 4	UX Amsterdam Cocktail Hour Amsterdam, Netherlands Why UX Matters: The Chips & Pickle Story
Mar. 4	South Carolina Business Review (Interview)
Mar. 3	Building IoT Essen, Germany The Science, Psychology, & Secrets of Great UI
Feb. 20	Pecha Kucha BridgePort, CT How Green Was My Delusion
Jan. 23	UX South Carolina Columbia, SC Why UX Matters: The Chips & Pickle Story

2019

Nov. 19	UX Columbia Columbia, SC An UnUXpected Career: Becoming a UX Professional
Nov. 8	UX Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria Why UI Matters: the Chips and Pickle Story
Nov. 7	UX Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria Workshop: Metrics, Measurement and Return on Investment: Proving the value of Improved User Experience.
Oct 23	DevReach 2019 Sofia, Bulgaria The Science, Psychology, and Secrets of Stellar UI
Oct 21	Digital PM Summit – Bureau of Digital Orlando, FL The Art and Science of Managing Clients
July 31	EXPO.Health Boston, MA The Lexie transformation: How a Regional Medical Center Created a World-Class Intranet.
July 25	UX Columbia Columbia, SC User Research: Stop Guessing and Start Talking to Real People
June 11	UXPA Boston Boston, MA How Green Was My Delusion: Perception and Reality in UX
Spring	Converge SE Columbia, SC Why UI Matters: The Chips and Pickle Story
May 9	Downtown UX Orlando, FL Why UI Matters: The Chips & Pickle Story
May 9	Progress Next Global User Conference Orlando, FL Building UX into your Development Process
Apr. 26	Front-End Design Conference St. Petersburg, FL How Green Was My Delusion: The False Consensus Effect
Apr. 17	HITMC - Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference Boston, MA The Lexie Transformation: How a Regional Medical Center Created a World-Class Intranet
Apr. 16	New Hampshire UXPA Portsmouth, New Hampshire Why Interface Decisions Matter: the Chips & Pickle Story
Apr. 4	UX Columbia Columbia, SC Web Accessibility: Excellent UX for All Users
Jan. 10	UX Columbia Columbia, SC UX & SEO: Make Your Digital Products Findable AND Usable

2018

Dec. 4	Truematter Webinar Anywhere Building Internal Digital Products Your Team will Actually Like to Use
Nov. 28	University of South Carolina Columbia, SC Lecture – Entrepreneurship for Creative Professionals
Nov. 13	DevReach Sofia, Bulgaria Building UX into Your Development Process
Nov. 8,9	UX Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria Presentation – How Green was My Delusion: The False Consensus Effect Workshop – Building a UX Road Map
Sep. 12	Pecha Kucha Bridgeport, CT The Legend of the Hairy Bison
Aug. 28	UX Columbia Columbia, SC Surviving a Stakeholder Attack: Get Buy-In for Your Brilliant UX Ideas
June 27	IABC/SC Mini Conference Columbia, SC Designing Digital Products for the Lizard Brain
May 30	ProgressNext 2018 Global User Conference Boston, MA Designing Digital Products for the Lizard Brain
May 15	UX Columbia Meetup & Business Analysis (IIBA) Columbia, SC Better Digital Product Requirements: The Partnership Between Business Analysts and UX Professionals
Apr. 15	Digital Products Webinar Anywhere User Experience for CIOs and Technical Directors
Mar. 27	USC School of Information Science / Employer Panel Columbia, SC Panelist discussing how truematter practically applies principles of HCI, UX, UI, and usability into our business.
Mar. 9	UX/UI Career Practicum / Presented by Regency Centers Jacksonville, FL Hitting the Ground Running in User Experience
Feb. 5	Moore School of International Business / Lecture Columbia, SC New Ventures and User Experience
Jan. 24	UX Columbia Columbia, SC Building a UX Culture in Your Organization

Converge SE - Multiple

Staywell Health - Orlando, FL

NC Conference on Entrepreneurship - Raleigh, NC

Winthrop University - Rock Hill, SC

University of South Carolina - Columbia, SC

Darla Moore School of Business - Multiple