Ideaplatz, LLC was founded by Cheryl Platz in Redmond, WA in 2017 as a design education company. Ideaplatz offers talks and workshops on a variety of tech and public interest topics to help technologists of all stripes level up their work with the power of design process and design thinking. Our work is global, with talks and workshops on most continents. Corporate clients have included Deloitte, BMW, Dell, Microsoft, the Federal Reserve, Ford, and beyond. Ideaplatz also publishes Alexa Skills Kit skills – at this time, the Trainer Tips skill is the only active skill in production. Previously, the My Countdown skill was available for several years.
Ideaplatz reincorporated in Los Angeles, CA in 2022.
2017
- Ideaplatz founded
- Speaking engagements in Stockholm, Norway, and Denmark
- First corporate engagement (POP Seattle)
- First keynote (Design Matters DK)
2018
- First US conference
- First overseas corporate engagement (BMW)
- New talk: Collaborative Creativity through Improv (DesignOps Summit)
- My Countdown skill published (Alexa Skills Kit)
2019
- Added consulting services to our roster
- First workshops in Asia
- First keynote in South America
- First An Event Apart talk (Chicago)
- Launched new personal presence workshop
2020
- First emcee event (Advancing Research 2020)
- Began adapting workshops for remote delivery
- Published materials in support of Design Beyond Devices
2021
- Launched new Multimodal Design Fundamentals workshop with corporate clients, remote first
- Launched new keynote (Carousel of Progress) and talk (Capturing Customer Context)
- Remote book tour in support of Design Beyond Devices
2022
- Ideaplatz reincorporated in Los Angeles, California subsequent to Cheryl’s move to LA for a new job.
- Temporary hiatus to adjust to new location and role.
2023
- Cheryl serves as Toastmaster of the 2023 Nebula Awards
- Cheryl published in Katie Couric Media and selected as Medium staff pick
- Ideaplatz, LLC operations return from hiatus
2024
- Consulting operations resume
My last name “Platz” in German means “place”, and is often seen at the end of street names in German-speaking countries. I founded Ideaplatz in 2017 so that I could pave a road for more folks to join me working at the cutting edge of creativity and technology, like the fields of voice and multimodal design where few folks were able to share at the time. As time has passed, I’ve expanded to begin a broader focus on how design strategy and design ethics can prepare us for the difficult years ahead in the tech industry. More than ever, we need to lead with curiosity and collaboration.
– Cheryl platz, ideaplatz founder
Ideaplatz: the road to great design.
About our founder
Ideaplatz founder Cheryl Platz is a world-class designer with over 15 years of industry experience shipping designs that have influenced millions of customers. Her first book, Design Beyond Devices: Creating Multimodal, Cross-Device Experiences, was published by Rosenfeld Media in 2020. Her work on Medium has been featured repeatedly as a Staff Pick, and she’s been published by media outlets including Katie Couric Media, Forbes.com, and the Huffington Post.
Cheryl’s key design passions are natural user interfaces, artificial intelligence, and taming complexity. Her list of employers includes a number of industry heavyweights: Microsoft, Amazon, Riot Games, Electronic Arts, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Disney. She’s also worked at smaller independent studios including MAYA Design and Griptonite Games. Noteworthy shipped projects include the Echo Look and Echo Show, the Alexa Notifications framework, Cortana for Windows 10, Windows Intune, System Center Configuration Manager 2012, and Disney Friends for the Nintendo DS.
Cheryl has been honored to speak on 5 continents in over a dozen countries. Her speaking and teaching resume includes major appearances including highlights at Interaction Latin America 2019, UX Days Tokyo and Seoul 2019, UX Scotland 2019, UX Week 2018, Amuse UX 2018 (Budapest), UX London 2018, Webdagene 2017, IxDA Interaction (’11, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’21, ’22), DEVit360 2018 (Thessaloniki), User Experience Lisbon 2017, Design Matters 2017, GeekGirlCon (’11 and ’13), TechReady 2011, iHub Nairobi (2014), Microsoft Research (2017), PAX Prime (2017), GeekGirlCon (’11, ’13), and Emerald City ComicCon (’10, ’17). She’s also presented at some unique events, including her turn as Toastmaster for the SFWA Nebula Awards in 2023, the original Nintendo DS Press Launch in the US (2004) and a variety of lectures and educational outreach events.
In her free time, Cheryl is a professional actress and Internet personality, which feeds back into her work as a public speaker. As a 13-year veteran of the Unexpected Productions ensemble (home of Seattle TheatreSports) she performed for tens of thousands of people – and she taught improv to numerous classes at a variety of levels. She co-starred in the Internet TV show “Shadowrun: Corporate SINs” on Twitch at Hyper RPG for its 65-episode run, and continues to broadcast independently as an affiliated Twitch streamer. This unique background makes Cheryl adaptable to any live performance situation, no matter the crowd size or studio setup.
Contact Information
Email us: info@ideaplatz.com
Mailing address:
Ideaplatz, LLC
PO Box 341694
Los Angeles, CA 90034