Rachel Hinman

Rachel Hinman is a mobile design strategist for Adaptive Path. With over a decade of design industry experience, she is a strong believer in approaching mobile design and strategy from an empathic, human-centered perspective.

Professional Background

Rachel's passion for people, design, and the belief that people can use technology to improve their lives has been the driving force of her career for the last ten years. At Adaptive Path, Rachel applies her unique empathic perspective to the design process, enabling innovative solutions that have a positive impact on people's lives.

Prior to joining Adaptive Path, Rachel worked within Yahoo!'s mobile group, employing user-centered methods to inform the design and strategy of Yahoo!'s mobile products. Much of her work-to-date has focused on improving the experience of accessing internet content on a mobile device. She recently co-authored an HCI case study on mobile internet use "They call it 'surfing' for a reason: Identifying mobile Internet needs through PC deprivation" with Mirjana Spasojevic and Pekka Isomursa of Nokia and presented the paper at CHI 2008.

Rachel's innate sensitivity to people and culture have proven powerful skills in the field, enabling her to successfully lead research studies on mobile phone usage in the US, Europe, and Asia. She writes and speaks frequently on the topic of mobile research and design and was recently a featured author in Mobile Persuasion: 20 Perspectives on the Future of Behavioral Change, edited by BJ Fogg and Dean Eckles.

Rachel received a Masters Degree in Design Planning from the Institute of Design in Chicago. Her clients and previous employers have included IDEO, Microsoft, Yahoo! Mobile, Nokia, General Motors, and Kaiser Permanente.

Past Appearances

May 19-20
Rachel Hinman presented at MEX: Mobile User Experience Conference in London, UK.

March 6-7
Rachel Hinman presented at Exposed : A Design Research Exchange in Tempe, AZ.

February 5-8
Rachel Hinman attended Interactions 09 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

February 2-5
Rachel Hinman spoke at Web Directions North in Denver, Colorado.

November 11-12
Rachel Hinman spoke at Mobile User Experience in London, England.

October 22-25
Rachel Hinman attended PopTech in Camden, Maine USA.

September 24-26
Rachel Hinman attended PICNIC in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

September 18
Rachel Hinman presented at Mobilize in San Francisco, CA

September 4-6
Rachel Hinman attended Lift Asia in Jeju Island, South Korea

September 1
Rachel Hinman spoke to the folks at Mobile Monday, Amsterdam.

August 12-15
Rachel Hinman presented at UX Week in San Francisco, CA

September 18
Rachel Hinman presented at Mobilize in San Francisco, CA

July 29
Rachel Hinman will be sharing work at IxDA-SF's VizFarm event in San Francisco, CA

April 20 - 22
Rachel Hinman presented at MX in San Francisco, CA

April 5-10
Rachel Hinman presented a paper at CHI in Florence, Italy

August 13-16, 2007
Rachel Hinman spoke at UX Week in Washington, D.C.

February 16, 2007
Rachel Hinman presented at Yahoo! Berkeley Labs Brain Jam Series in Berkeley, CA.

February 2, 2007
Rachel Hinman presented at Mobile Persuasion in Palo Alto, CA.