StudioFestivals

Derek Orr

Senior Design Manager ∙ Amazon Photos

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Originally hailing from Brisbane, Derek now heads Uber’s product design team in Seattle, Washington. In Autumn 2015, he became Uber’s first Product Design hire in the Pacific Northwest, where he’s grown a world-class design team of researchers, copywriters, motion, and UX designers responsible for shipping beautifully crafted products around the world.

In just 18 months, Uber Seattle has grown from 20 to over 200 employees. An explosive growth rate that doesn't surprise Orr, “Seattle, arguably, is the fastest-growing tech hub in the U.S.” Orr told the Seattle Business Magazine, in November 2016.

His product and engineering teams in Seattle work on an expanding portfolio of products and services focusing on families, airport travel, and better navigating cities with the Uber platform. Their ultimate aim: to bring the dependable, affordable, and delightful Uber experience to everyone, everywhere—from Adelaide to Atlanta, Brisbane to Bangalore.

Prior to Uber, Derek lead the design of multiple Office365 ’New Category Apps’, across Microsoft’s Redmond and Silicon Valley campuses.

And way before all that he studied at Queensland's University of Technology and Griffith's College of Art. Fun fact: he's no stranger to Semi Permanent, having attended the conference regularly in his 15-year design career—in fact his coffee table in Seattle is chockers with his Semi Permanent personal library. This means he really loves Semi Permanent because in caffeine-loving Seattle—a coffee table is basically like a trophy shelf.

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