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Russ Blackburn

Principal UX designer, Digital Experience / Raleigh, NC

Portfolio / LinkedIn

Describe your core responsibilities at Red Hat.

I lead the design for the Red Hat Product Trials Program and Service. My expertise lies in user experience design for redhat.com pages, particularly the My Red Hat Dashboard. I work closely with designers and writers to create compelling content that directly addresses user needs.

How do you get inspired first thing in the morning?

Every morning starts with a ritual of strong coffee, a freshly sharpened pencil, and a blank piece of printer paper. The daily challenge to build something from nothing keeps me inspired!

My Red Hat

My Red Hat
My Red Hat is a digital success center for all users—prospects, customers, partners—in their journey with Red Hat. The value to the end user is to reduce frustration and the time it takes to find content and complete common tasks, as well as provide personalized information to help them in their Red Hat journey.

What makes designing at Red Hat unique?

Across all organizations, there exists a unifying recognition for user experience as a trusted design resource for Red Hat's product portfolio. Being viewed as a valued design leader makes designing at Red Hat truly unique and rewarding.

How are you incorporating open source principles into your designs or design processes?

Open-source principles such as transparency and collaboration are two vital strategies I include in my design process. Allowing open communication/feedback between the customer needs and the business needs leads to a successful design iteration.

Russ Blackburn

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Open design, in my opinion, is the freedom to work without barriers. The freedom to seek out the best possible design solution.

How do you prioritize collaboration across teams in your design process?

Inclusion early and often is my go-to principle for prioritizing collaboration. Consistent engagement opens the window for receiving constructive feedback.

How do you think diverse voices and perspectives make the design process stronger?

Diversity brings together voices of many flavors. With it comes shared experiences. Listening to these voices allows me to present a design process that speaks to an entire community.

Product trial center

Product trial center
My trials is an authenticated experience on redhat.com for product trial users. Think of My Trials as a one-stop-shop for everything product trials – with curated trial subscriptions and related information in a streamlined and personalized experience for users to access and manage their active or expired product trials.

How does your design work contribute to the creation of helpful and accessible experiences?

I challenge myself to deliver design experiences that anyone can use with ease. Taking the complexity out of advanced technology does not dilute its cutting-edge importance. Rather, it opens up the learning curve for all to become proficient with highly technical business solutions. The key to success is providing the right amount of resources to help the diverse skillset of users achieve their desired outcomes with our products.

What does open design mean to you?

Open design, in my opinion, is the freedom to work without barriers. The freedom to seek out the best possible design solution. The freedom to ask for and receive feedback from all willing to participate.

Any last thoughts?

It's important to mention the significance of Red Hat's culture for practicing open source. The creed, "open source meets open design", would not be possible without a strong community's allegiance to preserving the open culture mindset.