About
One of our first clients described us as “flexible pragmatists.” We excel at dropping into projects and easily integrating with teams that are already in motion. We have a process that we think works quite well, but by no means are we dazed and confused when we are working outside of it.
Small, yet mighty
Some might call us small, but we feel that ‘streamlined’ might be a better description. When you work with us, you won’t get a dozen people with a dozen different ideas all pulling in opposite directions. We are small, efficient, fast-paced, and effective at getting the most out of your dollar.
Partners all around
No matter how big or how small your project is, you will always get at least one Fuzzy Math partner on your project. We limit how many ongoing projects we have to keep the quality of what we deliver as high as possible (and to keep our sanity). We believe producing good work is the best sales method.
Communicative
When you call Fuzzy Math, the person on the other end of the phone is going to be the same person doing the work. We don’t have account managers, receptionists, or assistants (as cool as they sound). You call us on the same number our families do.
Our people
Mark Baldino Co-founder
If there were a train conductor at Fuzzy Math, Mark would be the man to own a fine set of pin-stripe overalls.
A founding member of Fuzzy Math, Mark is a passionate defender of delivering high-value and high quality services to his clients. At the helm, he ensures on-time and on-budget solutions that fit your needs. Mark is a veteran of startups, small businesses, and large software companies mixing the roles of information architect, user experience designer, team lead and project manager. He’s had the opportunity to lead his clients to happy solutions in the travel, healthcare, e-commerce, social media, and enterprise content management industries.
When he’s not at Fuzzy Math, Mark enjoys... well, Mark’s always at Fuzzy Math.
Ben Ihnchak Co-founder
Ben is a guy who likes “doing things.” While he enjoys envisioning the future of a product or application, his true love is delivering real, actionable work that helps his clients.
Forever the problem solver, Ben started out troubleshooting his parents’ Apple IIe. He later found himself figuring out business, code, and database problems at the first startup he worked at. Then it was figuring out how to manipulate Coldfusion to get it to do what he wanted as a web developer. Needless to say, he’s always enjoyed “making things work.”
Today, Ben brings that same love of “doing things” and “making things work” to his work, helping clients get a better understanding of their users to design better systems that support their users’ needs.
Outside of Fuzzy Math, Ben enjoys spending time with his wife, their cats, and their books. When he’s not in the office, there is a good chance you can find him riding his bike or watching baseball.
Brett Meisinger Front-end developer
The resident promoter of Web standards, front-end technologies and Internet oddities, Brett’s a front-end developer who likes to get his hands dirty with HTML/CSS. Over the years he’s worked with agencies and artists alike to deliver elegant interactive solutions for the Web and beyond. Brett continues to be excited by great design, useful interfaces and smart code.
When he’s not computering Brett enjoys lake houses, guitars, and far away places.
Nick Leonard User experience designer
As a user-experience designer, it’s Nick’s job to work towards finding ideal solutions that support user goals. A champion of client’s causes, he works hard at aligning said solutions with client needs and feasibility. He’s an end-to-end practitioner with research skills that were honed in past work as a newspaper journalist, and prototyping skills forged in work as an applications developer. Nick’s a keen proponent of service design, and fully supports the notion that good UX transcends just the text and shapes on a page.
Beyond User Experience, he enjoys all things food and hockey. Hobbies include spending too much time on Reddit.
Isaac Steiner Visual designer
Isaac is our craftsman of a product’s overall look and feel, brand expression, and design comprehensives. Taught to care for the context and interaction of a design just as much as its form, Isaac honors the unique circumstances and visual experience of each product, project, or company. His 6 years of agency experience in branding, advertising, publications, and interfaces nurtured a care for both strategy and workmanship in design, both of which he joyfully employs at Fuzzy Math.
Raised in California’s tree-lined valley of Sacramento, Isaac can now be found studying Chicago’s canopy of historic architecture with his wife. He loves a good story and is an enthusiastic advocate for the arts.
Christa Louks User experience designer
Although Christa’s journey into User Experience practice is just beginning, she’s always mindfully given scrutiny to the way things are designed. A lady who’s always been interested in finding out what makes people tick, her background and passions in human psychology and computer programming are proving to be an excellent combination at Fuzzy Math. Christa is a true believer in the need and existence of human-centered design within the digital realm.
During her current pursuit towards a Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction at DePaul University, she’s able to apply newly learned skills to practical process, while building more knowledge and confidence at Fuzzy Math.
Apart from UX awesomeness, she also enjoys a good run, a good brew, and a good game of table tennis.
Carl Duffield Intern
From print to web and everything in between, Carl’s always believed that good design improves the world around us. Following a less than traditional path to the design world, Carl’s always had a passion for good design practice. Now firmly planted in the arena of User Experience, he’s exploring to glory that is UX while obtaining his Masters in Human-Computer Interaction at DePaul University.
Whether it’s reading any design book he can get his hands on or checking out the latest trends on the web, Carl does his best to learn as much as he can to continue to improve his skills and knowledge of the UX world.
When he’s not soaking up all things design, you can usually find Carl brewing a batch of beer, or trying to sharpen his font-nerd talents by guessing what fonts are on billboards and in TV commercials. Other talents include impersonating random British celebrities and Bacci ball.
Jason Kunesh Advisor
A veteran in the industry, Jason has designed interactive products and environments for a few decades. His prime focus has been helping businesses discover needs, design and deliver technology products that people enjoy.
Jason grew up with the personal computer industry from bulletin boards and blue boxes to the rise of the social web we’re all soaking in now. He has deep expertise in presentation and interface technologies as used for delivery in web, mobile and interactive contexts.
He has nurtured lifelong interests in narrative arts, programming, and education, most recently as an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University.
He has been fortunate to work with many organizations, including: Orbitz, Microsoft, ThePoint/Groupon, the Mayo Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Emory University, LeapFrog, the Chicago Field Museum, Giant Bike, Jabber, Fellowes Manufacturing, United Airlines, Threadless and more.
Jason also holds a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin, as well as an MS in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University.
Jason is currently an advisor to Fuzzy Math, while taking a leave of absence to serve as the Director of User Experience for Obama For America.
Our story
What does Fuzzy Math mean?
The name “Fuzzy Math” represents the type of work we do: ‘Fuzzy’ because we work with human psychology, which isn’t always straight-forward, and ‘Math’ because we design for digital systems, whether it is a website, smart phone application, or desktop software.
1% FOR THE PLANET
We love our work, but we also love giving back, and that should make you feel good. We donate one percent of our sales to 1% FOR THE PLANET and they give it back to 2,172 environmental organizations around the world.