UX Designer & AI ResearcherKent State University MS UXYoungstown, OH

James Dishman

Every problem has a solution.

Technology should make humans better.

I design the part where that actually happens.

Electronic music production and a decade leading Pittsburgh's Ableton User Group gave me a framework for thinking about tools: what they enable, what they foreclose, and who they leave out. I'm in graduate school now building that instinct into a research practice, with a thesis taking shape around AI, creativity, and what it means to design systems that shape how people think.

LinkedIn ↗GitHub ↗About ↗Lab ↗Medium ↗Contact ↗
Selected Work
  1. 01
    Accessibility Audit Suite
    UX ResearchWCAG 2.1 · Contrast Analysis · VoiceOver · PDF Remediation2025
  2. 02
    Ableton UX Evaluation Suite
    UX Research · Interaction DesignHeuristic Evaluation · Cognitive Walkthrough · Stakeholder Analysis2024–2026
  3. 03
    Food Insecurity Discovery Research
    UX ResearchSemi-Structured Interviews · Affinity Mapping · JTBD Analysis2025
  4. 04
    Health Translator
    AI / UX ResearchTrust-Centered Design · Plain Language · Multimodal Interaction2025
  5. 05
    Clarence: Autonomous Agent Ecosystem
    AI Systems DesignAgent Architecture · Human-AI Collaboration · Rust · Python2025–2026
  6. 06
    SensorSynth FM
    Product Design · iOSEmbodied Interaction · FM Synthesis · Sensor Mapping · AudioKit2026
  7. 07
    PAUG.net
    Web Development / Community DesignNext.js · Decap CMS · GitHub Pages · Community UX2026
  8. 08
    Oblique Oracle
    Product Design · AIDivination · I Ching · Oblique Strategies2026
  9. 09
    Usability Testing Methods
    UX ResearchModerated Testing · Unmoderated Testing · Loop11 · Test Plan Design2024–2026
Currently Building
Clarence

An autonomous AI agent ecosystem: 27 scheduled jobs, 16 named agents, a custom Rust API bridge, multi-model routing, and a nightly R&D Council that debates open questions while I sleep. The design question is what it means to build a genuine collaborator rather than a responsive tool.

Read the case study →
SensorSynth FM

An iPad FM synthesizer that uses the device's physical sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope, TrueDepth camera) as modulation sources. The design question is what it feels like when your body is the instrument, not just the thing holding it.

Read the case study →
Music

Electronic music producer. Pittsburgh Ableton User Group. Available for DJ sets, live performances, and collaboration.

SoundCloud ↗Bandcamp ↗Mixcloud ↗