Peter Stahl is a senior interaction designer at Cisco, where he works on design standards. A longtime denizen of Silicon Valley, he has created user experiences for eBay, America Online, Microsoft, Netscape, Entrust, among others, for applications as diverse as e-commerce, system management, online conferencing, gesture-based pen computing, 3D social environments and desktop productivity. While at eBay, he led development of a library of design patterns, for which he and Josh Damon Williams of Hot Studio pioneered a new methodology for Interaction Audits, which they presented at IA Summit and Web 2.0 Expo. Peter also led eBayis notorious Pattern Optimization Squad (POPS) that approves design patterns, and was impresario of the Polynesian-themed Page Parsing Parties, where designs are deconstructed into their constituent components.
When he’s not working, Peter can often be found tooting his oboe and English horn in Redwood Symphony, an ambitious Bay Area community orchestra. He also publishes his recommendations on California ballot propositions at peterates.com. He holds a degree in music theory and composition from Harvard.
