Chris Hall

Chris Hall was born in Sacramento, CA. He has since lived in Boston, Rexburg, Salt Lake City, and San Jose, where he currently resides. His formal education began at Ricks College in 2000 and he was there during the transition to BYU-Idaho.

Hall graduated with a degree in Communication and an emphasis in Advertising, with a minor in Business Management. He was a part of the Student Communication Agency, which was the school’s public relations/ad agency.  He helped develop the organization’s first website. He also participated in Scroll as a web content editor.

Outside of school, he had the opportunity to work with KBYI, the local NPR affiliate, as a marketing manager. It was in this role that he gained an interest in digital media, web design and programming which included working with HTML.

Hall has always had an interest for technology. As he worked in newspaper, advertising, and radio he realized that technology was a unifying connection among them all.

“I wasn’t particularly interested in any of those facets of communication but I was interested in the technology that ran as a common thread between them,” he said.

The ability to be broad in the communication field is what drew Hall to it.

“It pays to be broad in skillset,” said Hall. “Get as much exposure to every line of communication as you can, and understand each aspect well because you’ll use different aspects of communication no matter what your job is.”

While attending BYU-Idaho, Hall became very interested in the fundamentals of web design. He began to be wrapped up in the coding and design of websites. “Many designers today are coming out of school knowing how to code, but at that time it helped set me apart from the competition,” said Hall.

“I believe that a comm. degree is a great degree for getting a job,” said Hall. Although, you might have to “go the extra” mile to learn things that are going to put you over the edge to make you a valuable employee.

He attended graduate school at Southern Utah University, where he earned a Master’s degree in digital media. After graduating, a friend from Rexburg needed help at eBay, which is where Hall currently works.

Hall leads the multi-screen design initiative at eBay, working closely with the tablet and mobile experience teams. His main goal is to unify the look, feel and interaction of eBay by providing common components and patterns.

Hall has had to adapt to this role at eBay. He comes from a product design background, and with his position at eBay, his focus is more global as he thinks about the user’s experience with the website. “It’s been a real learning experience,” said Hall.