I became interested in software and web design while I was employed as a systems administrator in the Computer Science Department of Carnegie Mellon University.
In 1998, this led me to take a job as an Interaction Designer with the MAYA Design Group. Over the course of my four years at MAYA, I learned about information architecture, user testing and user-centric design. I was given the opportunity to work for a variety of clients from small start-ups to multi-national conglamorates.
Since being laid-off from MAYA in 2002, I have continued to work as a User Interface Designer and Information Architect, taking contracts on my own and through other contractor placement firms. It has been a personal mission of mine to bring good design techniques to each and every company I contract with and serve as a user advocate in the software engineering process.
Employment
- Freelance Contractor– Graphic Artist/Interface Programmer – 1994 – Present
Visual design, layout, content writing and editing, prototyping, usability testing and reporting, and implementation on a number of projects for various clients in the artistic, architectural, visual design, web application, software development and desktop publishing realms, including: websites, software packages, concert promotions, art galleries, literary journals, video game design, music videos, comic books, web sites, & enterprise software applications. See Major Contracts (below) for details regarding long term contract work. - Collaborative Fusion Inc. – information Architect – September 2007 – January 2010
Duties include: Design and development of business rules for proprietary web applications. Information architecture design and application flow structure. User Interface and experience development, wireframes and mock-ups. Visual Design, Documentation, Usability Testing and Quality Assurance. Production of a style guide to shape the future design of future products for the firm. - CombineNet – Software Engineer – July 2004 – October 2005
Duties include: Design and development of implementation code and databases for production websites for Fortune 500 company auction events. Design and development of software and interfaces for future CombineNet projects in both ASP model and thin client interfaces. Improvements of User Interface for existing CombineNet projects. Design and implementation and integration of proprietary utilities optimization software suite. Contextual analysis of utility company business practices for design. - MAYA Design – Interaction Designer – July 1998 – July 2002
Duties include: design, prototyping and testing of a variety of products in physical, software and web realms. Information Architecture and Design. Software design and Development. Expert Analysis of product and system usability. Contextual analysis of business practices and working environments. User testing, video editing, technical writing and documentation, proposal and report writing. System and application level QA testing. Also responsible for the tabulation of results, analysis and generation of final reports. Also served as system and network administrator, responsible for mail and web servers and the installation and maintenance of a network of servers and workstations including Linux, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and SunOS/Solaris.
Major Freelance Contracts
- eBilling Hub – UI/Designer/Information Architect – April 2012 – August 2012
Duties include: Complete redesign of proprietary timetracking and billing system for legal firms. Information architecture restructuring and interface redesign from the ground up. Wirteframing, rapid prototyping, usability testing and visual design. Production of a style guide to shape the future design of future products for the firm. - Vision Benefits of America – UI Designer/Information Architect – March 2006 – January 2007, February 2012 – April 2012, December 2013 – June 2014
Duties include: Design of the user interface for an insurance claim portal to be used by patients and healthcare professionals. Usability analysis and recommendation building. Requirements gathering and use case specifications. Screen flow, navigation and information architecture design and development. User Interface wireframing, visual and graphic design. Extensive HTML, CSS and Javascript specification and coding of the pages in the prototype and the production implementation. Visual design of icons and graphics. - Eaton Corporation – UI Designer/Information Architect – January 2011 – January 2012
Duties include: Design of enterprise level power management software platform. Usability analysis and recommendation building. Information architecture design and scoping. Requirements building. Process Management. User Interface wireframing, visual and graphic design. Production of a style guide to shape the future design of future products for the firm. Prototype design and production. Visual design of icons and graphics. - Giant Eagle – UI Designer/Information Architect – December 2010 – January 2011
Duties include: Design of the user interface for corporate purchasing portal between chain grocery purchasing agents and product suppliers. Usability analysis and recommendation building. User Interface wireframing, visual and graphic design. Extensive HTML, CSS and Javascript specification and coding of the pages in the prototype and the production implementation. Visual design of icons and graphics. Production of a style guide to shape the future design of future products for the firm. - Affiliated Computing Services – Usability Engineer/Information Architect – November 2005 – July 2006
Duties include: Design of information architecture for commercial production software and website products. Design of user-friendly interfaces for those products and usability testing and analysis. Wireframe and prototype production. Usability testing and report writing. Content writing and development. HTML and CSS coding of production webpages. XML document design and production. Requirements and design documentation. - Helium Networks – HCI Consultant – January 2005 – December 2007
Duties include: expert evaluation, analysis and redesign of user interface for proprietary software package dealing with wireless networking management and administration. Recommendations to information architecture, application structure and user experience, visual design of icons and graphics and specification of interface look and feel. Production of a style guide to shape the future design of future products for the firm. - CEI America – UI Designer – February 2004 – April 2004
Duties include: design, programming, testing and implementation of graphical interfaces and web sites for the firm and clients of the firm. Graphic design and content development of print and email media. CMM process development and interviewing of prospective employees for international development team. Content writing and editing. HTML and Javascript specification and coding of production web pages. Logo design. - MAYA Design – Software Engineer – August 2003 – October 2003
Duties include: design, programming, testing and implementation of prototype and production digital sign and wayfinding system. Responsible for the implementation and design of the Macromedia Flash prototype and some of the back-end systems that run the software. Development of the SQL(Access) and XML backend that run the content management system for the project. Assisted in interface and content template design. - TechRx – UI Designer – November 2002 – June 2003
Duties include: design, prototyping and testing of pharmacy database and workflow management system. Design, prototyping, testing and implementation of proprietary peer-to-peer pharmacy transaction system. Implemented design methodology utilizing information architecture, rapid-prototyping and user-testing leading into an iterative design process.
Skills
Graphic and Web Design (Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, Painter, Fireworks, Flash, Director, Dreamweaver and others), Programming (Python, Perl, DHTML, Javascript, Actionscript, XML, C, Objective C (Cocoa), SQL, PHP, and others), System Administration (Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, Mac OS 9/X, Linux, Solaris and other Unix Systems, IMAP and other mail systems, Apache Web Server, TCP/IP, and others), Professional and Technical Writing, Graphic and Information Design, Social and Cultural Theory, Employee Management, Person-to-Person Interaction Skills, Symantec ITA & Net.Prowler certified. Photography and visual design.
om