Educator

Teaching online courses for the Art Institute Online in the Web Design & Interactive Media Department.

Techniques

Brainstorming Contextual Inquiry Heuristic Evaluations Persona Sketches Scenarios Storyboards

User Journeys Paper Prototypes Screen Prototypes Usability Testing Wireframes Flowcharts Sitemaps

Skills

 

About Me

Technology will continue to change and it is imperative that I take the time to play, update, and expand. Everything changes but the curiosity to want more, know more, and learn more never leaves me! I want this to expand to as many digital areas that it can encompass including Interactive Design, Web Design, and Game Design.

It is intriguing to me how people interact with designs, each other, and life in general. Working in an agile environment, understanding people's strengths and weaknesses, is key to building great design. My role is never to work alone but to understand those that work around me and collaborate and leverage our skills together.

The industry is continuously evolving and intertwines digital media, interactive, and game design to create my excitement. The industry allows me to stretch my creativity through multiple types of outcomes while still building on my foundation of interactivity. 

I value a company that encourages me to be original, build my network and skills, and supports me in my passion for user centered design.  I want to influence my students to embody excellence, to be passionate, and to be prepared to continuously learn.

Success is to be constantly on a journey, researching and playing, exploring and creating. 

My Book List

Business Insights:Global

Goal

Research and design an updated design, interactions, and architecture to a product which is lack luster to the primary user.

Challenge

To create an engaging interface for the undergraduate student that will be clear, intuitive, and encourage them to return to the product.

Solution

This product is a new solution to a current business library product. We know that users are struggling to find the content we are providing, and librarians want/need a resource that is cutting edge and easy to use. We created a Persona Map of six main user groups for the product including undergrad students, masters students, faculty, professionals, and librarians.

We prioritized the product’s features to the primary persona. There are also features specifically to meet the librarian’s needs and keep their integration as smooth as possible. Finally we are including features for the faculty member as they are the biggest influence on which resources students use.

We used scenarios and process flows to visualize the student’s needs and how to best meet them. We created prototypes and ran usability tests to validate and update out assumptions.

Results

Phase 1 release happened at two major industry conferences and was well received. Stanford University, Harvard University, University of Maryland, and more, wanted to get more information on the product and are looking to purchase for the fall. Customers were happy to see the focus on the users and their flows through the product. Phase 2 is building more features for the librarian and secondary personae, while continuing usability testing.

 

Project Type

Library Database

Area of Focus

User Experience Design

Timeline

11 months

Project Components

Ethnographic Research
Contextual Inquiry
Information Architecture
Scenarios
Interaction Design
Usability Testing
Visual Design and Specification

Nineteenth Century Collection Online

Goal

Research and design a scholarly research platform that provides the tools and interactions which are required in the field.

Challenge

To design a platform for this unique collection of data specifically for scholarly research.

Solution

Market research, user surveys, and user Interviews were all used to gather the data on the persona for this product. Persona were created from the analysis of this data collection. Also scenarios were created and reviewed to drive feature selection, implementation, and interaction design. Competitor product reviews were also conducted through Heuristic evaluations and interviews to determine expectations for the users.

Results

The platform is currently in development based on concepting work that focused on the best experience for each personae. Features, phasing, and selection of content was driven from a persona perspective. Therefore each interaction is being reviewed for flow and usability from the perspective of that persona. Many unnecessary features and interactions have been eliminated to allow for the best implementation of the most important user needs.

 

Project Type

Library Database

Area of Focus

User Experience Design

Timeline

5 months

Project Components

Ethnographic Research
Contextual Inquiry
Information Architecture
Scenarios
Interaction Design
Usability Testing
Visual Design and Specification

Summary

Strong designer and educator with a focus on user centered design and interactive design.
Effectively communicate and streamline tasks through the team.
Understands the design process and its integration with agile processes.

Experience

User Experience Specialist, 2010-Current


Cengage Learning






Faculty, 2009-Current


Art Institute Online

 



 

Game Production Chair, 2006-2010
Faculty, 2004-2005


International Academy of Design & Technology

 






Freelance Designer, 2001-2005


Perpetual Rhythms

 

 






Project Manager & Web Designer, 2003-2004


MosaicMedia

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Education

MFA: Interactive Design &
Game Development
Savannah College of Art & Design, 2010 - 2012

MA: Interactive Design &
Game Development
Savannah College of Art & Design, 2006-2007

BFA: Animation & Digital Media College for Creative Studies, 1998-2002

Presentations

Creativity Through Play, MidwestUX 2011

Concepting Case Study, InfoCamp Berkeley 2011

Personas,
Michigan Agile Enthusiasts 2011

Persona & Brainstorming,
CL Craft Day 2011

Educating Gamers,
CCA 2009 & KAFI 2009

Women In Games Panel,
VGXPO 2008

Designing Digital Curriculum, Michigan FlashFest 2008

Get in touch with me!

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