My Skills
- by Rob
Conduct user research
My experience working as a photographer and journalist trained me to be comfortable around many types of people, able to put subjects at ease, ask questions that matter, and collect meaningful information. I recently helped a tech start-up conduct research for an app used to interact with a food truck, leading to key insights which drove the design strategy.
Perform domain research and competitive / comparative analysis
While working as a journalist and photographer, research was something I did everyday. Looking at trends, new innovation, what people are interested in, is what I found fascinating about that field. For a recent project to help recruiting to the Boy Scouts of America, I performed research around families perceptions of Scouting. I found the BSA organization made a good case for joining, but their message was not being received by prospective families. This knowledge helped drive content decisions.
Build personas / proto-personas, user stories and user flows
My significant experience as a journalist has given me insight to the lives of many people outside my own social circles. I believe this is invaluable in being able to empathize with those I am designing for.
Design page wireframes
I have experience creating clean, organized, and detailed designs. I created an annotated wire frame for a recent project to help recruiting to the Boy Scouts of America. The wireframe helped focus on the type of content we were offering different types of users, and where it's optimal placement would be.
Create rapid prototypes using prototyping software to effectively communicate interaction and design ideas
I recently built a detailed prototype for testing an experience to file a health insurance claim. The prototype allowed us to quickly validate a hypothesis, and learn user preferences on a certain style of navigation.
Use data to analyze product performance
While working on a news app for a large technology client, I used data to help set guidelines for procuring and displaying photography. Using data was able to take some guess work out of an editing process that can be very subjective.
Perform user testing
I believe user testing is one of the most integral parts of UX design. Moving forward in the development process with confidence an experience has been vetted by users is key. I conducted user testing while developing an experience to file a health insurance claim. The
date helped validate hypothesis, and drove the implementation of key improvements.
Icon Credits: Wilson Joseph (user testing), mikicon (wireframe), Vectors Market (clipboard), Davo Sime (gauge), Gregor Cresnar (magnifying glass), Yarden Gilboa (persona), Michael Rojas (scissors) – all of The Noun Project.