User experience designer with substantial experience in creating innovative, successful designs for web products and features. Strong background in collaborative product concepting, as well as product prototyping. Continuous, dedicated conviction in user advocacy, while still broadly experienced in achieving business goals for large-scale products.
HIGHLIGHTS AND SKILLS
  • 9 years of experience building and designing online web applications
  • Solid understanding of user interface design and usability principles including formulating and refining product requirements, user profiles, personas, and task analyses
  • Advanced knowledge of creating functional specifications including flows, wireframes, and mockups using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Advanced knowledge of front-end web programming including HTML, DHTML, CSS, and JavaScript with substantial experience building interactive prototypes for usability testing and/or early-phase design concepting
  • Expert at all phases of product development and working with cross-functional teams while adhering to strict fast-paced release schedules
  • Excellent written, verbal and personal communication skills
  • Enjoy collaborative projects and work environments

CAREER EXPERIENCE
AOL LLC, Mountain View, CA
Position: User Experience Designer, Sept. 2005 – Oct. 2007
Designed specifications and flows for multiple new products and features for multi-million-user AOL web applications now in production including AOL Alerts, AOL Pictures, AOL Public Galleries, Mgnet, and myAOL:
  • Researched written psychology data and conducted anthropological study for new “cutting edge” AOL web 2.0 products, including the now-patented recommendation system - Mgnet
  • Actively participated in in-depth IDEO-style brainstorm and collaboration sessions, and created drawing and storyboard concepts for ideation and presentation of new products that were eventually released to production
  • Built interactive prototypes in JavaScript, HTML, and Dreamweaver, as well as conducted paper prototype research for early product testing phases of AOL Pictures Facial Recognition and AOL Pictures new pictures management features; also built Mgnet interactive prototype for presentation of concept to Executive team
  • Led design reviews and served as UI design voice when presenting myAOL module UI’s to cross-functional teams and incorporated feedback
  • Created and documented UI and visual standards surrounding myAOL product module development
  • Defined and designed functional and visual specifications including wireframes, flows, and mockups for all projects

Positions: Production Asst; Web Technologist, Jan. 1999 - Sept. 2005
Handled all aspects of client-side development for several multi-million-user AOL web applications including AOL Webmail, AOL Calendar, AOL Invitations, AOL Alerts & Reminders, and AIM Express:
  • Made UI flow and specification feedback and suggestions during planning phases of new products and features
  • Collaborated with AOL Sync product manager to refine UI and content changes to AOL Sync product
  • Solely responsible for all front-end AOL Sync product releases, including QAR generation and coordination of all team members for production releases
  • Solely responsible for weekly editorial releases for Calendar product
  • Coordinated closely with team members cross-divisionally to build products from start to finish according to spec, including product managers, project managers, designers, quality assurance, and software engineers
  • Coordinated with internal partners to integrate production and content requests for maintenance and new product releases, documented release specifications, and generated QARs for my own code changes
  • Designed, built and documented templates and directory structures (includes needed, etc) from ground up for online web products according to exact mockup specifications handed off from visual design team
  • Coded templates containing JSP, PSP (AOL proprietary), Velocity Templating Language (VTL), and ASP.net, working closely with software engineers for code integration
  • Continuously implemented accurate bug fixes for maintenance releases and new product releases

When Inc. (when.com), Redwood City, CA
Positions: Content Coordinator; Production Assistant, Jun. 1998 – Jan. 1999
Developed HTML content and graphics for new online calendaring product, as well as researched and documented content and partner information:
  • Researched competition and typical online usage of calendars for new online calendar application and documented for management team
  • Created mappings and documentation for content feeds provided by content partners
  • Developed online Help & Tour pages for product
  • Implemented bug fixes, built promotional pages and new features for product maintenance releases
  • Documented product maintenance releases


TECHNICAL SKILLS
Design Tools: Photoshop, Ilustrator, Flash, and Dreamweaver
Development Technologies: HTML, CSS, DHTML, JavaScript
Operating Systems: Windows, Macintosh, Unix


EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts: Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts
Emphases: Audio & Video Production
San Francisco State University

Related Courses Taken:
  • Methods and Principles of Interface Design
  • Advanced Adobe Photoshop
  • Intermediate Adobe Illustrator
  • Flash I
  • Graphic Design
  • Computer Graphics
  • Designing for Multimedia/Web
  • Role of the Project Manager
  • DHTML
  • JavaScript Programming
  • Unix Operating Systems I