That’s what I do. I use my skills as an interaction designer to make great interactive projects better.
Process
Introductions
Better projects begin with everyone getting to know one another and what their stake is in the project. Its important to know what the assumptions and questions surrounding the project are before leaping in.
One of the goals of this first step is to establish what the project is, or, rather, what its starting out as.
User Research
Once the foundation of the project is established its important to talk with people who use or will be using it.
This research can be a complete contextual inquiry into a persons habits, somewhere in the middle with moderated usability tests, or as little as talking on the phone with a user about their experiences.
Contact with people who use the product is essential to better design, it humanizes and invigorates the entire project.
Sketches and Notes
Three panels of early sketching for a multimedia site.
Sketch for a content site.
A paper mockup.
A spread from my notebook, dyslexia and all.
The goal of research is to inform sketching; to start the transference of ideas into possible interfaces.
Its important at this point to not get to attached to anything – the real goal is to start seeing what the ideas look like.
Flow
An example of a User Journey Flow. This one is for a consumer marketplace.
A consumer purchase flow.
A sweepstakes flow.
As ideas start to solidify its important to capture the dynamics of the interactions, even more so its important to define the scope of the project. Flows help answer the question of – what does this thing REALLY do? – and – how many wireframes is this gonna take? Flows are also important tools for describing projects to developers.
Wireframes
Wireframe with annotation callouts. For a consumer application.
Wireframe for an e-commerce page.
Wireframe of site components.
The wireframe is not the end, as changes will always come up, but it is the guide – the territory the map will become.
Documentation
A sample of visual markup from UX Zeitgeist
A sample of a component description from UX Zeitgeist
But a wireframe doesn’t capture every nuance, this is why its important to produce a specification that captures everything and distills down into WHAT the engineer is going to build so they can focus on HOW its going to happen.
Resume
Thank you for looking at my samples. If you’d like to talk feel free to email me at carlcollins@gmail.com.
“I’ve relied on Carl time and time again to help me launch mission critical projects for my user experience publishing house. He’s the prototypical multi-dimensional and empathetic UX practitioner, and brings those skills to bear in every project we’ve collaborated on. And he’s dedicated: whether working on a cutting edge project or a mundane but critical storefront, Carl puts his all and more in every project.”
- Lou Rosenfeld
“Carl Collins is a multitalented, multidiscplinary, UX wunderkind. After graduating from the School of Information he joined Enlighten, and right away made a huge impact with his enthusiasm for new ideas and his ability to build bridges.”
That’s what I do. I use my skills as an interaction designer to make great interactive projects better.