Role
Front end prototyper / implementation specialist for Squiz Pty Ltd (2006 -2007)
User experience consultant (2008 - 2011)
Key responsibilities
- Undertake interaction design of the public facing & secure editing interfaces of a complex web service
- Collaborate with technology and design vendors
- Champion human-centred design practices
Process
- Engage multiple stakeholder groups
- Work across internal departments to drive collaboration
- Conduct & observe user research in schools
- Wireframe & prototype designs
- Handover & walkthrough designs with technology vendors
- Review technology deliverables & log bugs (initailly a waterfall process)
- Participate in recruiting the team to support the service
- Assist establishing agile user centred design practices
Initially working with senior user experience consultants as their junior, I transitioned to focusing on interaction design and information architecture as my primary career.
To begin with I worked for Squiz (an open source CMS vendor) as an implementation specialist. I heavily customised Squiz's CMS experience to provide a proof of concept used to trial the School Website Service (SWS) with 10 schools. By the end I was leading the interaction design of the service with over 1200 schools. I was fortunate not only to learn about and aquire interaction design skills, I was also introduced to design thinking and service design.
SWS is just one of the many touchpoints between teachers, students and parents. My design research was contributing to a bigger picture of how the NSW Deptartment of Education delivers various government services to the community. Schools are often regional communities only direct touchpoint with government.
Each research visit to schools helped contribute to the service design of the organisation's communication channels. As each school is different it was common to learn about a new touchpoint or opportunity to improve service delivery across the organisation.
