My design projects have spanned a number of dimensions — research to product, consumer to enterprise, desktop to web. What they have in common is a general approach to design that's based in a clear understanding of user needs, technology opportunities, design approaches, and the ways in which these factors can all come together in a successful solution to a problem. Prototyping, iterative design, and user feedback are essential parts of this process, which I carry out individually for small projects and as a part of a larger development team for corporate projects.

I've worked on a wide range of usability projects, from early-stage ethnographic field studies of work environments, user needs, and market requirements to "traditional" usability studies of competing interface designs. My usability work is almost always accompanied by design recommendations: I understand the connection between design and usability, and I can tell whether a design recommendation will require a simple tweak or a major architectural overhaul. As a result, I can structure my recommendations to meet the needs of the client and the product at hand, and be certain that the client will get maximum value from the study.

Design and development require different perspectives on a problem, but I understand design, and I do know how to code, so I've ramped up my development skills and services accordingly. In these projects, I rarely operate simply as a programmer. One way or another, I'm inevitably working on the interaction design of the site, and bringing in as much usability testing — formal or informal — as I can.