Steven+Alison Hoober

Steven

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Mobile Interaction & Interface Design • Information Design • Graphic Design

• I am a designer. I am not a developer, but have been a DBA, and written code, including neat stuff like the first CSS for a Fortune 50. I can specify, report bugs and speak developer.
• I am mobile. If you aren't sure that it's time to go mobile, stop reading. I've been doing mobile design since 1999. Don't ask me to choose between iOS and Android. Offer the platform you know your user wants.
• I think strategically. My first questions are always about why your idea is good for the organization, and for the user. This informs my work all the way through the architecture, process, and detailed design.
• I believe in people. I know enough about pixels, scale, code and platforms to not believe in them. Technology is transient. People are your audience and customers.
• I live for quality. It makes me legitimately sad when products are built from fear, lack of knowledge, as copycats, or always take the easy path. I'd rather not work than build terrible products.
• I believe in communities. I believe in the transformative power of connecting and empowering people, through technology and social relationships. Whenever possible, remove barriers to engagement.
• I like drawing. And writing. Good tools and processes make better design. Bad tools impede it. If you insist on using Visio on Windows XP, I probably don't want to work with you. My bag has markers, and a Macbook Pro.
• I collaborate. If I can't talk to the business, work with implementation teams and preferably talk to customers, it's not worth having a designer. Teams work better than people.
• I am evidence based. If I don't know, I find out by reading, or researching, then codifying and sharing. I mentor junior designers and guide teams to make good choices. And when it's not proprietary, I share with everyone to improve the whole industry; I have written books, write a regular column on mobile UX, and speak at conferences.

Brands I have worked with include: Sprint-Nextel, AT&T, Qualcomm, Samsung, Skyfire, Bitstream, VivoTech, TA Telecom, The Weather Channel, Omni Symmetry, Thwapr, FaceDial, PillPhone, Copia, IGLTA, St. Luke's Shawnee Mission Medical Center, Lowe's, Hallmark, uClick, Bank Midwest, IBT, and US Bank.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

July 2012 – February 2013:

Information Architect / Interaction Designer — U.S. Bank

Develop strategies and design products for consumer mobile banking.

• Provide strategic direction and forward-leaning concepts to evolve the current digital banking products.
• Work with project teams to create and document project-specific design solutions for multiple mobile platforms.
• Keep abreast of compliance and regulatory issues; evaluate competitors and non-bank products and industry trends.
• Provide insights into mobile test, user research, analytics, user behavior and trends to the mobile business unit.

February 2012 –

User Experience Architect — Cummins Engine

Perform end-to-end user-centered design and evaluation of digital projects for Cummins global product range..

• Provide mobile and multi-channel expertise, strategy, and standards to the design and technical teams.
• Design and consult on the design of digital solutions for desktop web, mobile web and mobile applications.

December 2010 - November 2011:

Information Architect — Alexander Interactive

Assist internal UX team at Lowe's Home Improvement in developing the MyLowe's cross-channel experience.

• Guided business, marketing, merchandizing and others through exercises to develop features and requirements.
• Created concept documents and got signoff on approach.
• Directed work of IxD and visual designers to create specifications.
• Work alongside the Product Owner, coordinate with other design and product teams.
• Work with Agile team to assure correct execution of the design.

August 2007 to September 2010:

Creative Director / Interaction Director — Little Springs Design

Led design on over 30 highly visible mobile products including two web browsers, and the Weather Channel website.

• Develop design and interactive direction for client projects.
• Coordinate activities of designers and approve or modify deliverable to meet quality requirements.
• Work with usability, research, account management and client teams to gather information, communicate design documentation and execute revisions.
• In charge of company brand and communications standards. In charge of design process and documentation methods.

November 2004 to August 2007:

Human Factors Engineer — Sprint User Experience Design

Designed large-scale (20MM users) products with documented improvements to customer satisfaction and reduced support costs.

• Assist in the discovery and development of business requirements; interpret functional requirements in a user-centric manner; create models to gain customer buy-in and assure proper products implementation.
• Utilize the tools, techniques and processes provided thru User-Centered Design (UCD) to develop highly usable products for all of Sprint.
• Lead designer for complete redesign of the entire post-signon experience for all customers of the merged Sprint & Nextel company.
• Worked with legal, regulatory to influence new FCC regulations and develop new, highly-usable, highly-secure single-signon for entire enterprise.

March 2003 to November 2004:

Interaction Design Manager — Sprint Enterprise Web Solutions, User Experience

Led team of designers and front-end developers in creation of numerous customer-facing sales and post-sales projects for web, and mobile platforms.

• Guided and ensured the use of UCD techniques and processes in the team; creating intuitive user interface prototypes and modifying them based on results of usability testing and other information.
• Lead designer and team manager for new styles (grids & templates) rolled out across all Sprint desktop and mobile sites.
• Led complete redesign of SprintPCS.com websites with full web standards, the first large company to do so anywhere in the world.

June 1999 to March 2003:

Information Design Manager — SprintPCS.com, User Experience

Acted as senior designer while managing and training a team in the use of the Information Design, Interaction Design and UCD processes.

• Applied user research results to inform design; planned and facilitated usability research as needed.
• Led UI design of music service for first MP3 phone, led IA/IxD of (first?) operator ringtone/app store, developed UI for (first?) Google search on mobile, among many other projects.
• Evangelized role of new design team to enterprise, created strong relationships with implementation teams.

October 1997 to June 1999:

Web Developer — IsoSystems, Kansas City, MO

• Designed, programmed and scripted web pages for a variety of client websites; Integrated presentation layer code with back-end systems
• Designed, created and implemented databases for web access and update of information for a variety of clients

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Research:

Experience in formal aeronautical research (KU wind tunnels, WSU water tunnel) • Familiar with user research methodologies and processes • Experience planning and facilitating user research • Some experience with statistical analysis.

Design & Process Development:

Have designed my own method of wireframing (diagramming user-facing systems), used by many others • Highly Skilled with use case modeling and UCD • Experience with UML, Rational (RUP), FDD, Agile Development, Object Oriented Design and Iterative and Incremental Development and design methodologies and concepts.

Systems & Software:

Highly skilled with all best-practice graphic design and office productivity software • Experienced in HTML/XHTML and CSS • Experience in database design and implementation • Practical knowledge of scripting and programming languages.

Interfaces:

Significantly contributed to UI standards for Sprint wireless and desktop interfaces • Highly knowledgeable about capabilities of all current browsers, desktop configurations and typical user behaviors • Familiar with MS and Apple desktop standards • Some familiarity with most portable and wireless consumer devices • Limited familiarity with avionics interfaces, land mobile radio, and some warfighter systems.

Conferences:

I have presented at a lot. Check out my speaker page for a list of thise.

CHI 2003, Human Factors in Computing Systems — Association for Computing Machinery, Ft. Lauderdale, April 2005— Focus on improving inter-department process, collaborative methodologies (e.g. NASA/JPL touch screen requirements environment) and technologies allowing presentation of information based on device and environmental context.

Image & Meaning — MIT, Boston, June 2001 — Focus on alternative visualizations of conventional or complex information; Workshops included discussions about gathering and presenting information on battlefield environmental conditions.

EDUCATION:

Training:

UX Intensive — Adaptive Path, April 2004 — Four day overview of the Adaptive Path methods of requirements gathering, user testing, information architecture and interaction design.

RF 100 — Scott Baxter & Assoc., November 2006 — Three day overview of CDMA and RF System Engineering.

User Interface Design — Bentley College, June 2006 - High-intensity course in details of user-centered design process; focus on prototyping and requirements analysis.

Human Factors & User Experience Design: User Requirements & Task Analysis — Dr. Bill Gribbons, Bentley College, September 2006 — Overview of human factors and human perceptual physiology, update on new methods in requirement gathering and analysis as it informs and measures design.

Usability Boot Camp — Bentley College, November 2005 - Week-long immersive course in the theory and practice of usability; includes practical experience in requirements gathering, prototyping, user testing and other evaluation methods.

Advanced Handset UI Paradigms — Dr. Tony Tsoi, Mobile Usability LLC, series throughout 2005 — The evolution of hardware/software interfaces in mobile devices, expectations for the future, and methodologies for exploiting their strengths and weaknesses.

User Centered Design — Dr. Bill Gribbons, Bentley College, August 2005 — An overview of UCD and Human Factors as it relates to meeting business-centric goals.

Negotiation training — Company-hosted training, Throughout 2005 — Based on William Ury's work as taught at Harvard; including much individual contribution and role-playing.

Education:

B.F.A. Printmaking — School of Fine Arts, University of Kansas, Lawrence — May 1995