Design Years Experience

Location:

India

Posted:

November 22, 2012

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Resume:

Derek Smith's Online Resume and PortfolioProfessional User Experience Designer

Welcome to UXDerek.com

This site is home to my professional,, references and . I also hope to eventually turn this page into a resource for UX Professionals so I have provided access to my favorite as well as general .

About me

I've always been interested in technology and design and I get easily frustrated when something is difficult to use. For these reasons, it was pretty clear that User Experience Design and Human Computer Interaction were perfect fields for me. After studying the foundations in undergrad, I pursued a masters degree in Human Computer Interaction and since then I've focused professionally on the area of User Experience Design, which I believe includes User Centered Design, Interface Design, Interaction Design, Usability Engineering, and several other titles and buzzwords which are all slightly different but all are focused on the overarching goal of creating a good experience for users of an application or website.

In a field where there is not a strong consensus on which professional title to go by, I refer to myself mainly as a "User Experience Designer". I think the title is appropriate for me because I have taken a very holistic approach to building my skill set in the domain. I came out of a multi disciplinary program and studied all of the disciplines of the User Experience field rather then just one of the several disciplines that comprise it. I now have several years experience in this field and have worked on a wide variety of user interface projects. I have touched most areas of the User Experience field and I enjoy them all and feel competent to take the reigns on whatever User Experience activity is needed for a given project. I have found though, that my greatest strength and passion is in designing or improving the UI of complex software applications or transactional websites. I believe this area takes creativity, organization and a skill set that fits me perfectly. I am always interested in looking at a complex system and finding a way to make it easier and more efficient to use.

In today's marketplace a user's experience and interaction with a product is becoming more and more important, perhaps even more so then the products features or cost. The iPhone is one product that really made this clear in recent history. This is what I focus on; making applications and websites easy and efficient for people to use and ensuring that their experience using the product (primarily its interface) is an enjoyable one.