timreitzes portfolio
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Designing Common Ground Between People and Technology
Users
Clients
Technology
me
User Research and Testing High Level Sketching and Prototyping
Information Architecture and User FlowsWireframes
A Process Oriented, User-Centered Approach
My process relies on generating, testing, and learning from both good and bad ideas in order to find common ground between a product and its users.
Possible WorldsNext Generation Preschool Math Teacher's GuideThe Noble Experiment
Congregate WebappGinger Moon Foods
Five projects highlighting some of my recent work
Possibe Worlds - Website Redesign
Challenge:
Skills Used:
Worked with a team to create an online environment for teachers and students to access digital games and classroom resources for middle-grade science learning.
About:
Results: Currently in development
Wireframes
Information Architecture
User Research
Content Strategy
Card Sorting
We spent time in middle grade science classrooms watching our materials being used, and talking to teachers and students about their experiences.
Our research helped us begin to storyboard and test out ideas for how to organize the site.
Teachers know what they're looking for so don't make them hunt, and kids just want to play the games.
Field Research, Card Sorting, and User Flows
Electricity
Electricity is not a subtsance!
Energy & Matter
What's the difference between energy and matter?
Charge & Flow
If it's not a substance, how does it travel?
Pattern & Alignment
How does it get the power to effect
matter?
Electricity & Circuits
How good a model is it?
Instructional PPT
Interactive Pullout
Digital game
Linking Activity
Card Game NoWay!
Topic and MisconceptionSubtopic with Big Question
Activity that can be used to address subtopic. Tagged for relevant subtopics
Curricular Connections
Links To Standards
Research Based Use
Cases
Research Based Use CasesStandards & Assessment
Putting It All Together
Possible Worlds has a number of different curricular modules, all with a similar structure but different materials, that needed to be organized in a way that is useful for teachers and students. An audit of all of the Possible Worlds content led to the creation of a simple Information Architecture and user-friendly Wireframes.
The Noble Experiment NYC
Skills Used:
Partnered with a graphic designer to create a simple website to launch a Brooklyn-based Distillery.
About:
Results: Since it's launch, tneNYC's founder has been a "Best 30 Under 30" in both Forbe's Magazine, and Zagat.
Wireframes
Information Architecture
WireframesAfter talking with the client about the story she wanted to tell with this site, I created a set of wireframes that let the user seamlessly discover all there is to know about tneNYC and it's products.
We are currently working on a new section site to promote tneNYC's featured product, Owney's Rum.
Next Generation Preschool Math - Digital Teacher's Guide
Skills Used:
Worked with a team to create a web application for preschool teachers using a newly developed tablet-based curriculum. The application contains professional development, unit schedules, and student progress tracking for digital games.
About:
Results: Field tested with teachers in 3 cities who all provided positive feedback and useful critiques that we are currently mining for Beta version of the product.
Wireframes
Information Architecture
User Research
Content Strategy
Story Boarding
Sketching for Various Use Cases
Our team mined user research to inform the different scenarios when teachers would be using the guide - sometimes to plan for a lesson, and other times in the middle of teaching, for "just-in-time" assistance or digital resources.
Interface Design for Intimated TeachersWe took the requirements given to us by researchers and curriculum developers and designed a welcoming interface that delivered all of the necessary project content without feeling overwhelming for teachers who might be unfamiliar with the tablet.
Teachers from a recent field test all said that they would rather use the digital version of the Teacher's Guide than a paper version we also provided.
Building The Progress TrackerOur team worked closely with our researchers and developers to figure out what aspects of student gameplay we would be tracking. The data has to be displayed in a way that help teachers understand where and why their students are struggling. In order to help teachers make use of the data, we added a feature that makes suggestions for teachers based on the data for each student.
Ginger Moon
Skills Used:
Working as a consultant to help develop small businesses web presence.
About:
Results: Gingermoon completed a soft-relaunch their website to take their new format for a spin. They have recently decided to change their business model so we are going through another round of revisions to reflect their new needs.
Wireframes
Information Architecture
User Research
Content Strategy
Card Sorting
content coming
User Research to Inform Use Cases
After meeting with the client to get a better idea of what direction they wanted to go in with their web presence, I interviewed potential users to generate personas that I used to guide my design.
Using the personas as a guide, I was able to storyboard different use cases for potential Ginger Moon clients.
VanessaThe Professional Mom-To-Be
She$is$married,$and$her$husband$also$works$long$hours.$
Her$life$is$busy,$and$she$feels$like$she$has$very$little$spare$time.$
She$is$rarely$able$to$get$home$before$7pm$e$very$night,$and$often$takes$work$home$with$her.
Who Is Vanessa?
How does she eat and shop for food?
What is her relationship to technology?She$is$rarely$able$to$get$home$before$7pm$e$very$night,$and$often$takes$work$home$with$her.$She$is$married,$and$her$husband$also$works$long$hours.$Her$life$is$busy,$and$she$feels$like$she$has$very$little$spare$time.$
Uses$social$media$to$see$what$her$friends$are$doing:$Facebook$and$Instagram.$Likes$seeing$what$her$friends$are$doing.$Doesn’t$post$very$often,$other$than$some$photos$of$food.$Also$likes$looking$at$Pinterest$when$she$has$time,$$for$food$and$fashion$porn.$
Vanessa's Social Networks
f
She$tries$to$eat$healthy:$she$eats$salads$a$lot$during$the$week$for$lunch,$and$her$and$her$husband$will$often$order$in$dinner$on$weeknights.$
On$weekends$they$like$to$go$out$to$eat.$They$don’t$cook$very$much,$but$she$would$like$to$become$a$better$home$cook.$
They$use$Fresh$Direct$to$shop$for$groceries,$and$they$like$how$much$time$it$saves$them$from$having$to$go$to$Whole$Foods.$
"I want to do all the right things for my bagy, but who has the time?"
Organizing the Information Architecture
I used card sorting to help me organize the different parts of the new site, and test out different options for architectures with the clients and some potential users.
I spent time talking with the clients about existing sites they liked, and to users about what sites they like using and why. That research helped me generate wireframes and user flows that were both in line with client requirements and pleasing for potential users.
Wireframes and Userflows
Congregate
Skills Used:
Led UX effort on a team at Facebook/MacArthur sponsored "Project Connect: Hackathon" to create an app for social good.
About:
Results: Our prototype won 1st Prize!
Wireframes
Information Architecture
User Research
Content Strategy
Card Sorting
content coming
Mobile
Me, sketching as usual
Collaborating Towards a Deadline
Our task was to build a prototype of a digital experience for social good.
Congregate is an app designed to help teenagers understand and engage with important local and national legislation.
Our team consisted of 2 content experts, a visual designer, a developer, and a UX designer (me).
Designing to Facilitate Civil Discourse
One of the requirements of the Hackathon was that the apps had to promote civility on the internet. With Congregate we decided to implement "sentence starters" in the debate section of the application. The sentence starters, a popular tool in literacy education, are intended to set users on the path towards civil discourse.
Wireframes for Mobile Web
For scalability and distribution purposes, our team decided to design a mobile first web app rather than a native iOS application.
Designing for mobile helped me create a concise information architecture and streamline the user flow.
Thank You!