Brian O'Neill, User Experience & Interaction Designer

User experience web designer, application & interaction designer, information architect, design management, web-standards expert, web developer. Usability testing, customer research, persona development, design process management with AGILE. Design technologies: XHTML, HTML5, CSS, CSS3, HighCharts, Data visualization, dHTML, Javascript and JQUERY, AJAX. Comfortable working in Ruby on Rails, PHP/MYSQL, Drupal, Cold Fusion (CFML), ASP, JSP/STRUTS. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist. RSS. 508, WCAG, Accessibility expertise. Wireless/mobile. IxDA. Industries: Cloud, IT, SAN / storage / server virtualization, financial services, travel, survey science, music, health / fitness, language learning, boomers and seniors.

Independent consultant: user experience & interaction design

I have been designing websites and applications since 1996. In 2007, I became a full time independent consultant doing business as Rhythmspice Media. Many of my clients are startups who need help designing useful, usable, and beautiful web applications. Often times, this means introducing design thinking and design processes to companies who may have a sales or technology-driven practice that is leaving the human element in the background. As each project is different, I have developed my skills over time to provide design+business goal definition, IA, UI/visual design, front-end development, accessibility, low-cost usability/design research, data visualization, and team development services. I believe all of these skills are required to design software that delivers great user experiences. See my LinkedIn profile for references, my web portfolio, and my client list.

TravelDragon.com, Founder & Chief Design Officer

In 2009, I redesigned and became a partner in TravelDragon.com, the world's first search engine of trips and accommodations from boutique and experiential travel operators from around the world. Currently, I am acting as CDO, managing the product ideas, design, and development along with my partner and CEO, Kathy Dragon. Since joining, I have created a lead-capture system and robust trip-entry CMS that feeds the results of the faceted search engine I also designed and built. Additionally, our travel content can be syndicated out to social media outlets automatically, which helps achieve our goal of reducing the time operators need to spend marketing their trip inventory. I also architected the original database model for the app, and have since upgraded it to allow TravelDragon to become a white-label product for business-to-business deals. Recently, we improved our operator registration process, speeding up the on-boarding of new travel providers.

Eons.com, Director of Design and User Experience

Internet startup founded by Jeff Taylor, former CEO of Monster.com

February 2006 - February 2007

• Oversaw hiring and managed a team three designers plus a brand agency.
• Launched seven products in six months including lifestyle blogs, a financial guidance site, a life-goal application, and social media applications targeted for baby boomers.
• Designed customized registration systems that allowed 100,000 members to register in the first year of business.
• Helped integrate Agile and User Experience methodologies by growing the technical skill set of the design team members. This enabled releases every two weeks with each designer responsible for most of the front-to-back design work on their assigned product.
• Conducted and began a usability & user validation program to put a check on the rapid Agile development style embraced by the engineering and product groups.
• Architected, prototyped, and coded much of the original front-end XHTML/CSS for the site, employing Web Standards methodologies to reduce page load time, maintenance, and accessibility burdens.
• Architected the design and the underlying data model for the Travel vertical which became it's own company called TravelDragon.

BrownCo (BrownCo.com) & ETRADE — Experience Design Lead

BrownCo was a division of JP Morgan Invest, LLC (JP Morgan Chase) sold to ETRADE in 2006.

January 2005 - February 2006

• Applied design thinking methods to generate a focus on the customer during the redesign of the BrownCo’s trading application. Engaged with product managers, traders, and marketing stakeholders during the design process to ensure a comprehensive business focus on customer experience.
• Designed interfaces for the portfolio area of the application and validated the designs with usability studies.
• Lead the adoption of Web Standards methodologies (structured XHTML, CSS, and ECMA Script) and managed the creation of all front-end CSS and markup.
• Having a very strong technical background, acted as a bridge between the Engineering and Experience Design groups, enabling swifter, feasible design with less need for business analyst involvement.
• Primary consultant for web accessibility issues and was a member of JPMC’s Access Ability networking group, dedicated to universal design across JPMC's products.
• Introduced design thinking into the software and product development teams at ETrade after they bought the assets of BrownCo.

Fidelity Investments (Fidelity.com) — Lead Designer, Information Architect

August 2003 - November 2004

• Designed interfaces for Fidelity.com's retail website used by millions of customers, including the main portfolio management section which after launch, alleviated the need for "ping ponging" between multiple screens to understand one's net worth picture across accounts.
• Lead design projects like the Fidelity.com Stock Screener and parts of the Account Opening processes. The stock screener was Fidelity’s first website using semantic XHTML, CSS and AJAX for a more desktop-like experience.
• Introduced the Fidelity Design and Development teams to Web Standards, and the use of CSS/XHTML for designing proper semantic, accessible, and efficient web applications across browsers. Gave classes on CSS, consulted on best practices in accessibility with other designers, and trained co-workers on these methods.

Terra Lycos — Lead Designer for Financial Products

July 2000—August 2003

• Lead design for all sites and trading applications across Lycos Finance, Quote.com, Raging Bull, and Lycos Small Business. Working closely with product managers, championed and introduced the user-centered design to technical and business team members.
• During tough 2002 market conditions, helped Quote.com realize a 7% increase in subscriptions by creating an up-sell strategy focused on making the product differentiations clearer and the registration process easier.
• Designed the first AJAX and browser-based application at Lycos called LiveCharts™ Plus (for Quote.com). This brought a desktop trading-like feel to customers' browsers as it utilized real-time streaming quotes.
• Created working prototypes in XHTML/HTML/CSS/ASP to allow business and engineering to experience new products prior to full development.
• Participated in usability evaluations of various products including LiveCharts™, the Lycos Homepage, and Lycos Search to improve upon design concepts.
• Created a new brand identity for Quote.com.
• Conceived new advertising vehicles like LiveCharts™ Skins, a take-over style advertisement vehicle that let clients purchase a large ad space while not impeding the user experience of the LiveCharts™ users.
• Wrote and presented a 4-part workshop for Lycos on web standards (XHTML & CSS), addressing the business and technical pluses associated with adoption of this methodology.

SmartPlanet.com (subsidiary of ZDNet/CNET) — Web Designer

August 1999 - May 2000

Full-time position as web designer for online learning website. In addition to site design, I established a style guide for the site and trained producer on technologies.

Northern Arizona University, May 1999

Graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance (Percussion)

Languages

• Spanish: Intermediate writing and speaking skills
• Brazilian Portuguese: Advanced speaking skills; intermediate writing skills

Honors and Professional Affiliations

• Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
• Usability Professionals Association (UPA Boston)
• Graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 major discipline GPA and 3.93 cumulative GPA
• Percussive Arts Society member
• Winner of Exotica Album of the Year at the 2006, 2007, 2008 Hawaii Music Awards
• Winner of two solo concerto competitions for orchestras in Arizona (1999)