So what qualifies me for this position you ask? Well, it was the dawn of the Internet age when I graduated from college, and my early positions had me building some of the very first Internet and intranet applications. As a consultant, I taught myself HTML, JavaScript and CSS to become a Front-End Technology Engineer and User Interface Designer at the height of the Dot-Com boom. Throughout this time my focus was on ease of use and simplicity of implementation; a definite less is more approach. My list of clients includes Verizon, Kinko’s, Hewitt Associates, Boots Pharmacy, Tenet Healthcare and a large number of Fortune 500 organizations. My work has been recognized by CIO magazine’s CIO100 award for innovation. I just recently left a position with Perot Systems where I spent four years as their Manager of Information Architecture. I am currently the Director of UX for Coremetrics, Inc. My role includes user research, user interface design, interaction design, information architecture, usability analysis, as well as managing and staffing a team of UX folks. In my spare time I try to keep up with my 2 kids activities (currently t-ball, soccer & piano lessons), I play trumpet in the Southlake Swing Band, and I waste a whole lot of time as a semi-pro photographer.

The UX community in DFW is a large and diverse one. We have an active UPA chapter (http://dfw-upa.org) as well and active STC chapter (http://www.stc-dfw.org).

Thanks, and I look forward to my role as co-Ambassador for UXnet

The next DFW-UPA meeting is “User Centered Design” by LB Herbert of JC Penney. This will also be a great opportunity to network and to reconnect with fellow usability professionals in the area.

User-centered design (UCD) is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product. UCD processes focus on users through the planning, design and development of a product.

Classic business models are threatened—the economics of competition have changed. Quality, efficiency and price are quickly matched. Being different requires flexibility—it’s squishy. Squishy seems to imply risk.

Such is the conundrum of the balance between science and art—a balance readily facilitated by Design Thinking, fundamentals for strategic business differentiation.

This is THE event to gain a purview of the design landscape across major DFW businesses. Join important conversations in a Half-Day-Plus exchange of ideas.

A few follow-up items from the event:

• The conference blog site
• Tom Humbarger’s Are You A Design Thinker?
• Featured speaker Chris Bernard’s Design Thinking Digest
• Paula Thornton’s conference preview that also mentions the plan to continue the discussion at many local chapter meetings (like UPA, STC, AIGA and AMA). “[T]hat’s the adaptive/integrative gene” she says - the same gene that drives UXnet.