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UX design consultant
UXInnova
Making a difference for the user.
by HFI
What is your role?
I am a self-employed UX design consultant and my company is UXinnova. I found my current contract just days after completing the CUA certification courses – the contract is for a year-long user experience project for a major American bank. This role specifically required a CUA certification from HFI to be considered for hire, so it’s clear to me how important a CUA credential is. It’s apparent that the rest of the world is learning the importance of formal CUA education and certification, too.
I had over a decade of experience around the usability and human factors space, and I still got a lot out of the courses. I paid for mine out of my own pocket – I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t consider the training to be valuable. Having the CUA certification from Human Factors International has resulted in a 33% increase in the rates I get!
What excites you about your job?
Making a difference for the user. I love being able to remove ambiguity and frustration from the user experience, and make interactions with a system effortless and possibly even pleasant!
What projects are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a project for a major American bank – unfortunately, because it is covered by an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) I can’t elaborate much except to say that both users included in my usability testing and interviews and the stakeholders are already giving very positive feedback.
How does the CUA training help in your daily work?
HFI’s courses helped give shape to some nebulous concepts I had floating around in my head. Now, those concepts are clearly defined. There are principles, mental models, and concepts that UX designers may not realize are backed up by studies, data, definitions, and statistics. HFI’s courses help to organize those thoughts and concepts. I also learned a lot about human behavior and psychology.
What are some of the challenges you face, and how are you addressing them?
The biggest challenge is always getting other teams to understand the value of UX, and its impact on ROI. The best way I’ve found to overcome that is to draw on personal experiences from past projects, and try to explain the benefits gained, and the similarities to the current project.
Published articles and data (if you can find them) may help, too. In his book, “Principles of Software Engineering Management,” Tom Gilb points out that a properly executed UX strategy returns between two and one-hundred times its cost in ROI. One project on which I was a UX team member is currently saving an international bank billions of dollars per year, by merely improving the UI that their customer service representatives use. That’s a pretty good return on investment!
I work hard to promote UX awareness, and go out of my way to explain that UX designers have a strong commitment to making not only the user experience better, but also to improving the flow of a project’s design and development life cycle – and that makes everyone’s job easier – but, the bottom line is still the bottom line. If you can raise awareness of how a good UX strategy improves profitability, exponentially, you’ve won most of the battle already.
How do you see your role changing in the next five years?
I think the challenges of getting executive management on board with implementing a UX strategy are beginning to fade, as they become more aware of the impact of a good (or bad) user experience, and its effect on ROI.
I also plan to grow my (now one-man) UX company and hire more UX designers as awareness of the importance of a good UX strategy grows.
Each month we highlight the successes and achievements of a different member of our CUA community. If you are a Certified Usability Analyst and would like to be considered for CUA of the Month recognition, please send a brief professional bio to hfi@humanfactors.com
Privacy policy
Reviewed: 18 Mar 2014
This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Human Factors International, Inc., an Iowa corporation ("HFI") collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User") of its humanfactors.com website and any derivative or affiliated websites on which this Privacy Policy is posted (collectively, the "Website"). HFI reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time by posting such changes to this page. You understand that you have the affirmative obligation to check this Privacy Policy periodically for changes, and you hereby agree to periodically review this Privacy Policy for such changes. The continued use of the Website following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes an acceptance of those changes.
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In the course of its business, HFI may perform expert reviews, usability testing, and other consulting work where personal privacy is a concern. HFI believes in the importance of protecting personal information, and may use measures to provide this protection, including, but not limited to, using consent forms for participants or "dummy" test data.
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How HFI Uses Information
HFI may use personally identifiable information collected through the Website for the specific purposes for which the information was collected, to process purchases and sales of products or services offered via the Website if any, to contact Users regarding products and services offered by HFI, its parent, subsidiary and other related companies in order to otherwise to enhance Users’ experience with HFI. HFI may also use information collected through the Website for research regarding the effectiveness of the Website and the business planning, marketing, advertising and sales efforts of HFI. HFI does not sell any User information under any circumstances.
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Personal Information as Provided by User
If a User includes such User’s personally identifiable information as part of the User posting to the Website, such information may be made available to any parties using the Website. HFI does not edit or otherwise remove such information from User information before it is posted on the Website. If a User does not wish to have such User’s personally identifiable information made available in this manner, such User must remove any such information before posting. HFI is not liable for any damages caused or incurred due to personally identifiable information made available in the foregoing manners. For example, a User posts on an HFI-administered forum would be considered Personal Information as provided by User and subject to the terms of this section.
Security of Information
Information about Users that is maintained on HFI’s systems or those of its service providers is protected using industry standard security measures. However, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and HFI cannot guarantee that the information submitted to, maintained on or transmitted from its systems will be completely secure. HFI is not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures relating to the Website by any Users or third parties.
Correcting, Updating, Accessing or Removing Personal Information
If a User’s personally identifiable information changes, or if a User no longer desires to receive non-account specific information from HFI, HFI will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update and/or remove that User’s previously-provided personal data. This can be done by emailing a request to HFI at hfi@humanfactors.com. Additionally, you may request access to the personally identifiable information as collected by HFI by sending a request to HFI as set forth above. Please note that in certain circumstances, HFI may not be able to completely remove a User’s information from its systems. For example, HFI may retain a User’s personal information for legitimate business purposes, if it may be necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, for account recovery purposes, if required by law or as retained in HFI’s data backup systems or cached or archived pages. All retained personally identifiable information will continue to be subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy to which the User has previously agreed.
Contacting HFI
If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, you may contact HFI via any of the following methods:
Human Factors International, Inc.
PO Box 2020
1680 highway 1, STE 3600
Fairfield IA 52556
hfi@humanfactors.com
(800) 242-4480
Terms and Conditions for Public Training Courses
Reviewed: 18 Mar 2014
Cancellation of Course by HFI
HFI reserves the right to cancel any course up to 14 (fourteen) days prior to the first day of the course. Registrants will be promptly notified and will receive a full refund or be transferred to the equivalent class of their choice within a 12-month period. HFI is not responsible for travel expenses or any costs that may be incurred as a result of cancellations.
Cancellation of Course by Participants (All regions except India)
$100 processing fee if cancelling within two weeks of course start date.
Cancellation / Transfer by Participants (India)
4 Pack + Exam registration: Rs. 10,000 per participant processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the course (4 Pack-CUA/CXA) registration before three weeks from the course start date. No refund or carry forward of the course fees if cancelling or transferring the course registration within three weeks before the course start date.
Cancellation / Transfer by Participants (Online Courses)
$100 processing fee if cancelling within two weeks of course start date. No cancellations or refunds less than two weeks prior to the first course start date.
Individual Modules: Rs. 3,000 per participant ‘per module’ processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the course (any Individual HFI course) registration before three weeks from the course start date. No refund or carry forward of the course fees if cancelling or transferring the course registration within three weeks before the course start date.
Exam: Rs. 3,000 per participant processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the pre agreed CUA/CXA exam date before three weeks from the examination date. No refund or carry forward of the exam fees if requesting/cancelling or transferring the CUA/CXA exam within three weeks before the examination date.
No Recording Permitted
There will be no audio or video recording allowed in class. Students who have any disability that might affect their performance in this class are encouraged to speak with the instructor at the beginning of the class.
Course Materials Copyright
The course and training materials and all other handouts provided by HFI during the course are published, copyrighted works proprietary and owned exclusively by HFI. The course participant does not acquire title nor ownership rights in any of these materials. Further the course participant agrees not to reproduce, modify, and/or convert to electronic format (i.e., softcopy) any of the materials received from or provided by HFI. The materials provided in the class are for the sole use of the class participant. HFI does not provide the materials in electronic format to the participants in public or onsite courses.