Interaction Design   |   Information Architecture   |   User Experience   |   User Interface Design   |   Usability Research   |   Visualization

Dustin Kirk

843.276.3456 | dustin.kirk@gmail.com | www.dustinkirk.com

Education
   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY: May 2008
   M.S., Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

   MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA: January 2008
   Entrepreneurship Development Program

   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY: December 2003
   B.S., Computer Science and Psychology - Minds & Machines Program


Skill Set
   - Interaction Design:  Persona Development, Task Flow Analysis, OVID Modeling, Story Boarding, Wire Frames, Prototype Development (high fidelity & low fidelity), Visual Design, Competitive Analysis, Style Guide Development, etc.

   - Usability Research & Testing:  Experiment Design, Contextual Inquiry, Ethnographic Study, Surveys, Questionnaires, Heuristic Evaluation, Individual Interviews, Statistical Analysis, Formal Usability Testing, etc.

   - Software, Programming & Scripting:  Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Visio, Paint Shop Pro, AJAX, Action Script, Java Script, PHP, ASP, SQL, HTML, CSS, AJAX, C++, Objective-C, Visual Basic, etc.


Key Strengths
   - Synthesize research and usability studies into actionable product improvements
   - Working collaboratively in multi-disciplinary environments to bring products to market
   - Enthusiasm and passion for applying creative solutions to derive simplicity from complex systems
   - Skills to take designs from pie-in-the-sky ideas to a working proof of concept
   - Attention to detail and the desire to create rich user experiences for products of all types
   - A solid understanding of technologies and design challenges for web, software, and mobile apps
   - An eagerness and curiosity to learn new skills and provide out-of-the-box solutions to complex problems
   - Champion user needs aggressively while being mindful of business, time-to-market, and technical restraints


Experience

   Stacks, San Diego, CA: November 2006 - May 2009
   iPhone App Start-up – Entrepreneur
   - Conceptualized, designed, developed, and launched multiple iPhone apps in the Apple iTunes App Store
   - Worked tirelessly to design highly usable touch-screen apps with a focus on minimalism and stunning visuals
   - Completed all graphic design and development work for both the iPhone applications and the interactive website
   - Received excellent reviews and praise from users and continue to see steadily increasing sales


   Hewlett-Packard, San Diego, CA: November 2006 - May 2009
   IPG Web & Software R&D – Interaction Designer
   - Collaborated with teams around the world to design software experiences for printing and photo management
   - Worked in a fast-pace environment utilizing the Agile methodologies on products
   - Worked on high-exposure products with up to 800 million installs a year.
   - Increased usability of products through testing, analyzing metrics, and incorporating HCI/UCD methodologies

   Benefitfocus.com, Charleston, SC: August 2004 – November 2006
   Product Management – Interaction Designer				
   - Assessed business requirements and developed software interface specifications
   - Completed intensive information architecture work to redesign forms and data entry utilities for multiple user types
   - Collaborated with engineers, business analysts, and customers to add new features and increase usability

   MITRE, Bedford, MA: June 2003 – August 2003
   Department of E-Services – UI Designer / Engineer (Internship)			
   - Designed & Developed ICE, a new ubiquitous meeting and collaboration system
   - Documented and prototyped interaction process for scheduling, prepping, and processing meetings


Full Online Portfolio: www.dustinkirk.com/portfolio