Dean K. Wong
IA/UI/UX Designer & Content Strategist
m.617.549.5542 | dean@deanwong.com
6 Milt’s Way, Plymouth, MA 02360
www.deanwong.com
I specialize in helping companies solve everyday design challenges facing their products and properties with a fullspectrum approach to the Product and Design User Experience. Advancing the design of software products,
programs, and systems that people can use easily is what I like to do. I drive process and progress consistently,
flexibly, and thoughtfully to meet and exceed the immediate tactical and longer-term strategic design needs of the
business and ultimately — consumers.
Where I typically excel: Defining an overarching design strategy or guidelines and executing on it visually,
creatively, interactively; Talking regularly with users about their wants and needs. Gathering data to define and align
direction of key UX, UIs and task flows; Creating new concepts hewn from rough ideas and discussions into simple,
elegant, accessible, and powerful visuals, content, and designs; Polishing, revising, validating, and iterating designs
to ever greater acceptance, adoption, or conversion. More: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deanwong/
Curriculum Vitae

Certified Usability Analyst (HFI 2006) skilled at all levels of research planning, execution, analysis and
deliverables e.g. Translating findings into tactical and actionable UI/UX, recommendations, docs, etc.
Formal education and training in print journalism drives objectivity and the need to take in all views, hard
and soft data, and true evidence to support meaningful design and propel decision-making.

Senior UX/UI & Visual Designer adept at showing or spelling out the possibilities, illuminating the pros or
cons, and generally prioritizing and promoting good design from multiple perspectives using words,
presentations, wires, flows/storyboards, mockups, and functional prototypes that spur design forward.

Competent Front-end Developer at relative ease in the front-end and middle tier (HTML/CSS expert, less
Javascript/jQuery etc.), with broad familiarity working in various tech frameworks, back-ends (MS, Mongo,
Django, RoR, SVN etc.), tools, systems, and apps (JIRA, PlanBox, Wiki/Drupal/Tumblr, Ideajj/Webstorm,
Git/SVN etc.), and processes (agile/SCRUM, waterfall)

Information Architect & Content Strategist adept at sorting through the complexities and defining order
amidst chaos, in the everyday challenges of organizing information so that content is intuitively structured,
labeled, categorized, easy-to-find or discover.

Creative Writer & Journalist capable of producing high-quality, audience-driven creative, technical,
marketing, product, documentation and deliverables: Marketing (Campaigns, CTAs, sites, apps,
integrations, social media); Product/Design/Engineering sides (Personas, UAT/QA, Tech Specs, PRDs,
style guides, how-to guidance, development docs etc).

Professional at home contributing individually or as part of a team, at both the highest or lowest levels, to
the betterment of the product and ultimate goals of the product and company.
Core Competencies
UX/UI/Visual Design
Product & Process
Tech & Tools

All stages UI and Visual design
from concept to production

Product and Project
Management
Dev-capable: HTML, CSS,
jQuery/AJAX, javascript

Design strategy &
thought leadership

Product Discovery planning
and facilitation
Dev-familiarity: Lift, Scala, Classic
.ASP, Perl, PHP, Ruby

Responsive Design & 508
Accessibility

Agile/SCRUM, Waterfall, ad-hoc
hybrids

All stages & modes of User
Research, Usability Planning &
Testing and Analysis

Competitive Analysis, Traffic
Analytics (Google Analytics,
Web Trends, etc.)
Adobe Suite: Illustrator, Photoshop,
Dreamweaver, Acrobat, InDesign,
Premier, Flash, Lightroom
Source Control: Git, SVN, Source
Safe

Forrester Expert
Web Site Reviews

Content Strategy and
Development

Design Documentation

Browsers/Platforms/Tech

Rapid Prototyping


Information Architecture
methods, Card Sorting,
Validation
eCommerce, SEO, Social
Media
Code Editing: Code Wrangler,
TextPad, Ideajj, WebStorm,
Dreamweaver, HomeSite, IIS

Project Planning MS Project,
PlanBox, IceScrum, JIRA)
Interaction, User Interface Best
Practices and Trends
Email Marketing, Web
Marketing Campaigns, Jump
Pages, Conversion Strategies

Synchronous/asynchronous
Web collaboration Tools
(WebEx, GoToMeeting, Glance,
Gliffy, Balsamiq, Basecamp,
Confluence )


Data Visualizations and Info.
Graphics

Wireframes, Page Models &
Visual Mockups, Storyboards

Field studies, Personas
Development, Use Case
Prioritization, Task & Work-Flow
Analysis

Portals, Dashboards, 3rd Party
Integrations, Network property
alignment


Product (Discovery, Definition,
Requirements, Use Cases,
Business/Technical
Specification).
Help, How-Tos, QA
documentation creation/editing
Prototyping/Wireframes: Axure Pro,
Gliffy, iPlotz, Balsamiq, Visio,
Omnigraffle
Responsive: Bootstrap, SaaS
CMS: Drupal, RoboHelp, Robo
Demo, Vignette etc.
Animation/Video/Sound: Flash,
Premier, GIF Builder, Swish,
GifMation, BodyBuilder, SoundEdit,
Collaboration: WebEx, Basecamp,
Glance, GoToMeeting, Adobe
Connect
Analytics: Google Analytics,
Webtrends, Omniture
Current Experience
Principal UX Designer
Jan. 2013 to June 2013, Compass Aging Services, Framingham, MA Inc., (GateHouse Media Ventures)
Design lead covering all aspects of Interaction, Architectural, Content, UI, UX, and Visual Design on a Web-based
Life Planning App for Seniors, their Adult Children, and their Caregivers. Responsible for design across the
business: Visual design, coding, planning, and execution from concept to production the entire UI and UX.
Researched audience to support page designs, created personas, managed agencies, priorities, and deliverables.
Worked in tandem with management to hone and refine content, presentation, tone, and attitude of the UX.
Principal UX Designer
June 2012 to Jan. 2013, Quant5, Inc., Kendall Sq. Cambridge, MA
Design, strategic, visual, architectural, interaction, IA and senior-level UX support for Quant5, a first-generation
predictive analytics/Big Data app to that helps businesses market more effectively. Worked in Big Data with big
thinker Sloan MIT types in the heart of the CIC with the latest data-driven tech: SVGs, R, Lift, Scala, d3.js, Mongo,
and javascript-driven require.js, d3.js. Tasked with driving design forward, and delivering fresh concepts, final
design, and code for app features and enhancements.
Senior UX Designer
Dec. 2010 to June 2012, OurStage, Inc., Chelmsford, MA
Across-the-board UX design leadership (visual, architectural, interaction, product and product marketing strategic
and tactical) on all client-facing integrations, application framework, new projects, and existing functionality
enhancements. Champion of iterative usability, research, and audience supported design. Plan, concept,
collaborate, discuss, and build everything with user-centric Responsive Design principles for Web, mobile, and
tablet displays. Implement and iterate using latest and greatest techniques in a Ruby, CSS3, HMTL5 environment
using cutting edge tools such as Bootstrap and Drupal. Continually initiate in-roads to product improvements
through any means necessary to build a better product that in any form results in increasing value, usefulness and
easier use for target consumers.
UX Consultant
Feb. 2008 to Present, DKW Design, Plymouth, MA
Independent freelancer providing consultation on Visual Design, Information Architecture, Usability Analysis, UX/UI
Design and strategy, and design thought leadership. Provide critical path, prioritized and timely usability advice,
recommendations, and strategies that improve and enhance visual, interaction, and user interface design,
information architecture, standards, SEO, content strategy, 508 compliance, Marketing and more. Recent clients:
1.
Wield & Co., IssueWorks – 2012 - 2013 - Branding, logo, and site design concept and production work
for NYC-based New Issues Market holding and subsidiary.
2.
Brik LLC – 2013 - Design strategy for 1st gen NYC-based financial portfolio management app.
3.
Endeca Technologies – 2010 - Primary research and redesign foundation for Endeca Developer’s
Network (EDeN), Cambridge, MA.
4.
Practising Law Institute - 2010 – Review, enhance, design solutions concepting for NYC LMS for
attorneys
5.
Savant Systems, LLC, - 2010 - Osterville, MA 1st gen tablet UI/UX home automation software
Senior UX Designer
Nov. 2008 to Jan. 2010, Bullhorn Inc., Boston MA
Usability lead, information architect and designer on special projects and ongoing feature enhancements for
Bullhorn, the leading Enterprise SaaS CRM/ATS software for Staffing and Recruiting. Researcher, information
architect and design lead for new revenue initiatives (products) involving monetizing client metadata, social
networking, and an application store. Planned and executed user testing studies and surveys on a new calendar, an
application redesign and new revenue initiatives; Created internal and external personas, use cases, product
requirement, technical & design specifications and guidelines. Crafted page concepts, wireframes, page models,
mockups and working prototypes to validate ideas, concepts, and theories. Developed user-centric design
standards, and integration of design in an agile environment. Promoted iterative enhancement of the experience
through the consistent application of best practices, standards, and trends. Designed and/or coded visual marketing
solutions for applications, product rollouts, programs and branding/identity for Bullhorn.com.
UX Architect
April 2008 to Oct. 2008, Insight Direct Inc. Boston MA
Led the 2.0 design architecture and all UX efforts on VaZing.com, Insight Direct's Enterprise SaaS CRM/SMB
application. Led a successful design transition for VaZing 1.0 to 2.0 level by re-imagining application navigation,
architecture, interaction and UI. Evangalized iterative user testing and user-centered design, and usability study
cycles to continually focus on the user’s true needs. Created design standards to help guide the product's future
evolution beyond v2.0; Evangelized on UX best practices, research, and trends. Managed freelancers, internal
resources, schedules and deliverables. Developed personas to guide product development and give Engineers
insights into users' needs and motivations.
UX Architect
July 2007 to Feb. 2008, SonicBids Inc, Boston MA
Design and product leadership for new functionality and features, and redesigned key workflows of the user
experience to enhance usability, navigation, and promote conversion and adoption of consumer site geared towards
Independent musicians. Led redesign of user registration that in short time yielded a double-digit increase in signups to premium accounts. Led a cross-disciplinary task force to improve framework flexibility and navigation, and
position us for personalization and customization. Redesigned and coded a new email marketing template that
could be reconfigured according to specific need and audience. Redesigned lists and grids for product extensibility
and data scalability, employing AJAX expandable content regions and modals. Crafted surveys, researched and
evangelized on UX best practices, rapid prototyping, and process. Lead member of task forces on SEO, 508
Compliance, and Social Networking initiatives. Coded and delivered production quality source code and imagery on
numerous projects. Facilitated meetings to gather requirements and specifications, and right-size project scope.
User Experience Designer
Mar. 2005 to Jun. 2007, Forrester Research, Boston MA
UX designer/developer tasked with creating intuitive and attractive interfaces, interaction flows, and Web design on
both http://www.forrester.com and client application. Gathered requirements, wrote specifications, coded and
wireframed prototypes, features, and enhancements. Co-design 2007 redesign of application Web site to shift from
category to a self-service role-based site. Lead strategic optimization efforts in multiple, iterative redesigns of the
corporate home page(s). Designed and redesigned macro sections of the application Web site such as Contact Us,
lead generation features, Search, Advanced Search, RSS, Events section, Consulting and Data, marketing
campaigns, client registration and login features to improve conversion, affordance, usability, search, feedback, and
error handling. Participated in user testing sessions, analysis and change management. Team redesign and update
of the site's CSS, repaired bugs regularly and built custom graphics and pages on request. Managed outside
contractors and internal resources to meet tight project timeframes
User Experience Specialist
May 2002 to Nov. 2004, BostonWorks, Inc. (NYT Company Digital)
UX Design lead for http://www.bostonworks.com who designed and developed vast portions of the
BostonWorks.com jobseeker and employer UX. More than doubled online revenue ($1m 11.6.04) and tripled Web
site traffic (15.7m avg. p.v. 2003) over two year span. Led a redesign of the main site earning CareerXRoad's Top
50 Recruitment Web Sites 2003. Finalist 2004 Editor & Publisher EPpy Award "Best Career Service". Finalist 2005
Digital Edge Award for "Best Employment Site". Winner 2005 NAA Digital Edge Award for Best Employment Site
(Circulation Greater Than 250,000). Led v1.0 design of The Hiring Hub where employers and recruiters could post
jobs, access pricing info., a media kit, and read regularly updated recruiting industry news and events . Created a
browse jobs taxonomy that allowed jobseekers to find local jobs within their region, town or commute. Designed an
Ad Packages Calculator for Sales that resulted in 32 contracts and $1.4m in bookings in its first month of use. Led
design of a self-service application, Create-an-Ad, that enables users to buy ads online. Regular contributor to “The
Job Blog” industry news, insights and events.
Past Experience

Brainshark, Inc., Senior Web Designer, April 2000 to November 2001

Lycos, Inc., Web Designer, March 1999 to March 2000

Boston.com, Web Designer and Content Developer, May 1996 to February 1999

The Patriot Ledger, Staff Reporter, January 1994 to April 1996

The Boston Globe, Globe Correspondent, April 1993 to September 1993
Education

B.A. ’94 Northeastern University, Journalism, Major in Broadcasting, Minor in Creative Writing

Conferences & Seminars: New Orleans - Macromedia MAX 2004; Boston - Edward Tufte Envisioning
Information Seminars 2003; Cambridge - UIE User Interface 2001

Trainings: Adobe Illustrator 2012; Rally Software Agile Training 2008; Franklin Covey Nov. 2007; Human
Factors International, Completed Certified Usability Analyst track April 2006, certified June 2006;
Myers/Briggs Assessment 2005; One-off trainings and continuing education coursework in Flash, CSS,
Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Illustrator, PowerPoint