Techniques: sketching, wireframing, prototyping
Tools sketchbooks, Omnigraffle, Adobe Fireworks
Team 1 lead ux designer (myself), 1 visual designer, 1 developer
Design Objective The team at EchoUser was unhappy with our current web presence and wanted to convey a newer, more youthful and "design-centric" attitude. My coworker and I were tasked with creating a brand new web site design.
Design Solution www.echouser.com, A complete restructuring of the web site, including site architecture, content, and layout.
Result The new site launched in May 2011 and is currently garnering quite a bit of positive feedback.

Techniques: RITE (Rapit Iterative Testing), eyetracking, wireframing
Tools Tobii eyetracking software, EchoUser Analytics, Adobe Fireworks
Team 1 lead ux designer, 1 ux designer (myself)
Design Objective Life Technologies deals with 1,000's of medical supplies and equipment that suppliers need to understand in great detail to make sure they are purchasing the right items. Life Technologies' search tools need to be bullet-proof. They were about to launch a live version of their search and wanted to make sure through user testing that the new search paradigm worked well.
Design Solution We utilized eyetracking and multiple iterative rounds of testing to determine and improve how users paid attention to information in the search model and results pages. Discoverability and overall usability were greatly enhanced through the cycles of testing and redesign.
Result Life Technologies implemented a final version of their site that was significantly optimized through eyetracking and iterative testing. Evolving the design allowed a much more successful search paradigm to be designed, which is now live and successfully helping users find and purchase the right medical equipment.

Techniques: personas, wireframing, paper prototyping, spec writing
Tools omnigraffle, sketchbooks,
Team 1 lead ux designer (myself), 1 ux designer
Design Objective At the time Qualcomm came to us, they were developing a new Smartphone platform with all-new native applications. They wanted us to help them design four new native applications for their platform, as well as think through their current design paradigms.
Design Solution As this was mostly a straight-up design project (Qualcomm had already done extensive user research), this project involved looking over their research, familiarizing ourselves with their target user, and then designing applications that made the most sense. After our research and design process, we wrote up extensive design documentation and specifications using the components that had already been designed for Qualcomm's other native applications, as well as creating our new custom components.
Result Over the course of 8 weeks, we developed user flows and detailed design specifications for all four applications. We also delivered a usability report detailing our findings.

Techniques: wireframing, usability testing, sketching, iterative design, presenting, report writing
Tools omnigraffle, sketchbooks, collaborative online software (skype, dabbleboard, googledocs, etc)
Team 1 developer (remote), 1 project manager, 1 lead ux designer, 1 ux designer (myself)
Design Objective Design and develop an iPhone application for Genentech employees that allows them to report their daily transportation for reimbursement.
Design Solution gRide, A working, easy to use iPhone application available to employees on the Genentech appstore.
Result over 2,000 Genentech employees downloaded this application and used it on a daily basis.

Techniques research interviews, contextual research (ride-alongs), affinity diagramming, sketching, design, prototyping
Tools Pear Note, Omnigraffle, Adobe Fireworks, Keynote, Notepods
Team 1 project manager, 1 lead ux designer, 1 ux designer (myself)
Design Objective Research and design an iphone application for Genentech employees that helps them plan for and ride the company shuttles
Design Solution After conducting 1:1 interviews with 25 users, and doing ride-alongs on each shuttle route, I created route maps, participant summaries, and a presentation/report of user needs for the team. I then designed and prototyped a basic mobile web application, which I used in task-based testing for a second group of participants.
Result A working prototype and user research deliverables to hand off to the designer who created the final designs.

Techniques research interviews, affinity diagramming, sketching
Tools Pear Note, stickynotes, notepads, omnigraffle
Team 1 project manager, 1 lead ux designer, 1 ux designer (myself)
Design Objective Research and design an iPhone application for Genentech employees to deal with the main needs they have surrounding being on business trips or out of the office.
Design Solution After conducting 1:1 interviews, I created a presentation and report of user needs and several low-fidelity design options for the team to choose from.
Result From the main needs that were gathered, 3-4 mobile application ideas were drawn out, and basic designs were drawn up for the application with the most need.

Techniques circuit design, Arduino programming, Processing programming, physical prototyping, report writing
Tools Arduino board, various circuitry, various physical items (bottles, wires, foam), subversion, Arduino and Processing programming environments
Team 2 School of Information Masters Students with backgrounds in Computer Science (including myself)
Design Objective Design and develop a fun, collaborative musical game with a tangible user interface.
Design Solution Jug Hero, a game inspired by the Guitar Hero series of video games, but with Jugs not Guitars, and collaborative instead of competitive.
Result A presentation of Jug Hero at Maker Faire, press throughout the web (eg Kotaku and Instructables) and use of Jug Hero in the Jug Band Association's Fair.

Techniques interviewing, contextual observation, affinity diagramming, sketching, visual layout, logo design, wireframing, design presentation, report writing
Tools sticky notes, photoshop, illustrator, buzzword, connectNow
Team 3 School of Information Master's Students with backgrounds in HCI, Computer Science (myself), and International Development Studies
Design Objective Squash & Vine was my Master's Capstone Project, the goal of which was to identify key information and communication barriers between participants in the food community, and address these barriers with an appropriate design.
Design Solution The design of an online social network, Squash & Vine, that connects all the participants and provides particular tools to address key needs. These tools include food webs to promote transparency, questions and answers modules which allow sharing between participants, and audio updates which allow easy access from the field.
Result Extensive user research has been conducted and compiled (our team interviewed close to 50 producers, consumers and retailers), and this research has been posted online for others to build from. Additionally, tools have been designed to address the key needs found in the community.

Techniques php & LSL (Linden Scripting Language) programming, design presentation, report writing
Tools flickr api, second life
Team 2 School of Information Master's Students acting as developers, with backgrounds in HCI and Computer Science (myself)
Design Objective Design and develop a method for the members of OKAPI Island (a Second Life re-creation of an archealogical site open to the public developed by the UC Berkeley Archeological Research Facility) to import and view their flickr photos in Second Life.
Design Solution SLickr, a flickr viewing screen on OKAPI Island, which allows Second Life users to "tell" the screen which flickr photos they would like to see by specifying tags, usernames, set ids, and pool ids. The screen will then "play" feeds of these photos. The user can control this playback through basic navigation buttons.
Result The members of OKAPI (Open Knowledge and the Public Interest) can now link SLickr to their photo stream, and allow any member of the public to see images of the dig. Additionally, the code to SLickr is easily modified and open source.

Techniques interviewing, affinity diagramming, personas, diary studies, surveys, sketching, physical prototyping, design presentation, report writing
Tools sticky notes, illustrator, modeling clay & other various physical tools for prototyping, 3D printer, chocolate molds
Team 3 School of Information Master's Students (including myself), 1 Business Master's Student, 1 Engineering PhD Student, and 1 Industrial Design Student
Design Objective Develop an innovative line of chocolate targeted for Millenials (18-35 year-olds), and present this line to TCHO Chocolates
Design Solution Three new lines of chocolates: TCHO Gems, Rococoa, and TCHO Seasons. Tcho Gems are fortified gem-shaped chocolates. Gems are designed to melt in a hot beverage; Rococoa are chocolate drink-toppers with a modern look. Rococoa are designed to sit on the edge of a wine or cocktail glass. TCHO Seasons is a line of customizable drinking chocolate tailored toward the seasons.
Result A tradeshow and a presentation to the board at TCHO.

Techniques wireframes, data scraping, flare/flex programming, design presentation, report writing
Tools photoshop, tableau, subversion, eclipse
Team 3 School of Information Master's Students acting as designers & developers, with backgrounds in English, Health Informatics, and Computer Science (myself)
Design Objective Design and develop an innovative method of visualizing a large data set of information about nonprofits, to allow easy sorting and comprehension for potential donors and researchers.
Design Solution CharityVis, an interactive, multifaceted visualization of the charity landscape. CharityVis allows users to see an over-all view of charities across a variety of categories, while also providing a means to focus on specific charities of interest.
Result A more interesting, intuitive way to search through a large dataset rather than scrolling through long lists (currently the only other way of viewing this informaion)

Techniques: interviewing, surveys, contextual observation, report writing
Tools: online survey software, rfid reader, rfid chips in various items (credit cards, passports)
Team 4 School of Information Masters Students with backgrounds in Medical Informatics, HCI, Graphic Design & Computer Science (myself), 2 researchers at the Samuelson Law Clinic.
Design Objective To assess lay people's understanding of and perceptions toward Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. Because lay people tend to be the passive users of RFID tags (in contrast to active users, thus far mostly businesses and governments), their perceptions and needs have largely been ignored by RFID applications.
Design Solution A report of our findings and recommendations for how to focus further studies in this area.
Result This report added to the slim collection of research documenting how lay people understand RFID and the risks they associate with it. Our report was later used in a paper, "Where’s The Beep?: Security, Privacy, and User Misunderstandings of RFID."