Christopher Hallahan: Interactive resume, blog and portfolio

My final master's project (PDF) for Kent State University is available for download.  It demonstrates how one can apply user-centered design principles to a web site redesign.  Thank you to Junior Achievement of East Central Ohio for working with me and allowing me to share this research.

I've just finished compiling a companion piece to this web site, a printed portfolio of my previous work.  Please take a look at the PDF for examples of application development, web design and visual design.

Download: Hallahan-Portfolio.pdf

Thank you to all the interested businesses who responded to my Master's Project proposal.  The decision was extremely difficult, but I am happy to be working with Junior Achievement of East Central Ohio.  Please check back to this web site for updates on my project's progress.  Thanks to JA for all their help!

I have also posted an updated resume (PDF) to my site today.

Hello Ohio businesses and non-profits,

I'm currently working on my master's degree at Kent State University in the emerging field of User Experience Design (Information Architecture and Knowledge Management).  I'm nearing the completion of my degree and planning to work on a Master's Project that will tie together the key methods of my studies.  I hope to begin in February 2010 and aim to complete and present the project by early July 2010.

I would love to work on the redesign of an in-house, web-based application or Web site for a local business.  The project will focus on user research, a usability study and prototypes demonstrating a final redesign for the product.

If you're interested in this area, but have not had the time or resources to explore it in the past, this would be a great opportunity.  I've outlined my key objectives for the project below, as well as key deliverables with which I would like to conclude the study.

Please contact with me if you are interested or if you have any questions.  You can also visit my own Web site for examples of my previous work.  Thank you in advance for your time!

Sincerely,

Christopher Hallahan
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
330.267.9756 (Google Voice)
Located in Kent, OH USA
www.chrishallahan.com

Final Deliverables

• Key findings from a preliminary survey, user interviews and usability testing summarized in a research report
• A competitive analysis including best practices from similar products, common labeling and navigation systems and recommendations for a redesign
• Blueprint designs that visually demonstrate the new navigation systems, information architecture and user workflow
• Wireframe designs of the improved web site or application
• Visual design Photoshop documents, standards-based XHTML templates and style sheets to be used as a starting point for the redesign, as time permits
• A slide presentation showing my research methods, main deliverables and key findings (to be presented to a committee at Kent State University and optionally, to interested parties with whom I worked on the project)
• A final compilation of the above deliverables, to be shared with the institution or business and also submitted to Kent State University as a Master's Project. 

Research Objectives

• Perform user research with the primary users of the application or Web site through a competitive analysis, requirements analysis, survey and short face-to-face interviews to determine areas of further study
• Discover user experience concerns with a usability study with the current product in a Usability lab using eye-tracking software and task-based analysis
• Develop an improved Information Architecture proposal for the product including a new labeling system, navigation scheme, workflow analysis and information layout
• Develop low-fidelity, paper prototypes for the product using the improved information architecture
• Develop high-fidelity prototypes to be used in a final round of Usability Lab testing.  Compare these results with the original testing results.

The ideal partner for this project:

• Already has a web-based application or site in need of a redesign
• Has the resources to work with me on my project and will allow me to perform voluntary, in-house research with their main audiences
• Will share the project with the academic community
• Is located in the Cleveland area or can work with me remotely
• Has an interest in Usability, Information Architecture or User Experience Design

Download this release as a PDF. 

After completing many great projects and group deliverables in my courses this last semester, I thought it would be appropriate to create a new section to include these pieces in my portfolio.   I'll continue to add to the User Experience Coursework section throughout the Spring semester as well.  This is a great way to view some of my actual UXD work or just get a better idea of this area of work.  I for sure learned a TON of valuable information this semester.  I'm looking forward to doing this work outside of class in the near future.

The items posted include:

• An Information Architecture project including a competitive analysis, blueprints and wireframes
• A user research group deliverable, using surveys and user interviews to make recommendations to an actual client
• A usability test study that examined the results of usability lab testing
• A paper prototype project that explored a new user interface

It's been a busy semester here at Kent State.  I'm working on updating my portfolio with projects, papers and web sites from this semester.  This has been a great year for improving my information architecture and usability skills, both through school and work.

I wanted to quickly mention my obsession with WordPress.  I'll be using it for a few projects over the semester.  I commend the good people over at WordPress for their hard work in this successful open source project.  After doing a search, I found this page (www.wordpress.org/donate) that includes a link to donate to WordPress through PayPal.  I'm planning on donating myself and I think it would be great if they promoted this page during the holiday season.  

Thank you WordPress, Joomla and all the other great open source projects that my colleages and myself use daily!

 I have to take a second and rave about a recently out of beta service called Dropbox.  Dropbox is a "cloud-based" file sync service and it's a life-saver for people with more than one computer.  After recently getting a new desktop, I found it difficult to swap files between machines.  It's no longer a problem with Dropbox.  Even my work computer has my files synced to it.  

As an added bonus, I have the security of my files being saved up in the cloud (just in case), and the service even keeps a feed (RSS) of the most recent changes and additions to my box.  Cool!  Now I'm just waiting (along with everyone else) to get Dropbox to monitor folders outside of the default one.  I'm using the free service (2GB) right now, but if all goes well, I'll definitely upgrade to the 50GB service and move my photos and music as well.  

This definitely blows similar services like Apple's MobileMe (painfully slow, unreliable and not cross platform) out of the water.  Plus the simple interface wins a ton of points from an IA perspective.  Check out Dropbox at www.getdropbox.com.

 Well, it's just about nearing the end of the summer.  I've been working on some new web sites over the last few months.  Two are finished, and one is going up in about a week.  

Nazareth Housing Development Corporation

The first one is for Nazareth Housing Development Corporation, a non-profit based in Akron, OH.  Nazareth approached me because they were looking more exposure for their housing rehab programs.  They wanted a current site, with news, photos and an online application.

For this I chose the open-source WordPress software.  I had some previous experience with the CMS before, but the interface and ease-of-use blew my mind.  Now Nazareth staff members can add news and events themselves; cutting out the middle man.  The world of add-ons for WordPress is unbelievable and installation couldn't be easier.  I'll definitely be using WordPress for basic dynamic sites in the future.  You can see the final product, www.nazarethhousing.org, here.  See more information about this site on my web site.

Dow Jones Summer Diversity Institute

I was also asked by a professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication to build the site for this year's Dow Jones Summer Diversity Institute, held for a week on the Kent campus.  High school students of diverse backgrounds attend the program to learn about all aspects of journalism, including reporting, videography and photography.  My goal was to showcase their work on the web, integrating their photography and stories.  I spent a while coming up with a summer-like pattern for the top banner, which I think worked well in the end.  I used XHTML strict coding with standard AJAX and CSS.  The site is up now at new.jmc.kent.edu/djwksp/.  View more information about it on my web site.

That's it for now.  Coming soon--the brand new Kent State University Undergraduate Student Government web site!  You can see the current site (not designed by me) for now.

Though I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner, USA Today reports that the popular DVR manufacturer TiVo will soon begin reporting anonymous viewing data.  The data will "offer stations, advertisers and program producers year-round, second-by-second information about the shows and commercials watched by people who have one of the company's DVRs."  Though this is a great use of the technology (Nielson has to use custom viewing meters in sampled households in order to track activity), I am certain it will be a wake up call to advertisers when they find hard data that their ads are simply being skipped most of the time.  This will result in decreased ad revenues for the networks, and begin a push for a radically different advertising structure (think lower-third ads during TV shows and more ad space directly in the TiVo software).  With some analysts expecting DVRs to penetrate around 37% of houses by 2012, I wouldn't be surprised if our DVR "free ride" doesn't last much longer.

Read the Article

Joomla has launched a new Community Showcase where developers can display web sites they have created.  I submitted my site under the Arts/Portfolio & Self Promo section.  This is a fantastic way to share great designs and will certainly open up the Joomla Community to greater exposure.  I'm particularly intrigued by the Education section.  Hopefully I can create some higher education sites in the future that are as well-constructed as those currently displayed there.