Welcome all. My name is Chris, and I currently work full-time for Kent State University. I'm also a graduate of the User Experience Design master's program at Kent State University. I specialize in electronic marketing, web design and development, visual design, usability, user support, information architecture and content management. Here you will find my interactive resume, portfolio and select coursework.
Sunday, 25 November 2012 18:54
Christopher Hallahan
The Fall 2012 semester brought more advertising opportunities for Information Services. Our goal this semester was to spread the message about the great services offered by IS that students, faculty and staff use every day. In addition, we launched a redesigned Online Technology Help Center with similar branding. I was able to experiment some new forms of media as well. The fall 2012 package included:
Print ads in the student magazines
Newspaper ad in the Daily Kent Stater
Banner ad on the top of the Kent Wired mobile application for Android and iOS
A 30 second pre-roll before all videos on Kent Wired
A redesigned Online Technology Help Center featuring the Tech Help branding and a newer (and cleaner) user interface
You can view some examples of the ads below, as well as see the embedded "Software Discount" ad spot (you may recognize my voice in the voiceover).
Monday, 22 October 2012 15:23
Christopher Hallahan
TECHcare is a subscription-based service from The Tech Spot that allows students, faculty and staff to receive unlimited technology repair at one flat rate for one year. My challenge was to make the service more valuable, encourage staff to offer the service to customers and promote the service at university events.
To add value to TECHcare, I proposed adding two 1-on-1 training sessions to the membership, offering 25% off any future TECHcare purchase and expanding the membership to cover all services offered by The Tech Spot. I also worked with Tech Spot staff to develop membership cards with barcodes for easier account access.
We held a contest to encourage staff to offer the service to customers. Once staff had sold a membership, they wrote their name on a poster, allowing others to see their progress. We held a staff drawing for a prize at the end of the semester.
I developed rack card handouts to explain the service to customers and added TECHcare to The Tech Spot's pricing sign to promote the service.
Monday, 22 October 2012 14:52
Christopher Hallahan
TechCheck-In was an web application originally implemented in Fall 2009 by myself (as designer) and the Shared Services Web Team (back-end and coding). The program allows visitors arriving at The Tech Spot to check-in and input their device information. Staff members use the program to track the progress of the repair until the device is ready for pick-up.
For the 2.0 version, I worked with staff and customers at The Tech Spot to greatly improve the customer-facing features of the check-in system to allow for true self-service without intervention from employees. We split the check-in process into three separate scenarios: (1) Quick Question or Purchase (2) Computer Help and (3) Pick-Up. This allowed for a customized experience based on the customer's reason for visiting and also improved the back-end tracking of visitors.
I helped with blueprinting, wireframing, testing and user interface elements in this version. You can see the wireframes and pieces of the final product below. Information Services' and Residence Services Web Presence team was responsible for all development, CSS and back-end database programming and should be commended for their great work.
Overall, the product has performed very well and improved the customer experience while reducing negative customer feedback about the check-in/check-out process.
Monday, 22 October 2012 13:03
Christopher Hallahan
At any university, the fall back-to-school season can be one of the busiest and important times of the school year. This is no exception for a technology department like Information Services. With both students and faculty returning to campus after a long summer break, and thousands of new students moving in to the campus residence halls, tech help needs to be well-communciated to ensure customers get up and running quickly so they can concentrate on academics, housing and preparation for classes. This is also many new customers' first impression of the university, so any friction can make or break the experience.
This year, IS held one of its largest and most successful kickoffs to date. With resources distributed well in advance of fall, we helped prepare students and faculty for technology at Kent State. We also provided a variety of dedicated tech help options beginning the week before classes. I decided to name these events "Make the Connection" (for students) and "Technology Tune-Up" (for Faculty). The fall semester also saw the debut of our new "Tech Help" branding (developed in collaboration with University Communications and Marketing) and colors.
We promoted and advertised Back-to-School tech help using a variety of media:
