During 2016 / 2017 I completed two contracts with Strata3 as a UX Designer. I worked closely with Strata3's design Director and Head of UX for two major utilities companies in Dublin.
Electric Ireland - September to December 2016
My first contract with Strata3 involved joining the UX team on part two of an ongoing project working with Electric Ireland. The task was to continue the design of a new customer portal for Electric Ireland. This was a large scale project with very tight deadlines which required me to hit the ground running.
We started with workshops with the stakeholders in Electric Ireland and to determine business requirements. We then moved on to creating simple wireframes as proof of concept and then produced clickthrough wireframe prototypes in inVision. There were many iterations of these prototypes as the concept was honed. Then we produced high fidelity designs which were once again turned into clickthrough prototypes. We used these prototypes to test the design and implemented changes based on user feedback. Finally we wrote and designed spec documentation for the client.
My responsibilities included:eir contract - January to April 2017
Following on from the work I undertook on Strata3's part for Electric Ireland I started another contract with Strata3. This was a three month contract in-house in the eir head office at HSQ in Dublin. Working under eir's Digital User Experience Manager, I was responsible for the UX of a major new project merging elements from different services into a cohesive experience.
My responsibilities included:I started in MicksGarage.com in March of 2013 as the Lead UX Designer. The company was growing rapidly ‐ coming out of it’s startup phase and entering a more established era. I was taken on to look after user experience and to implement some customer focused thinking on the site.
My position as Lead UX Designer involved:
I took on freelance design jobs for various individuals and small businesses for over 10 years. Many happy clients have been impressed at how I made complicated concepts seem simple. I did not hide behind jargon or try to scare clients with technology.
See some examples of freelance work
The main Amnesty.ie site was built during 2009 on the Drupal content management system. This site represented a major overhaul of the structure of Amnesty's online presence and a long process of consultation with Amnesty stakeholders ensured that the new structure meets the needs of Amnesty staff, Amnesty members and the general public.
My position as Internet Administrator involved:Cinehub.com was a technology company providing solutions to the global entertainment industry, over the 5 years Cinehub grew to a team of 20 staff with offices in Dublin and Los Angeles with a prestigious client base including 20th Century Fox, NBC, MGM, BBC, Spyglass Entertainment, HBO and Showtime entertainment.
Cinehub's flagship product the "Virtual Production Office" (a mission critical online tool set) has become the industry standard production management and MIS solution utilised by over 300 productions globally (inc. TV shows such as 24, the X files, Will and Grace, Stargate, Malcolm in the middle) with in excess of 5,000 studio and production users on a daily basis.
My role as Chief Designer involved:
Version 3 of the VPO was written using Coldfusion MX for J2EE. I was involved from the conceptual stages of this product and gained valuable experience in the architecture of Java products especially from an interface and usability viewpoint.
I worked in the Irish office of this international company designing micro recruitment sites for companies such as Bank of Ireland, ESB, Creative Labs, Analogue Devices and Esat among others. I was the only designer in Ireland working for Topjobs and received training in Manchester on numerous occasions.
This position involved the design and development of dynamic job application forms. Look and feel of these sites was either constrained by strict company guidelines or the design was left entirely up to me.
My first responsibility was the design and development of the House of Ireland online store. This was one of the first "e‐commerce" sites based in Ireland and all methods used were very new. An order system was developed and implemented and a system for keeping the products up to date and the pricing accurate. New product ranges would often have new stores designed specifically for them and various offers and competitions were run.
My second responsibility while working in the House of Ireland was the development of a directory of Irish sites called BrowseIreland.com. This task involved setting up the database of sites and researching links. A system was set up to add submissions from third parties to the directory.
Alan Crotty
Phone: (087) 690 1044
Email: alancrotty@gmail.com