Patrick Neeman

400 Wall Street, #505
Seattle, Washington 98121
(562) 508-1750
pat@usabilitycounts.com

• Blog: http://www.usabilitycounts.com
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/usabilitycounts
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/usabilitycounts
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/usabilitycounts
• Portfolio: http://www.usabilitycounts.com/portfolio.zip

Accomplishments

• Doubled traffic of an online city guide through cooperation of 22 local markets.
• Increased revenue for a payment transaction website 600 percent (after six months of stagnation) through user research and usability testing; company is now profitable.
• Increased lead generation for a video content website 400 percent over a month through A/B testing.
• Built an User Experience team from 1 to 25 resources in a year.
• Top 100 website as named by PC Magazine.
• Self-published four iPhone applications, including the UX Drinking Game (www.uxdrinkinggame.com) and Perks Locator (www.perkslocator.com)
• Self-published a Google Chrome plugin, Find My Bookmarks that was featured in Lifehacker

Previous Clients

Microsoft, MySpace, Hilton, MGM Home Entertainment, Disney Shopping, WebEx, BlackBerry, BidRx, Comcast InYourTown, Disney Interactive, Move.com, Realtor.com, AAA, Technicolor, Escrow.com, Orbitz, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Unified School District, Municipality of Anchorage, Numonyx, eBay, American Idol, Bloomberg, Weather.com, Paramount, Disney, Excite@Home, Slingshot Labs, NewsCorp, Paul Mitchell

Skill Set

Site Maps, Wireframes, User Research, Usability Testing, A/B Testing, Personas, Ethnographic Studies, Use Cases, User Stories, Content Analysis, Content Inventory, Competitive Analysis, Comparative Analysis, Card Sorting, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, HTML/CSS/jQuery Prototyping, Silverlight/Sketchflow Prototyping, Creative Briefs, Mobile User Experience

Employment History

Director of Product Design
nPario | December 2012 — Current

Director of User Experience
Jobvite | July 2010 — December 2012

User Experience and social media consulting for Jobvite, an applicant tracking system used by over 650 customers like Groupon, Square, Twiter, LinkedIn, Spotify, Yelp, Zappos and Starbucks. Work includes redesign of the application for next generation search and share tools. Company has grown 750 customers in the two years.

• Led the rolling redesign of a large-scale SaaS application
• Led the design of a ground-breaking Facebook application for employee job referrals
• Performed user research and examined current implementations
• Recruited five resources for User Experience, Marketing and other roles

Owner and Creative Director, Usability Counts LLC
February 2001 to Current

Provided user experience, creative design and social media consulting for a number of clients. Team included up to 7 resources of designers, interaction designers, developers and content writers. Services covered the full user experience and creative design process, including user and market research, personas, usability tests, wireframes and site maps and visual design. Clients past and present include Microsoft, WebEx, BlackBerry, Disney Shopping, Online Marketing Summit, Sunstone, Orbitz, Disney Shopping, MGM Home Entertainment, Hilton, Level Studios, SpiritClips, Creative Asylum, Questerra, Los Angeles Unified School District, BidRx.

• Microsoft — User Experience and social media consulting for Windows Messenger Connect, a next generation social media platform similar to Facebook Connect with additional communication channels and platforms. Advised top 200 sites on best practices how to integrate social media into their web properties.
• Internships.com — User Experience and social media consulting for initial Internships.com jobs portal and two other internal projects. Work included sourcing creative, social media and product management resources both freelance and full time.
• Disney Shopping — Redesign on Disney Store checkout process. Work was completed within a compressed schedule. Performed informal usability tests to discover issues with shopping cart.  Changed increased revenue $7 million over the previous year.
• MGM Home Entertainment — Design of an interactive game based in Flash. Game launched as part of a straight to DVD movie sequel.
• Orbitz — Designed Information Architecture of My Stuff personalization, Travel Watch, Traveler Care, and Help. Work was completed within a two-month schedule to meet the launch date.
• Online Marketing Summit — Acted as Creative Director for Online Marketing Connect. User Experience and branding on an online marketing site to generating sale for events in 23 cities. Managed a six person user experience and creative team for all creative elements, including direct mail, website management, booth design and event materials. Work is leading to a successful exit by the current owners.
• SVX Networks — Design of an interactive kiosk and iPad application for a proof of concept demonstration. Company currently in negotiations for initial funding.
• BidRx.com — Developed the information architecture and user interface design for a large-scale pharmaceutical price comparison site. Created personas and other research materials as a baseline for developing site goals.
• SpiritClips — Changes to site to increase conversion for lead generation and subscription. A/B Testing of landing pages lead to a 400 percent increase in lead conversion. Other testing lead to a 250 percent increase in subscriptions.
• Business For Sale Website — Redesigned the information architecture after a heuristic evaluation lead to a 200 percent increase in traffic and lead acquisition increased 300 percent.
• Debt Consolidation Websites — Developed a lead generation management system for a debt consolidation company. The system integrated with several advertising systems to provide ROI analysis and management. Soon after implementation, lead generation costs dropped 20 percent and lead acquisition conversion results increased 200 percent.

Practice Manager, User Experience
speakTECH | August 2006 to November 2008

Established a Design and User Experience team for a technology consulting firm. Established processes for requirements gathering that were implemented throughout the company. Functioned as an evangelist for User Experience and Product Strategy.

• Worked through the User Experience process, including persona research and usability testing for MySpace, Move.com and the Municipality of Anchorage
• Team grew from 1 to 25 within a year’s time, establishing a $3 million division in the process.
• Pitched projects with many major clients, including Move.com, MySpace, AAA, Paramount and Technicolor.
• Track record for most User Experience projects was on time, on budget.

Product Manager
Escrow.com | April 2001 to June 2002

Managed features from MRD to completion; improved site usability through formal studies to reduce customer support overhead and increase revenue; wrote functional requirements; worked with customer support to improve the customer experience.

• Worked with a team of five developers using Agile development methodologies
• Performed several informal and formal usability tests on user experience designs.
• Support emails and calls dropped 30 percent after data-driven research of customer support issues
• Revenue through Escrow.com portal increased 600 percent after six months of stagnant revenue levels
• Integrated eBay, eBay Motors and Afternic

Program Manager
Stamps.com | November 1999 to February 2001

Managed and designed features based on marketing requirements; wrote functional specifications for use by QA and developers; evaluated usability studies and focus groups to determine new features.

• Managed the integration of Microsoft Internet Explorer into the application; lowered support costs by integrating Web-based help pages.
• Managed the Office Depot store integration; store-related revenues increased over 300 percent.
• Managed web-based registration with Secure Plug-In. Improved usability during the registration process increased acquisition 25 percent
• Participated in several usability tests to improve the user experience of the product

Director of Development
BuyersEdge | October 1998 to October 1999

Designed the information architecture and managed the development lifecycle of a reverse auction website.

• Managed a team of five developers using Agile development methodologies
• Managed the development lifecycle of a reverse-auction website from proof of concept to completion.
• Managed the development of a XML-based messaging system; the data structure allowed for the easy abstraction of data
• Site launch date met original schedule estimate.

New Media Specialist
Comcast InYourTown | April 1997 to October 1998

Supervised content integration projects, managed 12 editors and producers in 22 local markets.

• Managed the site redesign for the 22 local markets.
• Developed a content management system; the system increased volume and accessibility of content across the markets. This combined with the UI redesign increased traffic 150 percent.
• Managed the integration of over 15 content partners, including Excite Classifieds, Weather.com, and Bloomberg.
• Produced live chat and net cast with Christopher Cross for @Home subscribers.

Producer
CommWerks | May 1996 to April 1997

Managed project development. Designed UI, look and feel of websites.

• Redesigned Disney’s Synergy intranet.
• Designed the Orange County Fair website; the site was used to demonstrate the World Wide Web.
• Designed an e-commerce site for long jumper Mike Powell; his merchandise was sold via the Internet.

Art Director
Silicon Media | January 1995 – May 1996

Project management, UI, look and feel of websites. Work with other developers to build sites.

• Silicon Media was the first Internet political consulting firm.
• Developed Klaaskids,org, a site oriented towards protecting the safety of children; the site appeared in over 60 newspapers internationally.

LinkedIn Recommendations

“Patrick is a walking encyclopedia of usability principles and practices. He is a seasoned professional, a true renaissance man who looks at the problem from different angles. A true usability geek through and through. Good writer with a sharp sense of humor.”

Ha Phan, UX Architect / Business Analyst, Ha Phan Consulting

“Patrick and I collaborated on the same team for a mutual client, for the better part of 2006, and I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to work with him again. Not only did he do a phenomenal job designing a clean and usable (and regulatory-conforming) UI for this huge application, but he did just as noteworthy a job of communicating the related design requirements to the rest of the team. Whether you want to say that he was the hub of the team, or just the lug nuts, Patrick sure did his part to keep the wheels from falling off.”

Craig Jones, Vice President, Maxim Software Corp.

“An smart, real-world Internet expert who can tell the difference between false hype and real trends. I rely on Pat to give me a real picture of changes going on. He’s one of those rare finds: a consultant who’s worth more than his fee.”

Brian Chee, Manager of Website, Volkswagen USA

“I have had the pleasure of working with Patrick on various projects over a three year period. Unquestionable in his ability to attain results, Patrick has a talent to garner trust from clients and subordinates alike. His strategic vision and guiding principles for the project teams are unparalleled. I would highly recommend Patrick to any enterprise and would welcome an opportunity to work with him in the future.”

Venetia Raheja – Jagtiani, Quality Assurance Services, speakTECH

“Patrick Neeman’s honesty, experience, humor and technical chops – from the 30,000-foot view down to the 10-nanometer level of detail – make him an extraordinarily rare bird: A solid manager who knows his stuff, runs a tight, fast and smart ship and still manages to be a tremendously good friend and colleague. He commands loyalty by giving it, inspires creativity by sharing it and delivers solid results by means of clear, intelligent planning, and he has the wit and vision to get great performance out of his staff. I count myself fortunate to have worked for someone with as much affable integrity and know-how at so many levels of the web-development assembly line. Easily one of the best bosses I’ve ever had.”

Mack Reed, Information Architect, speakTECH

“As you get to know Patrick, you learn pretty quickly that he is incredibly talented and insightful as a leader. Patrick managed a team under sometimes-challenging circumstances and he does that with a great understanding of how to relate to people in the way that’s appropriate to each situation. As a manager, he is also great at accommodating the new dynamics of the evolving workplace, while still dedicating solid attention to building a healthy team.”

Deena Varshavskaya, Lead User Experience Designer, Dynamik Interactive Inc

“A communicator who gained the confidence of everyone he worked with – a liaison between techies and content folks, very bright.”

Tom Matrullo, Editor, Comcast Corp.

Education

• Cypress College, Cypress, CA — Journalism major
• Magnolia High School, Anaheim, CA

References

Available on request