About Me

William Key Photo

In My Own Words

I have over 11 years experience as a UX designer working with and leading cross-functional teams through the user-centered design (UCD) process to deliver enterprise, B2B SaaS, and B2C solutions that meet business and customer needs.

I prefer to work within a process that reflects my conviction that close partnership between UX/Design, Product, and Engineering is critical to the successful delivery of solutions.
My career has required that I develop varying levels of expertise across a range of core UX skills. I am a UX generalist. While I enjoy the full spectrum of the tactical work of UX, I find user research the most rewarding since there is no user-centered design without first understanding the users context, needs, and goals. However, the greatest value of UX is achieved through the strategic leveraging of UX to align customer and business needs to drive the business vision and success.

My experience includes:

  • Building and leading a UX team for a large company
  • Serving as UX Lead for cross-functional project teams
  • Working as a UX "team-of-one" to integrate UCD practices into agile development processes
  • Leading a variety of research efforts across a wide range of domains and markets
  • Facilitating workshops and co-design sessions with stakeholders and customers
  • Creating and teaching UX classes and workshops
  • Mentoring junior UX professionals

More from Former Colleagues

In all my years working as a professional consultant, I have never come across someone whose passion rivaled JR's. ... Where others provided opinions, JR provided actual metrics, and cited studies or examples to bring a sense of objectivity to choices made. JR also tirelessly fought uphill battles to spread awareness of the UX profession within the company, by not only briefing senior leadership but also taking a grass roots approach in securing training opportunities and guest speakers for co-workers whenever possible. His efforts not only led to the hiring of additional UX personnel, but an overall cultural shift of greater awareness and appreciation of the benefits of such a capability to both his employer and clients alike.

—Brett Karpowicz, Creative Media Consultant at NextPoint Group LLC

JR is one of those rare individuals that can "do it all" JR is very capable of taking an idea from concept through the entire software development lifecycle process. JR is extremely detailed oriented and always keeps the end-user in mind with his design. ... Design really matters to JR and it shows in all his work.

—Stephen Rosenthal, PMP, Project Manager at Ragnarok Technologies

I've worked with JR in multiple capacities over the years. He's always enthusiastic, professional and well-liked by colleagues. When it comes to questions of usability or accessibility, JR is the first person I ask and he always has a detailed, thoughtful answer for me. I hope I have the chance to once again work with JR!

—Carolyn Jones, PMP, QA/DevOps Lead at Praxis Engineering

professional development

memberships

  • User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA)
  • Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
  • Information Architecture Institute (IAI)
  • Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI)

Workshops Created/Taught

  • User Interview Skills Workshop
  • Introduction to User Experience (UX)
  • Writing for the Web
  • Usability Testing Workshop

Certifications

  • Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), Human Factors International (HFI)
  • Certified Professional for Usability and User Experience (CPUX), International Usability and UX Qualification Board (UXQB)
  • Foundation Certificate in User Experience, BCS The Chartered Institute for IT
  • Certified Instructional Systems Designer (ISD), The Training Clinic
  • Certified Training Instructor, The Training Clinic

presentations

  • CIAUX Conference
  • IVMG: Interagency Visual Media Group Conference