UX Designer and UI Developer, with an eye towards Agile, RIAs and accessibility
22 Breezy Hill Terrace | Nahant, MA 01908 |617.596.2518
http://www.justmyhead.com | justmyhead@gmail.com | twitter: jason_goodwin
My first real job was printing T-shirts. I loved it. It
turned out to be a very cool learning experience; how four
color process inks break down into CMKY, and what dots per
inch is. I also had access to a Macintosh that was running
early versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, and QuarkExpress.
A friend of mine was leaving his job as 'Pre press Guy' a
small offset print shop, he said I would be a good fit
there. I worked at Cambridge Offset Printing for a few
years, laying out huge ad books, business cards and
letterheads, restaurant menus, and flyers and posters for
local bands. This was my first real,
everyday-all-day-in-front-of-a-computer job. I can remember
seeing Mosaic for the first time. 'Finally the web has
images', I remember thinking.
I was able to get my own Mac around this time and was
spending every waking moment that I wasn't at work
downloading every program I could get my hands on, and try
to learn how to use it. I was really into Director when I
heard about something called Future Splash (later renamed
Flash). That was it. I was hooked.
I started making some web sites for friends and a very few
paying customers. I needed a change from the print thing. I
was able to get some work at a friend's company, and became
my introduction to Double Decker Studios. I started working
there as employee number one. There were three principal
owners, one full time contractor, and myself. This
was a very significant thing in my life for the next three
years. My work at Double Decker won several awards
including Macromedia Site of the Day, AXEIM Award and
multiple MIMC Awards including Best in Show. I loved Double
Decker. I loved the people and I loved the work. I got to
work on wildly diverse projects on so many different subjects. I
designed and built my first fully accessible, 508
compliant, web site for NASA Student Involvement. Eventually this company, like many
other at the time, fell victim to the dot-com bubble burst,
and could no longer go on. It was a very sad day for
me.
Unable to find work doing what I loved most, I moved to
Portsmouth, NH. My extremely talented wife and her sister
were pursuing their careers at jewelry designers and
silversmiths. I did odd jobs for a while, took a break from
sitting in front of a computer all day. It was a tough but
important time in my life.
Through an odd and very fortunate set of circumstances, I
got a job at an amazing place called Hatchling. This is a
very special place filled with some insanely talented
people. Hatchling took me in to their family, and made me
feel welcome and necessary again. I stayed there as long as
I possibly could. With the birth of my first child, my
incredible daughter, Jessie, I knew I needed to earn a
better living. A friend of mine said that the company he
was working for was looking for interaction designers who
knew Flash. Leaving Hatchling was another sad day for me. I
started at Fidelity Investments on July 18, 2005. I was put on a
three month contract, that lasted three and a half years.
It came to a close in November of 2008, during a sweeping round of lay-offs.
I am currently consulting for a few companies; Fidelity Investments, Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care, Piehead Productions and BigVisible Solutions, to name a few.
My professional focus for the past few years has been based
around informational, visual and accessible design for Flex
and Ajax based applications, within the Agile development
process. This has enabled me to act as a bridge between
Business Sponsors, UX Designers and UI Developers. Working
at Fidelity Investments as an RIA UX Designer and
Accessibility consultant has given me a unique opportunity
to work closely with Business partners and Product owners,
collaborating on business needs, and then transforming
those needs into functioning, usable, beautiful and
accessible rich media applications.
In the past I have managed projects, and worked on teams
that have delivered award winning work for clients such as
Thomson Financial, Microsoft, fye (for your entertainment),
DestiNY USA, Hewlett-Packard, GE Healthcare, Dream Doll
Designer for Kid Galaxy Inc. and NASA Student Involvement
Program.
My immediate professional goals are 1) to work with an
innovative, forward-thinking company with a varied client
base 2) to continue to use the Agile development process and principals 3)
to evangelize accessibility and 4) to create experiences
that connect with people emotionally.
I want to love my job. I want to bring love to my job and
share with anyone who's interested.
http://news.fidelity.com
http://www.nationalfinancial.com/
http://personal.fidelity.com/products/funds...
http://www.fidelitylabs.com
http://www.fidelity.com
http://www.hatchlinginteractive.com
http://www.gigundagroup.com
http://www.frenchsoaps.com
http://www.portsmouthtattooshop.com
http://www.superadio.com
http://www.thewendywilliamsexperience.com
http://www.weathervane.com
Some of the books that have meant the most to me, professionally, are (in no order) Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink, The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley, Design! by Tom Peters, and Lovemarks by Kevin Roberts. A few of my most hit bookmarks are A List Apart, subtraction.com, Simple Bits, Adobe Labs and Facebook. I love John Fluevog Shoes, Bose Headphones, Google and Firefox. I get the most joy from spending time with my lovely wife, a very talented Silversmith and our two, young daughters, Jessie and Mimi. I try to blog as much as possible about UX, Accessibility and Agile development.
Feel free to download my resume as a Word doc.