Des Traynor

Current

User Experience Lead at Contrast

Past

Senior Usability Analyst at iQ Content
Lecturer / Research Assistant at NUI Maynooth
Co-founder at Bigulo.com

Software Developer at NUI Maynooth

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Education

National University of Ireland, Maynooth
National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Recommended

3 people have recommended Des

Connections

159 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Des Traynor’s Summary

Experienced Interaction Designer (User Experience Designer) capable of managing large web projects from requirements through to delivery.

Passionate about modern web technologies, and delivering optimal user experience.

Des Traynor’s Specialties:

Interaction Design: Prototyping, Wireframing, Usability testing, Information Architecture, Persona Creation, Interface design

Programming-Web: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Python
Programming-Desktop: Java Swing

Academic: LaTeX, SPSS, Statistical Analysis.

Des Traynor’s Experience

User Experience Lead

Contrast

(Design industry)

July 2008 — Present (1 year 5 months)

Contrast is a small web application development agency.
My role in Contrast is to design user experiences for web applications, both our own applications and the work we do for clients.

As Contrast is a small agency I tend to take on the role of UX Lead, Project Manager, Clients relations, etc.
Senior Usability Analyst

iQ Content

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

April 2007 — June 2008 (1 year 3 months)

I worked as a Usability Analyst for iQ Content. My work there ranged from interface design consultancy to report writing, training, speaking at events etc.

At iQ I was design lead for several large projects, for large businesses and government agencies.
Lecturer / Research Assistant

NUI Maynooth

(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Research industry)

September 2003 — April 2007 (3 years 8 months)

Whilst undertaking my PhD, I also lecture courses on Web Development, GUI Design with Java, Algorithms and Data Structures and CS1 ~ Introduction to Programming.
I work closely with other research groups in the CS Dept to guarantee a wide berth of knowledge about all areas of Computer Science, and perform contract based research occasionally.
Co-founder

Bigulo.com

(Information Technology and Services industry)

August 2006 — August 2006 (1 month)

Technologies XHTML/CSS/Javascript + XMLRPC/ MySQL / PHP

Designed and Implemented front end UI for Bigulo.com, a wildly popular social networking search engine. Whilst you would be correct in thinking that the front end is not pretty, it is deliberate as our target demographic (15-21 yr olds) do not appreciate clean design, as evidenced by the popularity of sites such as bebo, myspace etc.
Software Developer

NUI Maynooth

(Educational Institution; 5001-10,000 employees; Computer Software industry)

February 2002 — June 2002 (5 months)

As part of internal work placement I designed and developed a new front-end to the Java Compiler in an attempt to offer 1st year students an easier experience for their first compilation efforts. The compiler was written using Java + JSP and provided a web based front end to the IBM Jikes Compiler. This tool was used for 2 years before being replaced with a custom version of Gel, an educational IDE.

Des Traynor’s Education

National University of Ireland, Maynooth

PhD (incomplete) , Computer Science and Software Engineering , 2003 — 2007

Activities and Societies:

My PhD dissertation was titled "A mixed method analysis of programming skill".

During the PhD study I developed software capable of automatically assessing a students programming skill, to a degree of accuracy comparable with traditional assessment techniques.

I left my post as lecturer in Maynooth and since then work on the dissertation has stopped. I chose to pursue a career in web development, and interaction design instead.
National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Bsc Hons , Computer Science and Software Engineering , 1999 — 2003

Activities and Societies:

During my undergraduate degree in Maynooth, I helped found and run the Computer Science Society Minds (http://www.minds.nuim.ie) and am still actively involved in this society. I organised conferences, social events etc during my year as Ents officer, and also served as Vice President and Treasurer in different years.