Diana Martin

Current

Volunteer Staffer and Head of Staff: Art Show / Art Auction at Phoenix Entertainment: A-Kon

Past

Usability and Interface Engineer at HRsmart
Information Architect at imc2
Podcaster at Society for Applied Anthropology

Interaction Designer at Principle Data Systems
Web Developer & System Administrator at JCPenney
Catalog Manager / Product Manager and Technical Sales/Support at Informatix
Lead Macintosh Technician at 3DFX
Graphic Artist at Best Press
Macintosh Technician / Mentor in Training / Team Lead at Stream International

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6 more...

Education

University of North Texas
University of North Texas
Collin County Community College

Collin County Community College

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1 more...

Recommended

9 people have recommended Diana

Connections

76 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

My Blog

Diana Martin’s Summary

My passion is to make things usable by creating harmony between user, developer, designer, and machine.

Strengths
• Background in information architecture, interaction design, programming, scripting, database administration, server administration, and graphic arts as well design anthropology and ethnographic research methods

• Fast thinker, fast learner, high achieving multi-tasker who is quick to adapt to new environments and situations

• Great communication and people skills honed by years of training and experience as an anthropologist

• Self-starter who can work well both independently and as a part of a team

• Able to quickly find usability/design challenges and come up with sound ways to overcome them

Diana Martin’s Specialties:

Usability:
User Centered Design, Usability Subject Matter Expert, Heuristic Site Evaluation, User Research, Usability Testing

Technical:
HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, DreamWeaver, Visio, Omni Graffle, SPSS, Atlas.ti

Anthropological:
Ethnography, Participant Observation, Interviews, Focus Groups, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Research Design, Data Analysis, Design Anthropology, Cyber Anthropology, Organizational Anthropology

Diana Martin’s Experience

Volunteer Staffer and Head of Staff: Art Show / Art Auction

Phoenix Entertainment: A-Kon

(Entertainment industry)

1991 — Present (18 years )

• Managed a staff of 10-15 people for an art gallery and auction at a convention held for Japanese Animation fans that has grown over the years to more than 15,000 attendees
• Managed 80-150 artists in getting in to the show, setting up, and exiting the show
• Managed an inventory of 700-2500 pieces of art
• Managed a live art auction to crowds between 100 and 250 people
• Managed show books and issued artists' payments based on sales
• Worked face to face with staff, artists, and attendees
• Created workflows in the form of easy to hand out 1 page manuals to normalize and ease the processes of being an artist, attendee/bidder/buyer and a staffer
• Created an online registration system in MySQL and PHP where artists can register prior to the show and download all their paperwork so they can be ready to hang their art upon arrival
Usability and Interface Engineer

HRsmart

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

April 2008 — October 2009 (1 year 7 months)

• Successfully redesigned our software as a service application navigation
- Combined 4 separate modules each with their own function and design into a unified interface
- Cross pollinated key items between navigation tiers
- Took user clicks from an upwards of 15 down to 2
- Made hard to get to but highly used items such as calendar appointments and alerts top level
- Created a prototype in CSS/HTML/JavaScript and Ajax to demonstrate functionality

• Effectively redesigned major software focal points
- Combined an upwards of 20 pages into single pages reducing duplication and user clicks
- Simplified the user experience by making it consistent across all modules
- Created ways for developers to easily modularize their code
- Created UI elements and experiences that could be easily reused across the system
- Provided detailed mockups to demonstrate look and feel as well as functionality

• Created system style guides that incorporated colors, fonts, sizes, and other UI elements

• Made several system wide usability changes that brought about visual and functional consistency across the system where there was largely none before

• Worked with an international team of people from Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, and the Philippines

• Received Creativity and Ingenuity award for my work
Information Architect

imc2

(Marketing and Advertising industry)

November 2007 — April 2008 (6 months)

• Successfully met and exceeded clients needs through information architecture practices
- Wire framing: site maps, work flows, page layouts, functional specs
- Prototyping
- Process Design
- Web Analysis

• Helped clients understand their customers better through audience persona and user scenarios

• Hosted productive client collaborative sessions

• Effectively presented materials to clients such as EDMC, Lowe’s, GSK, and Samsung
Podcaster

Society for Applied Anthropology

(Research industry)

January 2008 — March 2008 (3 months)

• Worked with other volunteers in recording sessions with conference speakers
• Edited the audio recorded to make it web ready
• Posted podcasts to the internet at SfAApodcasts.net
• Designed the SfAA Podcast Team logo
Interaction Designer

Principle Data Systems

(Education Management industry)

December 2006 — November 2007 (1 year )

• Helped this startup overcome usability issues by providing
- Heuristic evaluation of their software
- UI Redesigns
- Effective management of our custom content management system

• Successfully gained this startup more exposure through
- SEO practices
- Product site redesign

Designed custom portal sites for private schools
Web Developer & System Administrator

JCPenney

(Public Company; JCP; Retail industry)

March 2002 — December 2006 (4 years 10 months)

• Successfully increased the productivity of the Marketing department
- Made years old paper process electronic and highly accessible
- Reduced the duplication of effort and information by linking systems together

• Effectively designed, developed, and supported web based applications used by over 500 corporate employees and over 1000 stores

• Trained merchandising on how to better communicate with the creative department

• Increased efficiency of copy writers by establishing the first internal Wiki system

• Awarded Marketing Excellence award for my work
Catalog Manager / Product Manager and Technical Sales/Support

Informatix

(Computer Hardware industry)

July 2001 — March 2002 (9 months)

• Designed and Edited 128 page full color catalog
• Performed the duties of: Art Director, Image Editor, Copywriter
• Acted as product manager of 1000+ products sold through the catalog
• Performed market analysis for all current and potential products sold
• Taught time management and customer service skills to 40 phone reps
• Sold and supported products offered in the catalog
Lead Macintosh Technician

3DFX

(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; tdfx; Computer Hardware industry)

September 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 6 months)

• Provided technical support for Macintosh and PC lines of Voodoo video cards.
• Designed a web based Macintosh training tutorial to assist the company and I in training American and overseas offices.
• Traveled to California to beta test our Macintosh products on video games and graphic design applications prior to public release.
• Represented the company at MacWorld New York 2000 to promote and educate the public about our newly released Macintosh line of products.
• Awarded employee of the month August 2000.
Graphic Artist

Best Press

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Graphic Design industry)

August 1998 — August 1999 (1 year 1 month)

• Worked as an Electronic Prepress Designer and Manipulator of Ads, Books, and Posters for large companies including i2, EDS, and Lucas Arts.
• Created promotional materials for universities including University of North
Texas, Texas Christian University, University of Dallas, and University of Texas at Dallas.
• Maintained Macintosh systems and hardware.
Macintosh Technician / Mentor in Training / Team Lead

Stream International

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

August 1997 — August 1998 (1 year 1 month)

• Provided technical support for multiple Macintosh based computer companies.
• Promoted to educational support for schools and universities.
• Promoted to peripheral support for printers, scanners, monitors and cameras.
• Placed on the original G3 technical support release team.
• Promoted to Mentor in Training - a tier two help desk where I took calls from fellow employees who needed help with their customer’s technical issues.
• Taught time and resource management to all level 1 techs
• Lead the new hire teams of 10-12 new people every 2 weeks assisting them in getting acquainted with the job and serving as their personal help desk.

Diana Martin’s Education

University of North Texas

MS , Applied Anthropology , 2007 — 2010 (expected)

Focus on Business, Design, and Cyber Anthropology including research design, implementation, and analysis using qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic methods.

Activities and Societies:

American Anthropological Association, Society for Applied Anthropology, Usability Professionals' Association, Vice President: Graduate Association of Student Anthropologists, Podcaster for the 2008 Society for Applied Anthropology Conference, National Honor Society for Anthropology, Lambda Alpha Eta of TX, Life Member
University of North Texas

BA , Anthropology, Philosophy, Psychology , 2004 — 2006

This was an interdisciplinary degree program.

Graduated Cum Laude.

Activities and Societies:

President's List, Alpha Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, Golden Key Honor Society
Collin County Community College

Certificate , Intermedia Arts , 2001 — 2002

Digital media courses including: Video, Music, Photography, 3D Animation, and Web Design

I was one of only 10 students admitted into this experimental program based on my skills, experience, and design/photography portfolio.

Activities and Societies:

President's List, Digital Music Lab Assistant
Collin County Community College

AA , Photography & Graphic Design , 1996 — 1999

Photography/Graphic Design/Core Classes

Activities and Societies:

Deans List, Student News Paper

Additional Information

Diana Martin’s Websites:

My Blog

Diana Martin’s Interests:

Gadgets, Gaming, Graphic Arts, Photography, Macintosh, User Interface Design, Cyber Anthropology, Internet Anthropology, Internet Culture, Video Gaming Culture, Education through Video Games, Effects of Technology and the Internet on 'Third-World' Communities, Net Neutrality, Gamer's Rights