Donna Spencer

Current

Manager at UX Events
Interaction Designer at Maadmob Pty Ltd (Self-employed)
IA Summit Committee at IA Summit

see less...

Past

Board member at Information Architecture Institute
Lead Interaction Designer at Australian Government - Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Usability Specialist/Information Architect at Step Two Designs

see less...

Education

The University of Queensland
University of Canberra
Australian National University

see less...

Recommended

3 people have recommended Donna

Connections

248 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

Donna Spencer’s Summary

I'm a freelance information architect and interaction designer, a mentor, writer and trainer. I have 8 years experience working in-house and as a consultant doing both strategic and tactical design. I have designed large intranets & websites, e-commerce & search systems, complex business applications, a set of design patterns and a content management system.

I believe deeply in the value of user-centred design and use a range of user-centred approaches on my projects – from quick analysis of existing research to deep ethnography. I also believe deeply in team-based and iterative design – and continually surprise my colleagues by talking to people rather than computers and designing the old-fashioned way with pencil, sticky notes and much coloured paper.

I am an experienced speaker who has taught full-day workshops and presented sessions at many local and international conferences, on the topics of information architecture, interaction design and whatever else crosses my mind.

I spend my remaining spare time weaving, gardening, working on the board of the IAI, and writing a book on card sorting to be published soon by Rosenfeld Media.

Donna Spencer’s Specialties:

Design training, workshops, interaction design, information architecture, website design, user-centred design, usability testing, human factors, human-computer interaction, metadata

Donna Spencer’s Experience

Manager

UX Events

(Events Services industry)

January 2009 — Present (7 months)
Interaction Designer
Maadmob Pty Ltd (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)

June 2005 — Present (4 years 2 months)

Freelance interaction designer, information architect, user experience designer, usability specialist.
IA Summit Committee

IA Summit

(Non-Profit; Information Technology and Services industry)

March 2003 — Present (6 years 5 months)

Member of the organising committee for the IA Summit (2004, 2005).

Co-chair (2006)

Conference chair (2007)
Board member

Information Architecture Institute

(Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

September 2006 — October 2008 (2 years 2 months)

Marketing and communications, plus other board roles
Lead Interaction Designer

Australian Government - Department of Immigration and Citizenship

(Information Technology and Services industry)

2006 — 2007 (1 year)
Usability Specialist/Information Architect

Step Two Designs

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

September 2003 — June 2005 (1 year 10 months)

Donna Spencer’s Education

The University of Queensland

Master of Human Factors , Human factors , 2004 — 2005

Not completed
University of Canberra

Masters of Internet Communication , Site design , January 2002 — December 2003

Not completed
Australian National University

Bachelor of Economics , Economics , January 1988 — December 1992