Sr UX Design Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
-
- Sr UX Design Consultant at rocketsassy studios
- Past
-
- Sr UX Design Consultant at slide.com
- Sr UX Design Consultant at CampusExplorer.com
- Sr UX Design Consultant at Foodista, LLC
- Sr UX Design Consultant at TeachStreet
- Sr UX Designer at Getty Images
- Sr UX Design Consultant at NPower Seattle
- Sr UX Design Consultant at Jobster.com
- Sr UX Design Consultant at rascal software
- International Design Lead at amazon.com
- Design Lead at amazon.com
- Producer/Designer at Magi Group, Inc
- Book Designer at becker & mayer!
- jr book designer at becker&mayer!
- Education
-
- Brian Utting School of Massage
- Pratt Fine Arts
- School of Visual Arts
1 more...
- Recommended
-
17 people have recommended Leandra - Connections
-
241
connections
- Industry
- Internet
- Websites
Leandra Darcy’s Summary
I began work as a wee book designer back in 1993. Since then I've designed everything you can imagine from biz collateral to websites, cdroms, kiosks, tradeshow booths, public art, garden installations, software and an eco-shower for 200 people at burningman.
In 1997, I worked with amazon.com as their International Design Lead launching the British and German sites. In 1999, as Design Lead, I was involved in the complete redesign and rearchitecture of the website porting it over to XML from more labor intensives code processes. This enabled the site to rapidly deploy new product area and pages enabling the companies rapid growth during this period. This project involved intensive usability research, information architecture and interface design. Then in 2000, again as International Design Lead, I led a multicultural design team launching the French and Japanese websites. Overall, working with this company taught me alot about myself, working with others and honed my knowledge and website/interface design skill.
Since, I have consulted with companies far and wide on the user experience of their websites and other online tools. I specialize in UI Design, IA and visual design.
You can see all about it here:
http://www.rocketsassy.com
Leandra Darcy’s Specialties:
+ Website user experience, UI design, visual design & information architecture
+ Creative direction & development
+ Identity systems
+ International design
Leandra Darcy’s Experience
-
Sr UX Design Consultant
rocketsassy studios
(Internet industry)
October 2000 — Present (9 years 2 months)
I have consulted and designed for a variety of clients and projects. My work has included user interface design, interaction designe, information architecture, usability studies, web design, identity systems, and visual design.
Skills
+ Website UI design & information architecture
+ User experience design, interaction design, visual design
+ Creative direction & development
+ Social networks
+ Web 2.0 +
+ International design -
Sr UX Design Consultant
slide.com
(Internet industry)
March 2009 — June 2009 (4 months)
Responsibilities include conceptualizing, developing, and refining interaction design. Requires strategic thinking and communication with all members of the project team. User research drives personas and scenarios that results in conceptual concepts, annotated wireframes, interactive models, prototypes and functional specifications.
-
Sr UX Design Consultant
CampusExplorer.com
(Internet industry)
October 2008 — January 2009 (4 months)
I worked with the product team to redesign their website UX, IA and visual brand. Live site does not reflect design yet : ) Please see portfolio for homepage example. Other samples available upon request.
-
Sr UX Design Consultant
Foodista, LLC
(Internet industry)
July 2008 — October 2008 (4 months)
Created early stage wireframes for an early stage functional prototype. Work included IA, UX. To note: live site does not reflect my contributions. Please refer to portfolio for examples of my work for this project.
-
Sr UX Design Consultant
TeachStreet
(Internet industry)
September 2007 — July 2008 (11 months)
Launched the V1 version of Teachstreet.com.
Responsible for direction, design and implementation of all UX, IA, visual design and branding. As the sole designer, I worked with a small team of biz owners and developers sythnesizing biz goals into our V1 website. Exciting and fun project! -
Sr UX Designer
Getty Images
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Internet industry)
December 2006 — August 2007 (9 months)
Responsible for creating high-quality, innovative user-centered designs that meet the needs of customers, business and technology, for website and/or software applications. The UX Designer is a highly effective communicator about user center design, design process, design rational, and customer driven decisions across disciplines.
Responsibilities:
* Translates business requirements and user needs into UI designs.
* Design and develop UI solutions including but not limited to: flowcharts, wireframes, concept sketches, ui mock-ups, style guides, site maps, prototypes, detailed comps, UI functional specifications, final production graphics.
* Works closely with Usability on an on-going basis to help identify user needs, requirements
* Proactively defines business initiatives into actionable design projects
* Conducts competitive analyses and other design research. -
Sr UX Design Consultant
NPower Seattle
(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)
July 2006 — December 2006 (6 months)
-
Sr UX Design Consultant
Jobster.com
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)
February 2006 — June 2006 (5 months)
I consulted on defining the user experience for the jobseeker experience of Jobster.com. My role included scoping site features, UI design, information architecture, prototyping.
Jobster.com is at the heart of web 2.0 technology. Much of my work focused on designing new interfaces capitalizing on the agility of ruby on rails and ajax. Fun stuff! -
Sr UX Design Consultant
rascal software
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
February 2003 — August 2004 (1 year 7 months)
I consulted and designed for all aspects of their marketing communications (website, tradeshows, print ads, online ads) as well as the user experience of their software targeted at professionals building Help apps.
-
International Design Lead
amazon.com
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; amzn; Graphic Design industry)
November 1999 — October 2000 (1 year )
User-interface and information design, information architecture, brand design, e-commerce
As lead of the German, British, French and Japanese sites, I led all online creative and brand development, creative globalization and operations, international UI and site architecture:
+ I liaised between the US and international development/design. I was responsible for all budgeting, scheduling and creative operations. I hired, trained and managed a cross-cultural, multi-locale team of 8 web designers. I managed and oversaw all projects on all international sites.
+ I developed creative specs, site-maps and coordinated the development process and team. I led the launch of all international sites (FR, UK, DE, JP), doubling roles as site designer for the largest launch in the history of the company, www.amazon.fr. -
Design Lead
amazon.com
(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; amzn; Graphic Design industry)
March 1997 — November 1999 (2 years 9 months)
User-interface & information design, information architecture, usability study, brand design, e-commerce
As a design lead of the US site my accomplishments were diverse. My passion focused on issues which affected the usability and architecture of the entire site rather then the goals of one distinct business unit:
+ I initiated and conducted an in-depth usability and information architecture analysis resulting in a redesign of most of the site. Including global UI, navigation tools, product display types, list display types, content display, and global templatization. Subsequent testing showed an increase of up to 400% on 'click-through' and 200% higher sales.
+ I documented and produced the first global UI Guide & Design standards for all amazon sites.
+ I designed and directed the creation of store models for partnership sites This included directing photoshoots, illustrators, and graphic artists. -
Producer/Designer
Magi Group, Inc
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Graphic Design industry)
November 1996 — June 1997 (8 months)
Print design, information design, interactive design, project management. At this multimedia design and technology firm, I was involved with all projects as a producer and as a designer. As producer, I was responsible for all scheduling, budgeting, client contact, management of staff, site maps, vendor contact, troubleshooting and research. Projects included websites, applications, interactive kiosks, cd-roms, video and related print material.
-
Book Designer
becker & mayer!
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)
November 1996 — June 1997 (8 months)
Book design, packaging design, information design, prepress
I contributed to the publication of 50 books/kits per year. Responsibilities included: art-directing illustrators & photograhers, conceptualizing book treatment and layout, producing electronic mechanicals, managing prepress, research and establishing a digital archive and backup system.
Titles were designed, written and sold to such publishing houses as Random House, Viking Penguin/Puffin, Scholastic Books, Warner Books, Ten Speed Press, Chronicle Books, Peachpit Press and Sunset Books. -
jr book designer
becker&mayer!
(Internet industry)
1995 — 1996 (1 year )
Additional Information
Leandra Darcy’s Websites:
Leandra Darcy’s Interests:
web 2.0, user experience, UI design, paradigm shifts, and social networking sites
Leandra Darcy’s Honors:
1999, 2000 Forrester Research --amazon.com, Ease-of-use
1999, 2000 Gomez Advisors--amazon.com, Ease-of-use,Overall best
2000 Harris Interactive--amazon.com, Ease-of-use
1999, 2000 Jupiter Research--Ease of use, Overall best
Leandra Darcy’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
