Marie Thacker

Current

UX Design Consultant at Self-Employed

Past

Founder at Sparkle*Shelf
Web Art Director at PopCap Games
Director of Creative and User Experience at CarDomain Network

Design Director at Donordigital
Senior Web Designer at Classmates Online
Senior Web Designer at The Cobalt Group

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3 more...

Education

University of Washington
Cascade High School
SMM

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Recommended

4 people have recommended Marie

Connections

289 connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

My Portfolio

Marie Thacker’s Summary

I love good design that is easy to use.

Marie Thacker’s Specialties:

* User Experience Design
* App Interface & UI Design
* Prototype Development
* Usability Testing
* Web Visual Design
* Brand Development
* Creative Team Management
* Creative Strategy
* Art Direction
* Front-end Web Dev
* Drupal Dev & Theming

Marie Thacker’s Experience

UX Design Consultant

Self-Employed

(Design industry)

January 1996 — Present (13 years 11 months)

Serve as contract user experience designer, art director, and consultant to businesses nationwide. Focused on UX design with a slick visual aesthetic. Ascertain client needs and vision, offering counsel on effective online solutions.

* Provide user experience, design and marketing expertise to businesses small and large, in a variety of different industries.
* Responsible for defining the Creative & UX strategy of business's online presence.
* Take projects from start to finish, which includes: concepts, UI & UX design, visual design, production, programming, testing, launch, and ongoing maintenance.
* Able to work in all phases of a project lifecycle, including IA (flows, wireframes, prototypes), visual design, and front-end web dev.

Portfolio of work at http://mariethacker.com
Founder

Sparkle*Shelf

(Internet industry)

April 2008 — August 2009 (1 year 5 months)

Founded and manage this social network / webzine. Contributed entirely to the concept, design, development, and maintenance for this website. Manage a team of writers, work on developing and implementing new features, UX optimization for pages and the overall website, conversion optimization. Also act as primary contact for managing freelance contributors as well as biz dev, marketing and advertising contacts.

* Successfully sold SparkleShelf.com in August '09 to a Seattle start-up
* Developed and designed the business brand, logo and identity
* Designed the UX, UI and visual design for the website
* Responsible for website development, database setup, and maintenance
* Lead an editorial team of 15 writers, created content calendar, and provided article editing and approvals.
* Act as marketing and biz dev contact
* Analyze stats and continually work on optimization for conversion and usability.
* Successfully built a community of thousands of registered members unique visitors on a limited budget.
Web Art Director

PopCap Games

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

June 2006 — October 2007 (1 year 5 months)

Established and managed the creative vision, user experience, and UI for PopCap.com. Responsibilities include providing art direction on all projects, strategic planning, creating innovative solutions for design challenges, managing the design team, and interfacing with other departments.

* Key stakeholder involved in strategic decisions affecting PopCap.com
* Manage an ongoing effort to optimize site performance that will lead to increased conversion.
* Manage a wide variety of projects including site optimization, website features, HTML newsletter, marketing campaigns, new game releases, and customer support projects.
* Requires familiarity with Web Metrics data using Omniture, as well as knowledge of HCI and UI standards.
* Responsible for team planning, budget, hiring, management, contractor management, resource allocation, scheduling, and mentoring.
Director of Creative and User Experience

CarDomain Network

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Automotive industry)

March 2006 — June 2006 (4 months)

CarDomain Network is the web’s largest community of car enthusiasts, also providing one-stop shopping for car audio and performance parts.

Managed and lead the creative look and feel and user experience for the company's online community and retail store. Also managed and art directed offline marketing print collateral. Responsibilities included interfacing with multiple departments to accurately translate project goals to designers, writing design briefs, providing design direction to designers, and leading the creative vision for the company.

* Requires a thorough understanding of the creative design process, UI (user interface) design, branding strategy and cross-departmental project management.
* Managed a team of 7 designers, providing mentorship and teambuilding.
* Implemented a new project process and team strategy to increase efficiency and better allocation of resources.
Design Director

Donordigital

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

March 2004 — March 2006 (2 years 1 month)

Manage the design and deveopment for all projects and client. Donordigital provides online marketing services for progressive non-profits such as NARAL, Human Rights Campaign, Amnesty International, The Humane Society of the United States, and many other like minded organizations.
Senior Web Designer

Classmates Online

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

August 2002 — March 2004 (1 year 8 months)
Senior Web Designer

The Cobalt Group

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Automotive industry)

January 1998 — August 2001 (3 years 8 months)

Created website designs and interactive Flash movies for custom projects. Oversaw projects from conception to completion, serving as liaison between Sales, Marketing, Development, and Creative teams.

* Coached new employees on Website design/development and software use.
* Served as Lead Designer and key contributor to launch of the Flash template library, which greatly improved operational efficiency and design offerings.

Marie Thacker’s Education

University of Washington

BS , Painting , 1992 — 1996
Cascade High School

1988 — 1992
SMM

Additional Information

Marie Thacker’s Websites:

My Portfolio

Marie Thacker’s Interests:

Keeping up with the latest design, UX & technology trends. I also have a serious shopping & makeup addiction, and enjoy yoga, guitar, playing with my toddler Luna, and trying to catch up on sleep (yeah right).