Will Sansbury

Current

• Interaction designer at PracticeWorks
• Freelance user experience designer at Freelance

Past

• Product Usability Specialist at Silverpop
• Information Architect at Ipswitch
• Senior Information Developer and ScrumMaster at Ipswitch

• Information Developer at Ipswitch
• Web Designer at PowerServe International
• Partner/Web Developer at Mental Soup, LLC
• Web Design Manager at MetroQuest, Inc.
• Web Production Artist at Globalnet International

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Education

• Southern Polytechnic State University
• Augusta State University
• John S. Davidson Fine Arts School

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Recommended

8 people have recommended Will

Connections

191 connections

Industry

Marketing and Advertising

Websites

• Web site
• Résumé

Will Sansbury’s Summary

I am a multidisciplinary user-centered design professional dedicated to creating usable experiences that provide recognizable value for end-users and stakeholders.

I enthusiastically beat the content strategy drum. The Web is, at its core, an information transfer medium, and beautiful designs that fail to take content into consideration throughout the design process will fail to deliver the best results possible.

I am skilled at team facilitation and have the leadership skills to encourage and help others exceed their own expectations.

Will Sansbury’s Specialties:

Content strategy, user-centered design, user research, design research, ethnography, prototyping, wireframing, usability testing, graphic design, writing Web content, search engine optimization

Personal development, continuous improvement, team dynamics, team facilitation, Agile development methodologies, scrum

Will Sansbury’s Experience

• Interaction designer

  PracticeWorks

  (Public Company; Computer Software industry)

  March 2010 — Present (1 month)

• Freelance user experience designer

  Freelance

  (Design industry)

  January 2000 — Present (10 years 3 months)

  Follow user-centered design principles to create highly usable Web sites backed by effective content strategies

• Product Usability Specialist

  Silverpop

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  September 2009 — March 2010 (7 months)

  Lead user-centered design process to understand users and create wireframes and interactive prototypes to communicate designs that maximize the usability of Web-based interfaces
  
  Collaborate with technical communication team to use content strategy best practices to improve online help

• Information Architect

  Ipswitch

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  January 2009 — September 2009 (9 months)

  Introduced user experience design process to fifteen-year-old software company
  
  Integrated user experience design into agile development process
  
  Conducted ethnographic research to define personas that guided all aspects of product development
  
  Conducted quantitative customer research using online surveys and social media
  
  Introduced use of wireframes, prototypes and storyboards to communicate designs
  
  Championed early usability testing of design prototypes
  
  Designed parallel Windows and Web-based interfaces for WhatsUp Gold
  
  Collaborated on design of mobile interface for WhatsUp Gold
  
  Successfully transitioned usability testing from external vendor to in-house effort
  
  Expanded user interface review process to include pluralistic walkthroughs of task scenarios
  
  Led collaborative effort to define and document user interface style guide

• Senior Information Developer and ScrumMaster

  Ipswitch

  (Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

  February 2007 — January 2009 (2 years )

  ­­Designed, prototyped, tested, and documented user interfaces of Windows and Web‐based software
  
  Produced end‐user and marketing collateral for WS_FTP and WhatsUp product lines, including user guides,
  help systems, Web site copy, and video tutorials
  
  Improved quality of documentation by developing document templates and Ipswitch style guide
  
  Conducted heuristic usability reviews and usability tests of new user interfaces
  
  Led three scrum teams in continuous process improvement as ScrumMaster

• Information Developer

  Ipswitch

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

  December 2003 — February 2007 (3 years 3 months)

• Web Designer

  PowerServe International

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  July 2001 — December 2003 (2 years 6 months)

  Managed Web development projects from sales to customer acceptance
  
  Worked with customers to clarify and define requirements, then devised and executed a project plan
  
  Provided technical and customer support for over eighty customers
  
  Wrote monthly column about business and Web technology for local business magazine

• Partner/Web Developer

  Mental Soup, LLC

  (Internet industry)

  August 1999 — July 2001 (2 years )

  Worked with a team to design, develop, and maintain Web sites for corporate customers
  
  Designed and managed proprietary software applications including a content management system and an e‐commerce engine
  
  Performed marketing, human resources, and customer support functions

• Web Design Manager

  MetroQuest, Inc.

  (Internet industry)

  June 1997 — August 1999 (2 years 3 months)

  Led a department of five to develop Web sites for customers
  
  Assessed customer requirements, designed solutions, and managed team during completion of the project
  
  Delivered projects within schedule and budget constraints

• Web Production Artist

  Globalnet International

  (Internet industry)

  January 1997 — April 1997 (4 months)

  Produced working Web sites from mockups provided by designers
  
  Created workflow process to manage development process of multiple concurrent projects

Will Sansbury’s Education

• Southern Polytechnic State University

  MS , Information Design and Communication , 2008 — 2011 (expected)

• Augusta State University

  Bachelor of Arts , English , August 1997 — December 2002

  Activities and Societies:

  The Bell Ringer (student press), Honors Program, Wesley Foundation

• John S. Davidson Fine Arts School

  Visual Arts, Writing 1989 — 1997

Additional Information

Will Sansbury’s Websites:

• Web site
• Résumé

Will Sansbury’s Interests:

Content strategy, user-centered design, usability, search engine optimization, Web standards, graphic design, photography (digital and film), Agile development (scrum), single sourcing, prototyping

Will Sansbury’s Groups:

Atlanta Content Strategy
• Assistant Organizer 2009 – present

Society for Technical Communication
• Content Strategy SIG Webmaster
• Atlanta Chapter Webmaster

Usability Professionals' Association
• UX Magazine Editorial Board

Johnnyholland.org
• Dude (editor)

Member of Atlanta Content Strategy, CHI Atlanta,
Information Architecture Institute, IxDA, IEEE Professional Communication Society, Society for Technical Communication
and Usability Professionals' Association

•    Society for Technical Communication
•    Catalyze Community
•    Interaction Design Association
•    Boxes and Arrows
•    Technical Writing Professionals
•    The Content Wrangler Community
•    CHI*Atlanta
•    Information Architecture Institute (IAI)
•    Southern Polytechnic State University Alumni
•    Usability Professionals Association
•    User Experience Professionals Network
•    Agile Atlanta User Group
•    Johnny Holland
•    Content Strategy
•    STC-Atlanta

Will Sansbury’s Honors:

Presented at:
• RefreshAugusta - Augusta, GA, July 2009
• STC Atlanta Chapter - Atlanta, GA, October 2009
• STC Summit - Dallas, TX, May 2010

Merit Award from STC Atlanta Chapter, 2008

Certified ScrumMaster

Certified Author-it Consultant

Will Sansbury’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch