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Lawrence J. Najjar
Austin, TX
lawrence_najjar at yahoo.com
http://www.lawrence-najjar.com



Objective
Position designing easy-to-use user interfaces for challenging products

Education
PhD Engineering Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Experience
5/05 – Present: TandemSeven, Principal User Experience Architect, Austin
  • Interviewed stakeholders, identified users and their needs, created interaction designs for complex Web-based applications, performed usability evaluations, and wrote user interface design specifications. Clients included Abbott Pharmaceuticals, Campbell Soup Company, Career Education Corporation, Citigroup, Experian, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Orbitz.
  • Received Nielsen Norman Group "2008 Intranet Design Award" for Campbell Soup Company employee intranet
3/03 – 4/05: BMC Software, Senior Interaction Designer, Austin
  • Gathered requirements, identified users, performed task analyses, iteratively designed user interfaces, led client design reviews, and wrote user interface design specifications for enterprise database management and business services management applications.
  • Wrote Java application accessibility user interface style guide. Researched, wrote, and made five luncheon presentations on usability and accessibility awareness.
12/01 – 3/03: GTRI, Human Factors Engineer, Atlanta
  • For commercially-available multi-function print/scan/copy/fax product, performed needs assessments, developed design checklists, and performed accessibility evaluations with representative users. Designed improved user interface concept for users with disabilities.
  • As freelancer, performed usability heuristic evaluations of Worldspan travel reservation Web sites.
6/00 – 10/01: Viant, Information Architect, Atlanta
  • Working on multidisciplinary teams, wrote proposals, estimated work scope, identified user and client needs, and made project proposal presentations to clients. Created use cases, organized information, designed navigational structures, created task flows, and developed interactive HTML mockups. Clients included Fast Forward consumer electronics, Fleet Bank, and NASCAR.
  • Led iterative user interface design reviews. Created user interface design templates for proposed company standards. Performed usability expert reviews.
8/98 – 6/00: iXL, Senior Information Architect, Atlanta
  • With teams, designed Home Depot online store, America Online corporate information site, Delta Air Lines internal agent reservation system, Thomson Financial corporate site, and GE Power Systems order status extranet.  Estimated work scope, wrote proposals, analyzed user needs, wrote functional requirements, organized site information, created interactive HTML prototypes, performed heuristic evaluations, led client design reviews, and wrote user interface design specifications.
6/93 – 8/98: GTRI, Research Assistant, Atlanta
  • Researched user needs, then designed and evaluated innovative user interfaces for network-enabled mobile wearable computers.
  • Designed, created, and maintained Web sites for department and international conference.
5/84 – 6/93: IBM Corp., Human Factors Engineer, Atlanta and Rockville, MD
  • Designed hardware and software user interfaces for US air traffic control system, including digital flight strips, customized keyboard, workstation ergonomics, and audio alerts.  Also planned and conducted research evaluation of keyboard design alternatives for standing users.
  • Performed contextual observations and user interviews.  Planned and conducted dozens of usability tests on commercial software applications and product set-up instructions.
2/83 – 5/84: Systems Research Laboratories, Human Factors Engineer, Hanover, MD
  • Worked with client and representative users to design a complex audio control panel and software user interface for advanced word processing and audio transcription system for US government agency.