Objectives

To work with companies of innovative people who value user centered design and customer input for product design, creative commitment and cutting edge technology.

Summary

Usability Consultant with significant impact transforming numerous companies. Business Manager, Usability Specialist and User Experience Designer with solid product experience in Web, Telecommunications and Software industries.

Twenty-three years in user interface research and design, human factors engineering in the computer industry, more recently in Web environments.
Entrepreneurial spirit, self-starter and resourceful, diplomatic leader.
Very experienced at managing multiple projects, usability testing, expert reviews, interaction design, building customer research labs, and creating new centered design processes.
Skilled at mentoring others, excellent interpersonal relationship skills.
Effective in communication with technical staff and management, persistent at goals and deadline oriented.
Pioneered hybrid market research/usability approach to online services, remote evaluations over the Internet, and video data collection techniques.

Experience

DesignPerspectives.com, Newburyport, MA. 1996 - Present
Founder and Principal
Created a highly successful usability and design-consulting firm serving multiple clients for Web E-commerce, software applications, Web applications, consumer and medical products. Focused on user-centered design and usability engineering with services ranging from early customer analysis to interactive design, usability testing, and remote evaluations over the Internet.

Repeat business over nine years with clients ranging from startups to blue chip companies.
Significant and measurable impact on commercial products and services in Web E-Commerce, software products, medical, music, and Internet Search Engine industries.
Recent work on Web site redesigns for non profit organizations including the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

AT&T New Media Services (formerly Ziff-Davis Interactive), Cambridge, MA. 1991 - 1996
Customer Research Manager, Interchange Design Group

Created and directed comprehensive usability research program to guide the design of The Interchange Online Network resulting in a highly usable design with elements seen on many Web pages today.

Senior Interactive Designer, Interchange Design Group

Core startup member of tight multi-disciplinary design team for Interchange online service coordinating research, design, development, and marketing.

The New England, Boston, MA. 1990-1991
Senior Systems Consultant, Expert Systems Development
Revised corporate design process to include new methods for software development including rapid design and prototyping; reduced development time satisfied users.

Wang Laboratories, Inc., Lowell, MA. 1985-1990
Principal Human Factors Engineer, Research and Development

Founding member of Human Factors lab; a research team for product design.
Lead usability engineer on the design of Wang Freestyle, a multi-media communication system incorporating handwriting and voice; Dr. Wang said that Freestyle was the only Wang system that he could easily demonstrate to customers.

Lockheed Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA. 1982-1985
Human Factors Engineer, Systems Effectiveness

Lead designer of user interface for satellite workstation/terminal for a global communications program.

IBM, San Jose, CA 1981
Engineering Psychologist Intern, Human Factors Laboratory

Education

Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, M.S. Experimental Psychology, 1981.
University of NH, at Plymouth, NH, B.A. Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, 1977.

Publications/Conference Presentations

Perkins, R., Case Studies and Issues in the Definition and Rating of Severity for Usability Problems, Boston Usability Professionals Association Conference, March 2005.
Perkins, R. Remote Usability Evaluations, Boston Usability Professionals Association Conference, March 2004.
Molich, R., Pernice Coyne, K., Perkins, R., Mayhew, D., Politics and Usability: Test your skills against the experts, Panel: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2003 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2003 v.2 p.694-695
Perkins, R. Remote Evaluations using the Internet: comparing methods, Proceedings, 16th British HCI Group Annual Conference, London, 2002.
Perkins, R., Remote Usability Evaluation over the Internet, in Essays on Usability, Russell Branaghan, ed., Usability Professional's Association, 2001.
Shubin, H., Perkins, R., Web Navigation: Resolving Conflicts Between the Desktop and the Web Workshops, in Proceedings of ACM CHI 98 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Summary) 1998 v.2 p.209
Perkins, R., Belge, M., and Ehrlich, K., Design Reviews: Design for Rapidly Changing Times, Interactions, vol. IV.3, May 1997.
Perkins, R.D., (1995), AT&T Interchange Online Network: Simplifying Information Access, Design Briefing, ACM CHI 95 Conference Proceedings, Denver, May 8-11, 1995.
Perkins, R.D., Rollert, D., (1994), Interchange, An Online Service for People with Special Interests, in Usability in Practice, Michael Wiklund ed., Associated Press, Cambridge, MA.
Perkins, R.D., Blatt, L.A., Ehrlich, S.F., and Workman, D., (1989), Iterative Tutorial Design in the Product Development Cycle. In Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting (pp. 268-272). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors Society.

Professional Associations

Member ACM SIGCHI, Usability Professionals Association, Past President and past Program Committee Chair for local ACM chapter BostonCHI, former member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and former Program Director BAYCHI, and Eastern Mountain Sports Product Evaluation Committee.

References

Available on request

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