Is it strange to think of a task analysis as beautiful? I’ve long been interested in usability and bringing meaning to interaction. Here are a few projects where I was able to dirty my hands from user research, design, and implementation.

Comb(p)atability
An interface to test the boundaries between love and war

Jason Alderman, Aaron Levisohn, Allison Sall

role: visual design, interaction design

A study conducted by MIT on online dating shows that individuals seek themselves in other individuals. In the online dating world, this translates to individuals with similar profiles are more likely to contact and connect with others like them. We use this information with a twist. If it is true that there is a thin line between love and war, perhaps we can visualize the compatibility of one individual to another as well as their combatibility.

Comb(p)atability is designed as a fun parody of online networking / dating sites. It functions like most matchmaking sites where individuals create a profile then may browse other profiles. The remarkable difference is that combatability uses XML to communicate with ambiant orb. The orb translates a visual representation of users' combatabilty or compatibility with other users.

view design document (PDF 1.48 MB)
view Comb(p)atability (you can only experience the orb effect if you have access to an orb)

Redesign of Yahoo! User Experience Design Intranet
Allison Sall, Travis Silverman

role: Interaction design

This summer I worked at Yahoo! to redesign their intranet for their User Experience Design group. I was teamed with Travis Silverman, the visual designer, and a superb group of mentors. I conducted cardsorts, interviews and created a content inventory as preliminary guidelines to help in the redesign process. These steps helped to establish the requirements, create personas, and the architecture. I created wireframes, flows, site maps, and navigation studies.

Documentation available on request

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