Donna McKeown Leacock

donna_leacock@yahoo.com
Sunnyvale, California 94087
408.735.8597

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Experience Summary
Experienced user interface designer specializing in user-centered design and usability testing. Key strengths include problem solving, experimental methodology, initiating, managing and completing long-term projects. Extensive knowledge of human information processing. Dedicated, creative team player with excellent communication skills.

UI Design Consultant
theUEgroup, LLC, San Jose, California, 10/07-2/08

  • Led the design of desktop and web applications for medical devices.
  • Conducted a usability study for a DVR service.

UI Architect Consultant
ACCESS Systems Americas (formerly PalmSource), Sunnyvale, California, 9/06-9/07

  • Acted as a single point of contact for questions regarding consistency of behaviors across critical applications for the ACCESS Linux Platform, an OS for smartphones.
  • Wrote patterns and guidelines for the ACCESS Linux Platform.
  • Provided feedback and guidance to interaction designers in Sunnyvale, Tokyo and Nanjing.
  • Partnered with engineering to define the behaviors for UI components used by internal and external developers.

Interface Design Consultant
Intuit, Inc., Mountain View, California, 5/04-4/05

  • Led the design of inventory management features for QuickBooks (PC Magazine Editor’s Choice in 2006). Created use cases, mockups, and prototypes for usability testing and final design specifications.

Senior User Interface Designer
Intuit, Inc., Mountain View, California, 11/01-2/04

  • Led the design of an inventory feature for QuickBooks. Conducted usability tests, walkthroughs with remote customers, and beta surveys.
  • Oversaw field research that explored installation and setup for QuickBooks. Facilitated requirements and use case definition based on this research, improving the overall setup experience. Prototyped and usability tested the resulting design.

Senior User Interface Designer
Ebay, Inc., San Jose, California, 6/01-11/01

  • Led design efforts for the integration of Half.com with the main Ebay site. Revamped the design of the registration process to accommodate Ebay and Half.com users. Explored early designs for integrating search results and feedback ratings with users.

    Senior User Interface Designer
    Webvan Group, Inc., Foster City, California, 10/99 - 5/01

  • Led the design of an application for a new Palm-based handheld device used by delivery personnel from initial concept to product launch. Reduced entry errors and lowered maintenance costs using task analysis, iterative design and several rounds of usability testing.
  • Conducted field studies with a team which informed several releases of the Webvan website. The new designs increased the average order size and percentage of new customers placing orders.
  • Led the design of a web-based customer relationship management application for the Webvan customer call center. Created a Visual Basic prototype to test early designs for a multimedia portal control which engineers extended for the final application. Ran several field studies to help drive requirements for future releases.

Human Interface Engineer
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Menlo Park, California, 11/98 - 10/99

  • Led the design of the user interface for Java Blend 2.0, a database connection tool. Supervised usability testing and redesigned the interface using test findings.
  • Redirected requirements and improved the designs for a web-based GUI editor that was part of a rapid application development environment. Conducted a field study, generated requirements based on scenarios, and led design sessions.

User Interface Designer
Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, California, 3/98 - 10/98

  • Led the design of the user interface for MediaBase 3.0, a cross-platform web-based media streaming product. User-tested a prototype and redesigned the interface based on feedback. Conducted heuristic evaluations and made design recommendations which improved the usability of several corporate intranet websites.
  • Generated early product concepts and requirements for a collaboration tool aimed at designers and engineers. Analyzed field study data, generated requirements based on scenarios, and led design sessions.

    User Interface Designer / User Researcher
    Claris Corporation, Santa Clara, California, 9/96 - 3/98
  • Led the design of assistants (wizards) for Claris HomePage 3.0 from concept to shipped product. Managed the efforts of a multidisciplinary team, prototyped, and iteratively tested designs on users. Wrote company guidelines for the cross-platform design of assistants.
  • Successfully directed usability testing and improved the user interface designs for ClarisWorks and ClarisWorks for Kids.
  • Created new product concepts for Internet software by carrying out field studies on web designers and electronic focus groups on educators.

    Human Factors Engineer (Internship)
    IBM, San Jose, California, 8/94 - 9/95

    • Leveraged the use of a decision support center for task analysis and prototype evaluation. Initiated design changes and improved product usability based on data collected from users for an object-oriented application development tool.

    Graduate Teaching Fellow
    University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 9/92 - 8/94, 9/95 - 6/96

Developed coursework and taught human cognition and research methods. Assisted in teaching statistics, cognition, cognitive science, research methods, and social psychology.

Research Assistant
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon, 9/90 - 9/92

Trained student workers on the use of software and basic research procedures. Worked with scanners and Photoshop and PC Paintbrush to create visual stimuli for experiments. Designed and programmed experiments in Pascal and HyperTalk to study visual memory.

Education
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon
Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, 1996
M.S., Experimental Psychology, 1991

Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
B.S., Psychology (Summa Cum Laude), 1990

Areas of Expertise

  • User Interface Design
  • Usability Testing
  • Low-fidelity prototyping
  • Human Information Processing
  • Field Studies / Contextual Inquiry
  • Interaction Design
  • Web-based Applications
  • Task Analysis
  • Experimental Design and Methodology

Computer Experience
Systems: Windows, OS/2, Macintosh, Unix
Languages: Visual Basic, HTML, SAS
Software: Illustrator, Photoshop, Office, Visio, Dreamweaver

Awards
American Psychological Society Award, 1992 and 1994
NSF Graduate Fellowship, Honorable Mention List, 1990 and 1991
Gathright Scholar, 1989 (highest GPA in Liberal Arts), Texas A&M University
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 1988, Texas A&M University

Selected Presentations
McKeown, D. (2000). Designing for Delivery: Adventures in the World of Mobile Field Devices. Talk presented at the Mobile Applications BayCHI BOF Meeting, Redwood Shores, California.

Douglas S.A., McKeown, D. & Hundhausen, C.D. (1996). Exploring Human Visualization of Computer Algorithms. Graphics Interface Proceedings (pp. 9-16). Toronto, Canada: Canadian Human-Computer Communications Society.

Douglas, S.A., Hundhausen, C.D., & McKeown, D. (1995). Toward empirically-based software visualization languages. Proceedings of the 1995 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages.

McKeown, D., Freyd, J.J. & Hintzman, D. (1994). The effects of implied mass on representational momentum. Poster presented at the APS Conference, Washington DC, 1994.

McKeown, D. & Freyd, J.J. (1992). Dynamic aspects of static art images. Poster presented at the APS Conference, San Diego.

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