Jay Kaufmann | Résumé |
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| Full name | James Jay Kaufmann |
| Born | February 27, 1968 in Indiana, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Work permit | Permanent work permit for Germany |
| Marital status | Married |
| Address |
Sonnenburger Str. 54 , D-10437 Berlin, Germany |
| Mobile | +49 (171) 84 99 771 |
| jay@SynapseStudio.com |
Work Experience |
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| Jan 2010 - present |
Principal Experience Design Consultant Synapse Studio • Berlin I interface with client companies to design ways of working that optimize usability, invite emotional engagement and maximize customer satisfaction. I design interaction frameworks and information architectures to ensure consistent cross-platform user experiences. | |
| Oct 2010 - Sep 2011 |
Director of User Experience Design NumberFour AG • Berlin Designed a UI framework, toolkit and style guide to enable developer partners to deliver industry-specific SaaS solutions for small businesses. Built a User Experience Design team from the ground up. | |
| May 2010 - Sep 2010 |
Project Lead, User Experience Design 1&1 Internet AG • Karlsruhe Designed the user interface for a new portal encompassing various software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. Coordinated the work of 4 additional conceptual designers and delivered user interface requirements to multiple teams in a scrum-based development environment. | |
| Jan 2008 - Dec 2009 |
Head of User Experience Fox Mobile Distribution • Berlin Founded and directed a central team of usability engineers and designers. Supervised weekly internal and occasional external user tests across multiple brands, media channels and countries. Directed graphic designers in production of screens for all FMD portals. Taught user experience principles to product teams and evangelized customer focus company-wide. Designed information structures, navigation schemes and user interfaces. | |
| Oct 2006 - Jan 2008 |
Product Manager Fox Mobile Distribution • Berlin Built a social network into the Jamba.de mobile entertainment portal. Delivered on Web 2.0 promises by infusing community, UGC and AJAX interface elements into a social commerce solution. Led 4-person project team. Designed work flows, wireframes, and user interaction patterns. Wrote functional specifications and test cases. | |
| June 2004 - Oct 2006 |
Requirements Engineer iLove GmbH • Berlin Designed features for a market-leading dating community. Internationalized the platform and managed rollout into 13 countries and 12 languages. Optimized order flows. Documented business requirements, defined use cases, laid out screens, and wrote functional specifications. | |
| Apr 2001 - Jun 2004 |
Experience Design Consultant Synapse Studio • Seattle & Berlin Designed user interfaces for dynamic websites. Concept development, portal design and front-end programming for various clients, including Taskit Embedded Systems, The Casey Family Program, King County, Intel, Giro and Novell. | |
| Aug 2000 - Apr 2001 |
User Interface Architect Vitessa • Seattle Designed unifying UI and cohesive navigation for a suite of previously disparate web-based B2B applications. Conducted contextual inquiry user studies. Re-designed task flows. Specified UI standards. | |
| Mar 1998 - Aug 2000 |
User Interface Program Manager HP (DeepCanyon.com) • Seattle Coordinated UI design across a marketing resource portal which sold electronic (XML) market research documents. Established interface standards, created information architecture, defined navigation and designed features. | |
| Aug 1996 - Mar 1998 |
UI Designer and HTML Programmer ITM Corp. (now ShipLogix) • Seattle Designed user interfaces, produced graphics and coded HTML templates for a web-based application serving freight forwarders. | |
| Mar 1995 - Sep 1996 |
Arts Administrator CARTAH, University of Washington • Seattle Performed all administrative functions for a multimedia research lab. Managed budgets, payroll, and public information program. Designed web site. | |
| Oct 1990 - Jul 1994 |
Graphic Designer Quickfish Media • Seattle Designed and produced ads for Seattle Weekly. Typeset editorial articles and laid out pages. | |
Education |
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| Sep 2002 - Jul 2003 |
Hartnackschule, Berlin German | |
| Sep 1994 - Jun 1996 |
University of Washington, Seattle BFA, Sculpture | |
| Mar 1991 - Jun 1991 |
School of Visual Concepts, Seattle Graphic Design | |
| Jul 1989 - Aug 1989 |
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minnesota Color Photography | |
| Sep 1987 - Jun 1990 |
Earlham College, Indiana BA, English Internship with conceptual artist Agnes Denes, New York Student Body Vice President Executive Editor of the student newspaper | |
| Sep 1986 - Jun 1987 |
Goshen College, Indiana Journalism | |
| Sep 1982 - Jun 1986 | Normal Community High School, Illinois | |
Skills |
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| Core Competencies | User experience management • Information architecture • Interaction design • Customer experience strategy • Requirements engineering: use cases, workflows, wireframes, mockups, prototypes, feature specifications • UI design • Usability testing and expert reviews • Contextual inquiry • Personnel management | |
| Scripting | HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, Perl, XML and JavaScript. | |
| Software | Visio, Axure, Photoshop, PowerPoint, Morae, Camtasia, Excel, Word, InDesign, Illustrator, PageMaker, Quark XPress, Userland Frontier, Flash, Premiere. Numerous text editors, utilities and content management systems. | |
| Tools | Bugzilla, Jira, Confluence (Wiki), CVS, IndexTools, Google Analytics, etc. | |
| Operating Systems | Windows, Unix and Mac | |
| Languages |
English (native speaker) German (fluent) | |