I’m Erin Lynn Young, a user experience (UX) strategist and information architect (IA) who specializes in making things persuasive, social and easy-to-use. Based in Austin, I have global client-side and agency experience, a background in business and a passion for learning.
As an independent user experience consultant, I offer a deep understanding of user behavior, a wide set of technological tools, a great variety of tactics for gathering requirements, and excellent attention to the details of presentation. By immersing myself in client projects and work environments, I continue to expand my knowledge of the industry.
Clients
I’ve worked with a wide variety of clients. In-house, I’ve worked for multinational tech giants BMC Software and National Instruments. Through T3, I interfaced directly with clients from Microsoft/WindowsPhone, the U.S. Dept of Education, JCPenney, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, ConocoPhillips, David’s Bridal, UPS, Chase, MSN, Facebook. I’ve freelanced for Tom O’Leary (Attorney at Law), The Customs Broker Exam Prep Course, Lone Star Land Design & Lone Star Grounds, Premier Event Source and many other small businesses and organizations. I’ve also been employed on the client side.
Work History
User Experience (UX) Consultant
Quite recently, I’ve begun an assignment in a User Experience Architect role at Charles Schwab. Previous to that, I consulted with multinational software giant BMC Software where I helped a team of web strategists, user researchers, product managers and designers prototype their long-term vision for the customer experience.
Senior Information Architect at T3
Before moving into consulting, I worked full-time as a Senior IA at T3, an Austin-based interactive firm. The role included all the UX basics — creating site maps, user flows, prototypes and functional specs; auditing existing web experiences; developing user personas; surveying competitive landscapes; and interpreting analytics. New business pitches and high-profile strategy presentations helped me refine my presentation skills.
As one of the first UXers at T3, I had to prove the value of the discipline internally and work with the account and project management teams to ensure that UX was a part of new projects. As the discipline grew, I created an internal design pattern library where the UX team could collaborate and share ideas.
It was at T3 that I also became a student of the social web and its impact. I planned a high-profile user community that accumulated over 80,000 registered participants in its first 6 weeks. I developed a detailed business case to help a Fortune 50 client gain executive buy-in for a support community. And I carried the social torch internally, planning a Jive-based internal knowledge-sharing community, initiating @T3thinktank‘s Twitter presence, and architecting and writing for T3 Thinks.
Web Producer at National Instruments
National Instruments is a global, Austin-based tech company with a stellar in-house marketing program. I started at NI as an intern. When I left, I was a Web Producer behind 2 of 5 key global marcom campaigns.
The best part of the job was the depth of involvement I had across the entire web project life cycle — driving highly collaborative global web projects from start to finish across 9 languages, then gathering analytics and user feedback to optimize the experience.
I was selected for the NI MarCom Leadership Program, an exclusive six-month course led by NI execs which culminated in 5 highly anticipated team presentations on challenges facing marketing. My team was tasked with creating a scalable recommendation to reduce bounce rates from inbound marketing activities, and I was deemed team leader — which meant I had to deliver the presentation alone on behalf of the team. Get in touch, and I’ll tell you how it turned out.
Contact Erin for work samples or to chat about your project.
