I’m Erin Lynn Young, a User Experience (UX) and Information Architecture (IA) consultant who helps teams build sites and applications that delight and influence users.
Based in Austin, I have global client-side and agency experience, a background in business and a passion for learning.
As an independent consultant, I bring a deep understanding of user behavior, a wide set of technological tools, a variety of tactics for gathering requirements and a keen focus on listening – to clients, to users, and to those who understand the users.
Availability
I’m in the midst of a huge project — maternity leave. I’ll be available again to take on new work projects again beginning in early 2012. Please be in touch if you have a project kicking off in this time period.
Location
I’m based in the nice, central location of Austin, Texas and I work from my home office on a daily basis with clients from coast to coast. My arsenal of techniques for remote teamwork is robust and includes constant use of the phone, IM, and video chat.
Clients
I’ve worked with a wide variety of clients, including Charles Schwab, UPS, Motorola, BMC Software, Microsoft/Windows Phone, the U.S. Dept of Education, JCPenney, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, ConocoPhillips, David’s Bridal, UPS, National Instruments, Chase, MSN and Facebook.
I’ve worked with agencies small and large including T3, HC&B, Smith & Robot, MBA Design, White Lion, Rawle Murdy, Spring Studio, and Quotient Solutions.
Work History
User Experience (UX) Consultant
As an independent consultant, I’ve worked with clients and agencies large and small including UPS, Charles Schwab, BMC Software, T3, Starmount Systems, MBA Design and White Lion Interactive. I’ve designed for the browser, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. My deliverables have included test plans, heuristic evaluations (usability reviews), user personas, site maps, use cases, analytics review, stakeholder interviews, user interviews, user flows, interactive prototypes, sketches and wireframes… LOTS of wireframes. See what clients have said about working with me >
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.
