About Misty
Call me a user experience consultant, an interaction designer, or a usability professional. Although my business cards say "User Experience Manager," I call myself an Information Architect (IA), because IA reflects my background as a writer, a content manager, a techie, and a planner.
Plus, it's a good conversation-starter for people who are new to the field.
Q: "Information architecture? What's that?"
A: "It's about architecting successful interactions between people and the systems they rely on - in whatever information medium you choose. Websites? Definitely. Cell phones and PDAs? Absolutely. Pocketknifes or travel maps? Yep - those, too."
My Work
By day, I am the founding practitioner and manager of an 8-person User Experience program at Convio, Inc. We consult with not-for-profit organizations, helping them to plan interesting, solid, usable - and enjoyable - websites.
I also take on a small amount of freelance consulting. Read on, if you're interested.
Background
Since 2001, I have consulted with small businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations of all stripes, to help them create effective .coms, .orgs, .edus, .nets, and .govs. Informed by an M.S. in Information Architecture from UT's School of Information, my expertise lies in planning successful interactive experiences.
Because of my background in writing and content management, I approach questions of interaction and design from the perspective of language (both visual and textual) and audience.
About Me
I live with my hub, my baby son, our catahoula pup, and her cranky cat in the great white north of Portland, Maine, where we relocated in 2007 from Austin, Texas.
Contact me through the site, or find out who we might know in common on Linked In or Facebook.
Misty McLaughlin
Information Architect, User Experience Consultant
Portland, Maine
Check out one of my interactive design projects from graduate school: The Livemap Project.