RESUME

Herb Himes - User Experience and UI Designer

Experienced, versatile user experience designer and team leader, with an interest in team development, productive environments and overcoming difficult product development settings. Subject matter expert in UX, UI, and Web Design with proven ability at providing useful and effective solutions that meet both business and user needs, are innovative, easy to use and accessible. My methodology involves effective discovery sessions, prototyping, learning and improvement through iteration, clear communication and education.

Qualifications

User Experience Design & Direction — Over a decade of web design and web site development experience. UI designer, user experience researcher and designer of several award-winning websites. Hands-on experience with all stages of a user-centered design process from user research, concepting, interaction design, and visual design to prototyping, production and usability testing. Familiar with Macintosh and Windows OS, standards compliant, hand-coded HTML/XHTML,CSS, and software including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Fireworks, Dreamweaver and Flash.

Design Direction and Management — Experience managing vendors and in-house design groups. Able to build and mentor a cohesive team of user experience designers and researchers who collaborate and communicate effectively with engineers, project managers and business stakeholders.

Experience

Lead UI/UX Designer — Smartria
JUN 2021 - OCT 2023,

  • Redesigned company logo, established new brand identity and created effective marketing materials and trade show graphics.
  • Redesigned Smartria application user interface and visual design, improving customer experience and efficiency.
  • Developed new, more streamlined, HTML/SCSS front-end structure for the Smartria application, yielding faster load times for end users and improved efficiency for developers.
  • Developed all interaction design, wire framing, rapid prototyping and user experience development.
  • Created standardized templates, widgets and library items, centralizing design tools and increasing efficiency.

Lead UI/UX Designer — MerlinOne
MAY 2020 — JUN 2021 2020

  • Estabished a user centric design approach for the company, especially the development group.
  • Acted as advocate of our users and implemented numerous interface updates based on custome feedback.
  • Proposed update and modernization of the user interface, design and branding for MerlinOne's MerlinX product.

Lead UI/UX Designer — Vortext Analytics
JAN 2017 — MAR 2020

  • Designed new RevInsights interface that allows users to access, analyze and evaluate patient data from multiple, disparate systems which increased productivity of analysts by 30%.
  • Developed and designed interface for the RevRecover Denial Management Service that allows hospital systems to track, understand and work coverage denials by insurance companies, find reasons for the denials and recover lost revenue for the hospital system. The first year of use recovered more that $500,000 for the first client.
  • Designed and developed key performance metric dashboards that track insurance denials and revenue over time, which has led to successful predictive analytics of trends.

Founder & Principal UX Designer — Himeswire, LLC
JAN 2015 — PRESENT

  • Designed UX/UI and visual design update for VendorRegistry.com back-end that allows vendors to create profiles and bid on state and local government jobs. Focus is on cleaning up inconsistent design and UI and streamlining process to be less intimidating to the user.
  • Redesigned the user registration and user profile sections for Sandusky Newspapers Group websites which led to a significant drop in registration abandonment.
  • Developed rapid HTML/CSS/JS prototypes for HealthStream while contracted with Sturdy, LLC. Interfaces allow medical professionals to monitor their existing and expiring certifications and continuing education.

Senior Interaction Designer — Scripps Networks Interactive
FEB 2011 — DEC 2014

  • Developed and implemented a successful in house rapid usability testing methodology and usability test scripts for SNI websites which resulted in more frequent testing with quicker feedback and results saving more that $1000 per test.
  • Performed all interactive design, wire framing and user experience development for the HGTV Photo Library; the primary traffic driver and ad revenue generator for the site. Exceeded set goals for increase of page views and time spent on the site.
  • Created standardized templates, widgets and library items used by the entire Interaction Design team across the company, centralizing design tools and increasing department efficiency.

References

Available upon request.

Recommendations

Herb developed and ran the best interactive user experience team, bar none, I ever had the pleasure of working with. As our "champion of the user," Herb combined tremendous design talent, a passion for the science of user interface, and an even-handed interpersonal approach -- all of which made him an enormously valuable leader in a complex, often contentious corporate environment.

Jay Small -- President, Informed Interactive

Herb's design and usability skills are second to none. I've worked with him since the bad old days in the mid-'90s when we were designing sites that would render well at 28.8 kbps. He possesses two skills that rank him head and shoulders above his peers: 1. His design skills are impeccable, and his emphasis always is on the user. He checks his ego at the door and does the right thing. 2. Herb is a teacher. He has infinite patience and does a great job of helping people rise to their potential. This has made him a great leader and mentor.

Bob Benz -- Visiting Professional at Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism

Herb has well over a decade and a half of experience in visual and interaction design, front-end development and team management for large media companies. For the last four years, Herb was a senior member of my UX design team and led many large projects in the area of interaction design, information architecture, prototyping, user research and QA testing. Herb is a rare hybrid of designer and developer, which allows him to design solutions that are compelling, yet realistic. He excels at giving presentations, crafting design deliverables, and most importantly, designing for large scale websites and applications.

Brooks Herring -- Director, User Experience Design at HGTV

As Director of User Experience at E.W. Scripps during its heyday, Herb Himes assembled and led an all-star UX team through projects that would build the company's reputation for launching first-in-class products. One of the keys to his success is his ability to easily shift gears between the maker and manager roles - a skill few possess. He excelled at respectfully handling executives, mentoring the UX team, and jumping into the fray when it was crunch time.

On a more personal note, I have Herb to thank for launching my career in UX. He took a chance on me. I didn't have the portfolio, the experience, or the raw talent of others on his team. But for some reason, he brought me on and put up with me while I fumbled around that first year (or two). Thanks to his patience and mentorship I managed to realize my potential and - better - realize the potential in others.

Will Hortman -- AVP, User Experience Design at LPL Financial

I reached out to Herb when I needed help with a large volume of work on an enterprise application. I'd worked with him before and knew I could I trust his interaction design and prototyping abilities. Whether it was quick comps to show a concept, or functional prototypes that led to production code, he delivered in timely fashion. Herb is enthusiastic, responsive, and open to feedback. I'm sure we'll work together again.

Marc Sexton -- Independent User Experience Consultant