DMBattenPortfolio

Thoughts:

"Usability" is both a Science and an Art. It is a science because it utilizes the objectivity of the scientific method and its processes. It is also an art in that one of the goals is a subjectively positive experience with respect to perceived quality, presentation, and acceptance. And, as with anything dealing with a multivariate environment, the phrase "It Depends" applies.

"Design Thinking" is a buzzword. The basis of UX research is to provide input for the usage and design of Human-Machine systems in the users' context. Further, it focuses on what is pragmatic, as any design that fails to meet the operational needs of the user or goes over budget and time frame for the project is useless to both users and the business. I therefore put to you that "Design Thinking" is a street name for the uninitiated for the true intent and purpose of Usability and Human Factors Engineering. Having said that, "Futures Thinking" is the direction of lasting UX as it brings the expertise of the UX Strategist into the design loop.

"A User Interface is like a Joke. If you have to explain it, it's not that good." - Wise UX Proverb

About Me

Principal UX Researcher | Human Factors Engineer | 20+ Years Bridging Science & Design

I approach User Experience through the lens of a formally trained Human Factors Engineer. My "scientific bias" isn't just a preference—it’s a commitment to objective truth. With over two decades of experience across IBM, Citibank, and Dell Technologies, I specialize in transforming complex data into intuitive, high-stakes B2B and B2C interfaces.

Mentorship-First Mission & Leadership

I lead with the precision of a scientist and the patience of an educator. Coming from a legacy of teachers, lawyers, and doctors, I believe in moving teams past "gut feelings" toward a rigorous, evidence-based understanding of the user. I don't just deliver data; I build the mental frameworks designers need to defend their work with absolute certainty. I require deep attention to the process because, in my experience, the details are where the most critical human truths live.

Throughout my career, I’ve navigated the full spectrum of the UX lifecycle: from publishing research in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics to leading global research strategy as a VP and Principal. Currently, at Dell Technologies, I’m focused on democratizing research—mentoring designers and ensuring our public-facing demographics are reached through evidence-based design.

My Mission: Building High-Velocity, Evidence-Based Cultures

In my next role, my goal is to serve as a force multiplier for design teams. I don’t just "do" research; I architect the systems that allow designers to become objective researchers themselves. For startups and lean organizations, I bridge the gap between "moving fast" and "moving correctly" by replacing gut-feelings with rigorous, repeatable frameworks. I leverage my 20+ years of enterprise experience and formal Human Factors training to mentor teams, ensuring that every design decision is a defensible, scientific certainty rather than a creative guess.

Core Expertise:

Methodologies: Experimental Design (Lab & Remote), Heuristic Analysis, First Click, Card Sorting, and Tree Testing. Strategic Tools: Eye Tracking (Tobii/iMotions), Baymard Best Practices, UserZoom, Qualtrics, Usertesting.com, and Optimal Workshop

Background (UX Research and Contextual, Pragmatic, Data-Driven UX Design)

Corporate/Technology: Principal UX Researcher at Dell Customer Experience / Prior Advisory Human Factors Engineer at IBM
- Dedicated to UX research for user interfaces and product requirements for multi-million dollar products
- UX Design for IBM AIX Web-based System Manager
- UX Design for IBM Networking Hardware Division's Configuration Tool GUI
- UX Testing for LCD touch screens, Kiosks and IBM Store Systems Point of Sale Terminals
- UX Research for Dell / EMC Strategicintegration
- UX Research for the Dell Premier Experience
Corporate: IBM Systems Group division liaison to the IBM UX Corporate Counsel & Department ADA/508 compliance officer
Education: Former Director of Web Content and Usability at the University of Texas, El Paso
- UX design for various UTEP web properties
- Increased home page hit rate by over 333% and the corresponding increase in enrollment of over 11%
Financial/Corporate: Former VP of User Research and Insights at Citibank
- Responsible for creating NPS comments analysis procedure which was formally adopted by Citi
- Established a systematic and regular large sample competitive assessment utilizing User Zoom to further Citibank's goals
- Created Citi Mobile App public comments analysis procedure which was formally adopted by Citi

Technology: Former UX Architect & Researcher for CyberSponse, the first enterprise automation and orchestration platform that combines both cyber security solutions with human intuition.

Entertainment: Former Senior UX Architect / UX Researcher for Group1200 Media and FUNimation Entertainment, LTD.

UX Research, Benchmark and VoC for FUNimation Films and FUNimation.com
Contextual, Pragmatic Data Driven UX Design for Attack on Titan, FUNimation Films and yet to launch FUNimation.com websites

Agency: Former Head of User Research at Tekzenit, Inc (a full service agency)

Created the User Research department, was responsible for staffing and the creation of a full usability lab (User Zoom, Tobii Eye-tracking, Morae, online surveys, etc)
Provided research support to over 40 UX designers involved in Tekzenit contract with AT&T

Startup: UX Architect at Cybersponse

Strengths (UX Research, UX Architecture, UX Strategy)

End-to-end experience with all aspects of research (study design, recruiting, moderation, analysis, reporting)
Extensive Hands-on experience with lab-based user testing, A/B testing, BERT (Bipolar Emotional Response Testing), Paired Comparison Testing, card sorting, tree testing, remote testing, paper prototype testing, iterative prototype testing, Eye-Tracking, concept testing, field research, and survey design.
ADA & Section 508 Compliance Assessment and Design
Extensive experience with research utilizing UserZoom, UserTesting.com, Morae, Tobii eye-tracking, surveys (Qualtrics), Optimal Workshop, SUS (System Usability Scale), NPS (Net Promoter Score),Think Tank software suite and purely observational studies
Analysis of Quantitative as well as Qualitative Data
Fluency in best practices for UX design as well as user research
I enjoy working with designers and programmers to ensure that technological as well as aesthetic needs are met

I am the caretaker of four rescues:

Problem: General Human Factors exploratory & evaluative research on hardware components such as display angle and hardware placement for IBM Store Systems LCD touch screen POS terminals and Kiosks.

My Role: Junior Researcher

Competencies Utilized: Usability test creation & data analysis

Outcome: IBM POS 4690 Hardware modification leading to a product with a 20+ year run in retail and restaurant stores with later adaptation for IBM Kiosk line.

LCD Touch Screen Angle - ‘International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics’ – “Optimal Viewing Angle for Touch-Screen Displays: Is There Such a Thing?” 22, 343-350.

User Performance & Check Conditions while using the IBM 4690 MICR Reader Check Printer - IBM Internal Publication

User error rates and subjective measurements relating to Placement of IBM POS MCR - IBM Internal Publication

User error rates and speed relating to usage of NCR DynaKey vs IBM SurePoint Touch - IBM Internal Publication

Color Coding to Facilitate Performance of Focused Attention Tasks with Object Displays. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting, Vol. 2, 1493 – 1497.

Problem: IBM 2216 was being re-purposed to take the place of the IBM 3172 which allowed direct communications between Mainframes and the outside world. Customers in that environment could not configure 2216 to work, as that was not its original purpose (and that the manual was 454 pages long).

My Role: Lead Researcher, UX Designer, UI Designer

Competencies Utilized: Exploratory research design & Usability Testing

Outcome: Coca-Cola, Telekom Italia and Deutsche Bank accounts were saved and product had successful hardware run of over 11 years

Solution: Bypass existing documentation and create new set that maps to the mental model / environments of the new users.

2216 Re-Purpose documentation

Customer/Site Visits
Contextual Inquiry
Usability Testing

Other Work in this area:

2216 Pre-sales Configurator (web based)
Stand alone Configuration Tool for ALL IBM networking hardware (Portfolio of over 50 products)

UI Best Practices/Standards
Usability Testing

Designed IBM Networking Hardware Division’s first ‘Install-Shield’ like PC software installer

Problem: Continued refinement and functional enhancement of a GUI web based system management tool that provides visualization and support for novice users while not impeding expert users.

My Role: UX lead for 7 of the 20 apps contained in the software suite, UXD, UI Designer

Competencies Utilized: Planning & staging focus groups, requirements gathering, UX Design, collaboration with graphic design and development, usability test planning, data analysis

Outcome: Ongoing gains against HP-OpenView and Solaris SMC system management products

AIX Operating System-Web Based System Manager

Focus Groups
Iterative UI Design
Usability Testing

Patent Issued (IBM) #US20030217132 “System and method for remotely managing a computer system by a wireless communications device” (2003)

Cluster Configuration

Network Visualization for management software

Strengthening AIX Security: A System-Hardening Approach

Contextual Inquiry
Local and Long Distance customer interviews

Contributor: AIX 5L Differences Guide (IBM Redbook)

Problem: The University website had become a jumble of navigational elements that was confusing to the students, visitors and faculty/staff. (See Top Left) This failure of information architecture was further exacerbated by broken interaction patterns and the use of non standard widgets in the interface (news tickers, elements that seemed clickable but were not and items that were click-able which had no affordance.

The Home Page had dropped in viewership significantly. Users were bookmarking specific pages (when they found them) in order to locate needed information instead of having an easy pathway through the Home Page. As the first greeting and Business impression, the Home Page needed a total rebuild.

My Role: Director of Web Content / UX Architect

Competencies Utilized: Ethnographic Research, Focus Groups, User Surveys, A/B Testing. SEO optimization, Tree Testing, Card Sorting, Section 508 Compliance, Compromise with IT resources

Outcome: The Home Page Redesign (See Bottom Left) increased hit rate and readership by over 333% and was part of the effort that resulted in 11% increase in enrollment after roll out. This was accomplished by doing three major things:

Reworking the Home Page main navigation to directly point to TOPICS and information relevant to a user's ROLE (role-based and topic-based navigation)
Providing Information Quick Guides which consolidated disparate pieces of information important to user types into one place. Information Quick Guide
Creating informational Tours of the University and its highlights

General University Slideshow
Centennial Museum Slideshow
Restoration of UTEP's Engine #1 Slideshow
UTEP's Student Housing, Miner Village
University Library Slideshow
Rubin Center for Visual Arts
Chihuahuan Desert Gardens

Background: The University Website was powered by DotNetNuke and student/staff postings as a means of cost control which restricted creativity in relation to a free form HTML/scripting perspective. Certain non-standard elements, such as marketing, promotion of certain academic areas over others, and news tickers had created a jumble that no single entity had control over. Further, student complaints not only centered around navigation but the fact they felt as if they were second class citizens; the information didn't seem to be directed at them, but served the purpose of glorifying the University and its achievements.

Whereas the end result was less than my personal vision, the new information architecture provided easy access to drill down into areas based on persona's, interests, and academic areas while being less visually cluttered. The greatest compliment I received was from students who felt it was more oriented to their online needs and academic life.

Problem: A major bank was experiencing a drop off in deposit account and credit card conversions. Further, client NPS scores were decreasing in relation to the competition. As VP of User Research and Insights, I was tasked with benchmarking the current web experience with existing clients based on common tasks and comparing that to potential new client task results.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Staff scheduling/planning, Project management, usability test construction, test execution, data analysis.

Methodologies / Tools Utilized: UserZoom, First Click Analysis, Click Stream Tracking, pre-post satisfaction scores, SUS scale, ERT (Emotional Response Testing).

Outcome: Several key areas of failure in the current UI were discovered as well as finding blockages to conversion by potential customers.

Banking Benchmark

Website Success and Satisfaction study

Problem: A major bank was experiencing a drop off in checking account conversions in relation to the competitors. As VP of User Research and Insights, I analyzed the various pages from a complexity standpoint to see if the competitors had verbally and visually less complicated page structures thanCitibank.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Analysis skills

Outcome: Several strong correlations were found between growth businesses and their aesthetics, number of words per product, reading grade level verbiage, column vs row layout schemes and link placement.

Checking Account Evaluation

Problem: Citibank mobile apps (iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire) were experiencing alarming rates of complaints and low NPS scores. A thorough public comments analysis was needed to discern if those complaints were due to usability, Technology or Business Process issues.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Comments Analysis

Outcome:

After this highly successful analysis was first performed, Citi put into place this type of public comments analysis for their apps every 60 days
Feedback was funneled into area work streams in order to reduce customer complaints

Comments Analysis Presentation

Problem: CRS app was designed w/o any usability/user research input and was to be used to promote company expertise in App development. After release one, management decided to go back and address their UX oversight.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Staff scheduling/planning, Project management, usability test construction, test execution, data analysis, accessibility assessment, Eye Tracking analysis

Outcome: A more user friendly demonstration app for the company

Phase I (Evaluate current design)

Evaluative in-lab usability testing

Task-based Summative

Accessibility Assessment & Suggestions

Phase II (Assess changes implemented after Phase I)

Project halted by management

Problem: Conversion rates for client's services were dismal in relation to expectations

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Staff scheduling/planning, Project management, usability test construction, test execution, data analysis, accessibility assessment, First Click Analysis, Eye Tracking analysis

Outcome: Significant design changes which lead customers to the conversion step

Phase I (Evaluate existing website to provide suggestions for redesign)

Heuristic Review & Design Issues
In-Depth Analysis

Phase II (Compare 2 designs created with input from Phase I)

Task based comparative in-lab evaluation

First click analysis
Subjective ratings
Eye-tracking assessment

Note: Eye tracking is a technology which detects a user's fixations on a screen, time taken to arrive at a fixation point, the length of a given fixation, the number of fixations per element and the order of visual fixations. In combination with the Think Out Loud method (Retrospective or Concurrent), it allows us to make inferences about cognitive processes during task completion and identify Areas of Interest (AOI). This particular technology requires insight and interpretation of the tester and should be combined with other quantitative or qualitative research to provide valid user insights. Here is an excellent beginners article on eye-tracking.

Problem: Prior studies suggested that a vertical navigation element would not be utilized by customers while navigating long pages due to multiple factors of the element, placement and recognition. Taking feedback/results from 3 prior tests a new navigational element was created addressing previously discovered issues. The new solution was then tested.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Staff scheduling/planning, Project management, usability test construction, test execution, data analysis, accessibility assessment

Outcome: Research data was used to convince client that the design was usable, stable and acceptable by end users.

Investigational Study

In-lab
Task-based
Eye-Tracking

Note:Eye tracking is a technology which detects a user's fixations on a screen, time taken to arrive at a fixation point, the length of a given fixation, the number of fixations per element and the order of visual fixations. In combination with the Think Out Loud method (Retrospective or Concurrent), it allows us to make inferences about cognitive processes during task completion and identify Areas of Interest (AOI). This particular technology requires insight and interpretation of the tester and should be combined with other quantitative or qualitative research to provide valid user insights. Here is an excellent beginners article on eye-tracking.

Problem: Potential client came with a request for help on a website created and utilized by employees. A complete assessment was performed.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: Staff scheduling/planning, Project management, investigation study construction, test execution, data analysis

Outcome: Significant design change suggestions were presented to the client; outcome pending

Complete Investigational Study

Heuristic Review
Task-based in-lab usability testing
Eye-tracking
SUS Rating

Problem: New UX designers were being hired by an agency that was ramping up for a large project with a major telecommunications company in Dallas, Texas. It was determined that many new designers had inconsistent backgrounds, or none at all, in User Centered Design and User Research. It was important for new designers to apply UCD methodology along with research to said project. This multi-day course was meant to be an introduction to the many areas of expertise the Research Department could provide to them in the hopes they would adhere to a more data driven approach to their designs.

My Role: Research Principle / Instructor

Competencies Utilized: Experience / Graduate Level course work

Measuring the User Experience Course Presentation

Problem: After several months of work on a large re-branding, modernization & packaging project the company could not decide which of the three logos to choose. The paired-comparison technique was used to provide input into their decision.

My Role: Research Principle

Competencies Utilized: usability test construction, test execution, data analysis

Outcome: Data presented to client in order help set their branding direction

Logo Preference Results

NOTE: Paired Comparison Analysis is useful for weighing up the relative importance of different options. It's particularly helpful where priorities aren't clear, where the options are completely different, where evaluation criteria are subjective, or where they're competing in importance.

Problem: A new responsive website needed to be developed for a new business venture - Theatrical releases for an established streaming media company. Responsive designs were evaluated and business requirements solidified.

My Role: Senior UX Architect

Competencies Utilized: UX Design / Responsive Design / Wire-framing

Outcome: Design went through several iterations and certain business requirements were descoped. Final Wire-frames were approved and UI Design was implemented

Problem: A complete baseline of an existing Streaming Media / Merchandise website needed to be completed in order to catalog issues and develop a road map for fixes and new designs and to drive management backing into additional resources to revamp existing website. This study was done by using participants who had never visited the website in order to obtain the "New User Perspective"

My Role: Senior UX Architect / UX Researcher

Competencies Utilized: UX Research / UserZoom / Data Analysis

Metrics Utilized: NPS* analysis, Pre/Post Perception surveys, Click stream analysis, First Click Analysis,Heat maps, Time on Task, Error Rates, Comment Analysis, ERT (Emotional Response Testing).

Outcome: Results fed into Design Requirements

Website Research Project (Benchmark)
Participant Screener for Project

Problem: A new website for an important movie release needed to be designed exemplifying Usability, Extensibility, Responsive Design, and Theatrical Impact.

My Role: Senior UX Architect

Competencies Utilized: Wire-framing, UX Design

Outcome: Four Quadrant Design currently being adopted as a template for Movie Premiers. "Attack On Titan" Theatrical release website winner of 2015 MarCom Gold Awards, and the Dallas Texas ADDY Silver Awards. The "Attack on Titan" website went on to win GOLD in District Level ADDYS (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas).

Movie Website Design (pdf)

2015 MarCom Gold Winner (website)

2016 Dallas ADDY Awards Sliver Winner (website)

Live Movie Website

Problem: The website redesign required a radical new look and interactivity. The information should come to the user instead of making the user go to the information (and thus losing their place in the multidimensional content arenas). The website needed to promote streaming video, Forums, Community, Conventions, DVD/Blu-ray and gaming apps. TWO UX research studies were completed utilizing 819 test participants to perform standard visitors' tasks and identify weaknesses that this design addresses.

My Role: Senior UX Architect / Researcher

Competencies Utilized: UX Design/UI research

Outcome: The company is currently working with SONY DADC New Media Solutions to build the website and use the concepts in the annotated wireframes.

Website Early Annotated Wire-frames

Problem 1: The streaming media only website will be adding physical product for customer purchase. The metaphor and interaction models should strive for a consistent experience. This was an exercise for integrating the two into a seamless experience for the customers. It encompasses search results, topical browsing pages, and shopping carts.

Problem 2: Shopping Cart and Checkout Experience should fit the shopping patterns of the Users. The company's users checkout with an average 2.3 products in their carts, so it should be tailored to that common experience instead of one in which a person would come away with dozens of articles in their shopping cart.

My Role: Senior UX Architect

Competencies Utilized: UX Design, Wire-framing

Outcome: Currently working with UI Design to create production flats.

Shopping/Product Early Annotated Wireframes

Problem : The user account section of this streaming video subscription service was particularly complicated, as it is to allow the user to manage such items as:

Personal Information
Social log in
Address book for shipping addresses and payment methods
Gift card balances
Subscription Upgrades and Downgrades
Streaming Feature Add Ons
Subscription restart after plan lapse

My Role: Senior UX Architect

Competencies Utilized: UX Design, Wireframing

Outcome: Launch estimated August2016

Wireframes:

I am currently employed at DELL Technologies and according to my non-disclosure agreement, I cannot post past or current research while employed by DELL.