About

jamin-beer2.jpg

I am currently working at Nokia with Nokia Design as a Senior Designer. And I have a masters in interaction design from Carnegie Mellon University.

My thesis work includes a paper on the nature of design thinking and a project that explores the use of meta information in the physical world to support identity construction. At CMU, I taught Basic Interaction, a foundation interaction design course for HCI students. Last fall I taught a Design Computing course.

Before graduate school, I was a reporter, editor, web producer, web developer, and soccer coach. I have my own business, Yum Yum Web. But I do not attend to it much because of grad school.

I have a BA in English Writing with a concentration in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh.

On Blogging

Social scientist and notable Carnegie Mellon professor Herbert Simon said, “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” Blogs provide a platform for individuals to express courses of action to change the current state. And I believe passion compels them to do this.

The passion I write most frequently about is design. As an interaction design student at Carnegie Mellon, I view my goal as a designer to make the world a better place for humankind. My blog is an extension of that philosophy. By sharing my thoughts and experiences, I hope to engage and inspire others regarding the definition, value, and power of design.

If better design does have the power to make the world a better place, and if through blogging I become a better designer or help someone else become a better designer, and if others who blog similarly inspire others or improve themselves, then, as Simon suggests, perhaps all bloggers are designers, and through the act of blogging, individually and collectively, bloggers contribute to the design of a preferred world. Toward this end, I blog.

Résumé

Experience

Instructor Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Aug. 2007 – present
Taught Basic Interaction (Spring 2008) to HCI undergraduates. Taught Intro to Design Computing (Fall 2007), a required course for IxD graduate students.

Conference Director Emergence 2007, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Jan. 2007 – present
Emergence is a CMU student-run design conference on emerging topics and issues in design.

Interaction Designer Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Jan. – Dec. 2007
Collaborative projects with Motorola (mobile media) and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (service design).

Interaction Designer Adaptive Path, San Francisco, Cali.
May – August 2007
Performed user research and concept generation for an eight-week project focused on the diabetic experience.

Founder Yum Yum Web, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mar. 2005 – present
Designer for several projects and ongoing maintenance for clients, including the International Transplant Nurses Society and the Manchester Bidwell Corporation.

Web Development Specialist University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Aug. 2003 – June 2006
Lead developer for the university’s web team. Built pitt.edu and School of Engineering. Generated content maps, page description diagrams, and wireframes to support user-centered design.

Web Developer + Editor EEI Communications, Alexandria, Va.
Feb. 2002 – Jan. 2004
Contract developer for various websites, including American Institute of Architects, and editor for outsourcing contracts, primarily for Computer Sciences Corporation.

Freelance Web Designer
Sept. 2001 – Mar. 2005

Web Producer Rocketworks, Gaithersburg, Md.
Mar. 1999 – Sept. 2001
Managed two-person team, created and managed content, and performed front-end development for Internet startup.

Reporter Exchange/Monitor Publications, Washington, D.C.
Sept. 1998 – Jan. 1999

Reporter United Press International, Washington, D.C.
June – Sept. 1998

Front Page

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Portfolio

About

I am a graduate interaction design student at the School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University. » More about