Bio - Donna Spencer

My bio

I have four biographies on this page - a long and a short; each from my perspective and in third person.

Long bio - my version

donna spencer - head shot

I’m a freelance information architect, interaction designer and writer. That’s a fancy way of saying I plan how to present the things you see on your computer screen, so that they’re easy to understand, engaging and compelling. Things like the navigation, forms, categories and words on intranets, websites, web applications and business systems.

Most of the projects I work on are large, messy monsters, like government websites and intranets, internal business applications and web applications. But I still get to work on the occasional small and funky job. So I’m intimately aware of the challenges of both long-term, ongoing projects and short-burst, agile programming type engagements. I’m also an old hand at sketching screens, drawing wireframes and building prototypes.

But whatever sort of job it is, there’s one common requirement. I have to comprehensively understand the needs of the user. Only then can I make the system as usable as possible. Luckily, I’m also quite fond of people, so doing user research and running usability tests is a pleasure, not a pain.

Not surprisingly, given my obsession with usability and fondness of people, I’m passionate about teaching. I’m an experienced speaker and I regularly hold workshops and speak at local and international conferences, on the topics of information architecture, interaction design, the web, writing and more. I even run a user experience conference (UX Australia).

And in case you’re wondering, I’ve been doing this since 2002. I’ve worked on the boards of the Information Architecture Institute (international) and Web Industry Professionals Association (WIPA). I’ve also written a book on card sorting. Read my full resume…

Long bio - third person

Donna’s a freelance information architect, interaction designer and writer. That’s a fancy way of saying she plans how to present the things you see on your computer screen, so that they’re easy to understand, engaging and compelling. Things like the navigation, forms, categories and words on intranets, websites, web applications and business systems.

Most of the projects Donna works on are large, messy monsters, like government websites and intranets, internal business applications and web applications. But she still gets to work on something small and funky too. So she’s intimately aware of the challenges of both long-term, ongoing projects and short-burst, agile programming type engagements. She’s also an old hand at sketching screens, drawing wireframes and building prototypes.

But whatever sort of job Donna’s working on, there’s one common requirement. She has to comprehensively understand the needs of the user. Only then can she make the system as usable as possible. Luckily, she’s also quite fond of people, so doing user research and running usability tests is a pleasure, not a pain.

Not surprisingly, given Donna’s obsession with usability and fondness of people, she’s also quite the teacher. She’s a very experienced speaker and regularly holds workshops and speaks at local and international conferences, on the topics of information architecture, interaction design, the web, writing and more. She even runs a user experience conference (UX Australia).

Donna’s been doing this since 2002. She’s worked on the boards of the Information Architecture Institute (international) and Web Industry Professionals Association (WIPA). She’s also written a book on card sorting. Read her full resume…

Short bio - my version

I’ve been doing this professionally since 2002, and I’m somewhat of a regular speaker at Australian and international events.

Short bio - third person

She’s been doing this professionally since 2002, and she’s a regular speaker at Australian and international events.

Thanks

Thank you to my wonderful friend Ruth Ellison for taking my headshot. Thank you to copywriter Glenn Murray for rewriting my bio into something I like.