In 1999 financial print publishing giant set up Immersant as an internet service bureau design shop in order to leverage their position into the emerging web-based electronic publishing arena. I was hired as the lead Interactive Architect for the New York City / New Jersey office.

As senior IA, I soon emerged as the primary "human factors" expert and interaction designer for our office. As such I was responsible for client and internal web e-commerce initiatives, pioneered the Customer Experience practice and acted as creative leader, knowledge resource, mentor and integrator for our design group.

Engineering the Sale

Immersant assigned me as the creative design "point man" for most of our initial client meetings in the East Coast area. I worked closely with the sales and management team to provide opportunity assessment, preliminary site evaluation, proposal writing, requirements gathering and design concept from the earliest stage of account development.

Because I could draw upon a broad range of skills and creativity, think on my feet and present well at the point of client contact, I was instrumental in "closing the sale" on the majority of our major new financial client projects.

Priming the Pump

While at Immersant I also put together criteria for making a "Preliminary Site Evaluation" of the client's site up front, which gave us a competitive advantage when we actually got in the door. Following on the success of that format, I spearheaded a proposal to host an "Interaction Design Shootout" in which we invited our customer audience to experience our design team in action.

My contributions to the firm resulted in raise, promotion and the highest performance bonus in NY/NJ office.

Content Inventory, Wireframes, Information Architecture, CSS StyleGuide, Sitemap, Design Workshop, DemoSite, Site Evaluation, Design Resource Center

Timing is everything... In the fall of 2000 the internet bubble burst, and Immersant closed out their fledgling design venture. Oh, well.

"John Vaughan brings a unique and valuable perspective to any project and team. His ability to get inside the mind of the core audience and help develop the best possible interface is uncanny. His fundamental knowledge of design principles and human factors makes him a solid addition to any creative or interface design team. Personally, John is one of the most wonderful and intelligent people I've ever met. Our ability to exchange ideas in the work place and then do the same in matters of the world is a welcome shift from the typical tired relationships one usually has with co-workers."

Gentry Wilson, Senior Designer, Immersant

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Financial Business Applications, Site model & wireframes, styling, animation, "application-oriented" sites, documention, process & proposal writing online help