Christopher J. Schmank
(he/him)
Assistant Professor
User Experience (UX) Strategy & Research Consultant
Welcome to my Portfolio! 🎮🧩🕹️
User experience (i.e., UX) strategists attempt to build/iterate products with potential user/customer problem(s) in mind. Hello! I am Dr. Christopher J. Schmank and what follows is my User eXperience Portfolio. This portfolio centers around the building of an interactive website and application (rough prototype) during the completion of UX coursework at Claremont Graduate University: YourTrek—a social networking platform for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts.
YourTrek was created while completing User Experience Strategy and Design course instructed by Jaime Levy. In this course, we generated rapid, guerilla research for our user based product. User personas were predicted and validated for each user base which was based on competitive analyses and a deep dive into the current marketplace. These personas and competitive analysis findings were condensed into micro-presenetations to mimic the fast moving world of UX Strategy and Design and the art of building by iteration. Additionally, in-person and online interviews were conducted on potential users to get a feel of the marketvalue being offered. Finally, Facebook Ads were used to conducti conversion rate tests, which allowed us to isolate various marekts where the product would be most viable.
The end result of this course is presented above in the Projects section!
Additionally, a brief section on usability testing and interaction design has recently been added using the AuthentiCare 2.0 application as “inspiration”.
I hope you enjoy!
While completing the coursework required for my doctoral program at Claremont Graduate University I completed a paid user experience (UX) internship at HitPoint Studios in Los Angeles, California.
This internship provided me with various opportunities aimed at developing my UX toolkit/skill set. For example, conducting competitive analyses followed by the formulation of an executive competitive analysis brief and in-application/hands-on user experience/usability testing for a virtual/extended reality product.
Additionally, after completing all of the courses offered at Claremont Graduate University concerning user experience strategy, research, and design I served as the graduate teaching assistant for these courses. The User Experience courses offered at CGU consisted of UX Strategy and Design (PSY 350UX), Usability Testing and Interaction Design (PSY 350UT), and User Experience Research Methodology (PSY 350UR).