Rickard Östberg - Usability and user centered design/UX expert, UVIN AB

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Work Background

LadokkonsortietUX consultant

Sep. 2020 - Aug. 2023Umeå, Västerbottens län, SverigeDuring my three years assignment at Ladok, I took on a variety of challenging usability and user experience projects. One of my first assignments was to work with a colleague on the UX team to develop a new design for the "add study period for multiple" feature. To ensure the new design would be effective and user-friendly, we conducted extensive usability testing of prototypes and used SurveyMonkey to gather valuable feedback from users. Between December 2020 and August 2023, I was part of the Educational Planning project. Within this project I was responsible, among other things, for developing the new interface for the educational planning process tool, which was a key component within the project. To ensure the interface would be user-friendly and efficient, I conducted field studies via Zoom and visited users in person to understand their needs and challenges. I developed design proposals which were then rigorously tested for use. These tests included different target groups, expert users such as administrators and infrequent users such as teachers. All field studies and usage tests were recorded, giving me the opportunity to share short movie clips of interesting observations with the rest of the project team. The team worked Agile. The team had an accessibility manager who had regular contact with an accessibility expert. This meant that accessibility was something that was discussed every week in the team. The whole team got a two day education course in accessibility. I was also a member of the UX team at Ladok, where I contributed with my expertise and insights to improve the user experience and usability of various projects and systems.

Products4planetUX Consultant

Aug. 2020 - Aug. 2020I performed an expert evaluation of the Products4planet app. I developed new design proposals for improved usability and user experience/UX.

ClueUX Consultant

Feb. 2020 - Sep. 2020In collaboration with other UX designers from countries such as Australia, Canada, South Africa and India, I assisted the Australian company Clue with the development of a new product/tool aimed at UX designers. Their work included several key components, such as designing different customer journeys, presenting design proposals at different levels, analyzing interviews with UX designers, creating user profiles (personas), developing prototypes and conducting usability tests. Working meetings and collaboration took place remotely via Skype, and the project was carried out in English as the project language. The global and diverse team enabled a rich and varied insight into user needs and requirements, which in turn helped create an innovative and user-centric product for UX designers. My colleague from Canada, Leo Karlovskiy, gave me the following recommendation on LinkedIn. ”Rickard was a key UX Specialist involved in the discovery of the solution at Clue Group. He has a unique way of looking at things from a different angle and bringing new ideas to the table. His opinion was critical in the process and even if we would feel like we are for sure stuck, he would help us to move on further. I personally wish I had more time working with Richard, and hopefully will have that opportunity in the future.”

VattenfallUX Consultant

Sep. 2019 - Nov. 2019I developed design proposals that were presented using prototypes created in Axure. These prototypes, which were at the wireframe level, offered users a more intuitive and user-friendly product with a more natural flow of use. One of the results was that the number of pages that Vattenfall needed to maintain could be reduced. In connection with this project, I also carried out field studies, usage tests and contextual inquiry in two different projects with two different aims: 1. To gain deeper insights into the needs of a specific target group and create a detailed persona that represented this target group. 2. To evaluate and solve problems that users encountered with a specific product and identify the needs that had not been met. In both projects, the work began with short initial interviews with the participants to ensure that the project was focused on the right issues and needs. I was responsible for developing a design proposal for a "take over" window on Vattenfall's website that would be activated in the event of major disruptions, such as autumn storms. The goal was to reduce the load on the website during disruptions while at the same time providing customers with answers to the most common questions, which would reduce the pressure on customer service. The project began with a workshop where the most frequent questions from the customers in the event of disruptions were identified and the order in which these questions should appear in the window was prioritized. The results of the workshop were then used to create a first prototype in Axure. The goal of the prototype was to ensure that the information was presented in a userfriendly way and in the correct order. To focus on these goals, the prototype was kept as simple as possible and adapted for mobile use. After the first iteration, the prototype was sent out to all workshop participants for usability testing, which led to some adjustments to the design.

Academy, a part of Academic WorkUX consultant

Jul. 2019 - Jul. 2019SundsvallI was responsible for a 2-day course in user-centered development/UX. The course was part of a 3-month training for future C#.net developers organized by the Academy.

Norrlandsfärg ABUX Consultant

Feb. 2019 - Apr. 2019Together with Norrlandsfärg, UVIN was working on an idea for a product they were considering launching. The product will help Norrlandsfärg's customers with a problem many of them have. The idea was to be able to sell the product on to other traders where the customers have the same type of problem. The product includes i.a. a website and an app. We carried out simpler customer journeys, workshops, developed design proposals and developed prototypes. The project is on hold.

Kungliga Tekniska högskolanUsabilityexpert

Feb. 2018 - Mar. 2018I participated in a usability evaluation of various IT support systems before a procurement at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan). During this process, extensive usability evaluations were conducted that included tests to assess compliance with ISO 9241-11 and heuristic evaluations. To document and share the results, we recorded the tests with Morae and converted them into movies. These movies were valuable to the project team as they allowed the other team members to review the tests and observe specific and interesting moments in the testing. After completing the evaluations, each IT support system was scored based on various criteria. The total score was used as a decision basis to determine which IT supports would go forward in the procurement process. This work was an important factor in ensuring that KTH could choose the most user-friendly and efficient IT support in its procurement.

UVIN - Makes IT easyCertified User Experience & Usability Consultant

Jan. 2018 - Jan. 2019SundsvallI dedicated my time and expertise to perform usability evaluations of four different websites for foreign researcher Muhammad Nasir. The evaluations were conducted based on Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics and involved the websites WHO, Ebay, Booking and Cobbpromo. I also performed a heuristic evaluation of Zumexo.com and developed new design proposals in the form of simpler prototypes. These assignments can be considered a form of charity work, where I offered my expertise to help individuals and businesses that otherwise would not have been able to afford such services. It gave me the opportunity to help others, continuously learn and grow in my role as a UX designer. UVIN always tries to exceed customer expectations, therefore this customer review after the assignment is very pleasing. Usability Inspection of a Web Dashboard "Great Work! Would like to hire him again ..." Skills 5.0 Quality 5.0 Availability 5.0 Deadlines 5.0 Communication 5.0 Cooperation 5.0

Kvadrat ABConsultant UX and Usability

Jan. 2018 - Jan. 2019SundsvallI made a redesign of an existing internal system at Kvadrat, with the goal of making it more user-friendly, intuitive and less error-prone. This improvement was intended to facilitate learning for new users while reducing the number of errors that occurred in the existing design. To achieve this, I and the team carried out several activities: 1. Workshops and field studies: Carried out workshops remote and field studies, including contextual inquiry, where users' interaction with the system was carefully observed and documented by recordings. Recordings of these studies, conducted using Morae, became valuable resources for in-depth analysis of user behaviors. 2. Review with expert users: I collaborated with expert users to deepen my understanding of user behavior in the system. The recordings were used to show how the users performed their tasks and identify the areas where misunderstandings and errors occurred. 3. Heuristic evaluation: A thorough evaluation of the existing design was performed using heuristic analysis methodology to identify and address potential problems. 4. Prototype: With the insights and data from the workshops, field studies, expert review and heuristic evaluation, I made a prototype in Axure. The prototype was developed iteratively and in close collaboration with expert users to ensure that the new design met the needs of the users. 5. Usability tests: Finally, usability tests of the prototype were conducted remotely, the tests were recorded with Morae. These tests provided additional insights and confirmed that the new design improved the user experience. The redesign resulted in a more user-centered and efficient design for the internal system at Kvadrat, which in turn increased user productivity and reduced the risk of errors.

UVIN ABCertified UX & usability consultant

Oct. 2014I'm the founder and CEO of UVIN AB (pronounced You Win), a company that specializes in offering expertise in areas such as UX (user experience), usability, user-centered development and requirements management. Examples of some of the successful assignments that UVIN has completed include: Ladok: Delivered successful UX solutions to the educational planning project. Vattenfall: Contributed to improving the user experience and usability within Vattenfall's services. Academy: Educated future developers in usability and user-centered development. Kvadrat: Delivered expert competence in the field of usability. KTH (Royal Institute of Technology): Evaluated usability and UX before a purchase of IT support at the Royal Institute of Technology. Upwork: Offered his expertise in user-centered development. In addition to these projects, UVIN has also successfully completed shorter assignments for companies such as ComHem, K G Sandström, Idus, Easit and Logosol. I've actively promoted UVIN by giving nearly 100 presentations on user-centered development and UX at around 80 different companies. This has contributed to spreading the knowledge of the importance of usercentered design and development within the corporate world.