Hello! My name is Jamin Hall. For the last several years I have been working as a Software Designer and Developer while attending school. This blog is intended to be a place where I can showcase some of the projects with which I have been involved. Because much of my work has been on proprietary software I am limited in what I am able to display.
In May I will be graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a M.S. in Human Computer Interaction and will be seeking employment. RPI has been an excellent environment for experimenting with new ideas while expanding my skillset. Last semester I worked on creating a new model for considering age factors in User Interface design. My abstract was reviewed and accepted into the HCI International Conference that will be held July 2011 in Orlando, Florida.
I am also currently working on a startup project called Spindle. Spindle is an AIR application written in ActionScript 3 that will convert projects exported from Balsamiq Mockups into Flex Projects. If you are interested in finding out more about Spindle check out my other blog at http://nerdycoder.blogspot.com/.
2010: SolutionStream
Early in 2010 I joined SolutionStream as a Flash Developer/Designer where I worked with several clients. My primary responsibility was to Pearson where I was assigned full time. When I started working with Pearson I was immediately tasked with the creation of a high fidelity prototype.
The deadline for this prototype was fairly rigorous which meant that I had to hit the ground running. There was very little time to get familiar with the company's processes and code base before the prototype was due, but I was able to dig in and deliver a quality prototype on time. The prototype was then used in usability testing and served as a yard stick for measuring the rest of the project.
Unfortunately, the tool based on this prototype is not expected to be released until 2012 and due to legal issues I am unable to publish it in any way. However, I think it is safe to say that the product I was working on will greatly benefit middle grade educators and their students in the coming years. After the prototype was completed it was tested for usability. I was then asked to represent our branch's team and work with other teams from Boston and Nova Scotia. Together we worked on defining the requirements for the rest of the project.
Here are some of the other responsibilities I had while working for SolutionStream:
The deadline for this prototype was fairly rigorous which meant that I had to hit the ground running. There was very little time to get familiar with the company's processes and code base before the prototype was due, but I was able to dig in and deliver a quality prototype on time. The prototype was then used in usability testing and served as a yard stick for measuring the rest of the project.
Unfortunately, the tool based on this prototype is not expected to be released until 2012 and due to legal issues I am unable to publish it in any way. However, I think it is safe to say that the product I was working on will greatly benefit middle grade educators and their students in the coming years. After the prototype was completed it was tested for usability. I was then asked to represent our branch's team and work with other teams from Boston and Nova Scotia. Together we worked on defining the requirements for the rest of the project.
Here are some of the other responsibilities I had while working for SolutionStream:
- Used Flash CS4 to maintain Flash based websites in both ActionScript 2 and 3
- Met with clients to establish user requirements
- Developed prototypes and templates
- Configured shopping cart abilities to a client's website using both Javascript and ActionScript 2
- Contributed to the writing and editing of Functional Specification Documentations
- Represented development in weekly design meetings
- Used a knowledge of design standards to improve the design of several math tools
- Provided time estimates and other technical guidance
- Worked in an agile development environment
2007-2008: AtTask Inc.
In 2007 I took a short break from my employment at BYU and joined the AtTask team. Here my responsibilities were split. For the first part of my time at AtTask I worked as a Flex Developer on an interactive Gantt chart. Shortly after the Gantt chart project came to completion I joined the marketing team as a Flash designer and assisted in the maintenance of the company website. As part of the marketing team I created product demos and banner ads to promote the company's software. Here's a detailed list of my responsibilites:
- Worked in an agile development environment
- Programmed an interactive Gantt chart using ActionScript 3 and Flex (MXML)
- Participated in code reviews
- Used the Flash IDE to create timeline animations
- Worked closely with a graphic artist to design product demos and banner ads
- Assisted in the maintenance of the company website (written in RoR)
- Created storyboards and contributed to the writing of scripts
- Wrote JSFL commands to reduce production time
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| A screenshot from the Team Builder demo. |
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| The Team Builder demo is an example of one of the demos that I created for AtTask. The actual demo is available at the company's website. |
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| Another screenshot from the Team Builder demo. This image also features the Gantt chart that I helped create with Flex. |
My time at AtTask was relatively brief because after two semesters of both going to school and working full time I decided I needed to focus on my studies. However, working at AtTask was a wonderful opportunity. Here I was able to meet great people and contribute to the growth of a company that continues to soar. You can view some of the demos I worked on here. The Industry Leaders Use @task banner on AtTask's home page is also a banner that I created. The banner reads data from an XML file so that images can be swapped out without having to change the SWF.
2005 - 2010: Brigham Young University (TALL)
In 2005 I started working as a Flash Developer/Designer on the TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning) team at BYU. TALL is the software used by the LDS Church to train its missionaries in different languages before they go to countries around the world. When I came on board we were working on completing a set of animations for German grammar. In some respects this job was similar to my job at Knowledge Gain at first. I spent much of my first few months as a member of the TALL team working on timeline animations and writing simple interactivity with ActionScript 2.
Here's a list of the responsibilities I had while working at BYU:
Shortly after Adobe CS3 was released we made the jump to ActionScript 3. While continuing work on the creation of language learning activities, I started work on porting the text animation libraries to AS3. These libraries were used in the development of activities for TALL 4.1 languages which include Japanese and Mandarin.
An example of a Spanish activity designed to help users learn verb conjugation. Special consideration was given to users who may be affected by color blindness.
To further expedite the creation of text animations I worked on several AIR applications that generated code and simplified the process of creating activities. One of these applications became a commonly used tool for the language teams. The tool allowed language team members to create animations without needing to learn Flash or ActionScript.
This Memory Match activity is a classic memory game designed to help users learn to recognize Mandarin and Japanese characters.
This activity features two modes. See it and Try it. In See it mode the user watches a set of animations to learn the difference between the Japanese verbs arimasu and imasu. At any time the user can switch to Try it mode where they are able to test their understanding.
Working at BYU was a great experience. As a member of the TALL team I was able to grow tremendously as both a developer and a designer. I was able to work with highly talented people from several different teams to create a product that is used by people from all over the world.
Here's a list of the responsibilities I had while working at BYU:
- Met with language portfolio team leads to design interactive language learning activities and animations
- Worked with graphic artists to improve the overall user experience of TALL
- Developed activities with Flash MX 2004 and CS3 for the following languages: German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Japanese
- Programmed text animations with ActionScript 2 and 3
- Created paper prototypes and performed user testing
- Designed tools to reduce production time (consequentially newer versions of TALL were able to feature more text animations)
- Maintained a dynamic keyboard Flash template for multiple languages
- Used JSFL to improve the Flash IDE
- Provided technical guidance to language teams
- Wrote a Javascript wrapper that enabled communication from TALL to the Flash activities
- Developed Adobe AIR applications using Flex Builder 3
- Investigated new technologies and participated regularly in an Adobe User group
- Created a Flash based internationalized tutorial which featured F4V video
Shortly after Adobe CS3 was released we made the jump to ActionScript 3. While continuing work on the creation of language learning activities, I started work on porting the text animation libraries to AS3. These libraries were used in the development of activities for TALL 4.1 languages which include Japanese and Mandarin.
Working at BYU was a great experience. As a member of the TALL team I was able to grow tremendously as both a developer and a designer. I was able to work with highly talented people from several different teams to create a product that is used by people from all over the world.
2004: Knowledge Gain
I was first introduced to Flash in the summer of 2004 by a friend who worked for a company called Knowledge Gain. He told me the company was looking for people to help create software for children with special learning needs. At the time I had been working at a technical call center for Brigham Young University. Working as a computer technician was a great experience, but I knew I didn't want to work in a call center forever. So, I downloaded the free 30-day trial of Flash MX 2004, checked out every book on Flash from the library, and started teaching myself the basics of Flash. One month later I started my first job as a Flash Designer at Knowledge Gain.
My first completed activity was "Penelope's Problem" a story about a pig who liked to dance.
For the next year I worked on well over twenty children's learning activities. During that time my primary responsibilities included:
During this time I also looked for ways of improving the Flash IDE by learning JSFL. Some of the scripts that I created can be found here. (Disclaimer: If you check them out, just keep in mind they were originally created for Flash MX 2004.) They are old and could probably use a good amount of cleaning up, but these scripts proved useful in performing tasks that were common for our development team.
My first completed activity was "Penelope's Problem" a story about a pig who liked to dance.
For the next year I worked on well over twenty children's learning activities. During that time my primary responsibilities included:
- Converting lesson plans into audio scripts
- Editing audio files
- Generating original art
- Creating animations using Flash MX 2004
- Programming interactive activities using ActionScript 2.0
During this time I also looked for ways of improving the Flash IDE by learning JSFL. Some of the scripts that I created can be found here. (Disclaimer: If you check them out, just keep in mind they were originally created for Flash MX 2004.) They are old and could probably use a good amount of cleaning up, but these scripts proved useful in performing tasks that were common for our development team.
Yarn
A few years ago I discovered yWriter5, a free desktop application designed to make managing the process of novel writing easier. As an aspiring author, I took some time to familiarize myself with the software and began using it on a few personal projects. In many respects yWriter is a powerful tool. It features a wide range of functionality that most authors would find useful. See the official website for a full list of these features.
While I recommend yWriter for anyone interested in writing a novel, one area that I feel the software suffers is in its overwhelmingly complicated interface. Writing can often require an intense amount of focus and sometimes the amount of information displayed in yWriter can be just as distracting as it is useful. Certainly there are times when this information is needed during the writing process. However, I've often wished yWriter would allow me to quickly hide and display this information helping to focus on the task at hand.
Last semester I spent time designing my own solution for aspiring authors called Yarn. Inspired in part by my experience with yWriter, Yarn is still in design. I've included some screenshots in the video below with some of the scenarios and wireframes I've been working on for this project. This is a project that I am seriously considering developing as I believe it would prove to be an extremely useful tool to writers.
While I recommend yWriter for anyone interested in writing a novel, one area that I feel the software suffers is in its overwhelmingly complicated interface. Writing can often require an intense amount of focus and sometimes the amount of information displayed in yWriter can be just as distracting as it is useful. Certainly there are times when this information is needed during the writing process. However, I've often wished yWriter would allow me to quickly hide and display this information helping to focus on the task at hand.
Last semester I spent time designing my own solution for aspiring authors called Yarn. Inspired in part by my experience with yWriter, Yarn is still in design. I've included some screenshots in the video below with some of the scenarios and wireframes I've been working on for this project. This is a project that I am seriously considering developing as I believe it would prove to be an extremely useful tool to writers.
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