From Yvonne Kim, Product Manager, Walmart.com
“I worked with John on an extremely complex and large initiative. He consistently came up with innovative, yet equally simple, means of interacting with the user. His input and direction was always welcome by the team, including Product, Engineering, and Business stakeholders (no small feat). It was a pleasure collaborating with John and I hope to do so again!”
From Helen Morris, Product Manager, Walmart.com
“I have had the pleasure of working with John on the implementation of a new item setup process as Walmart.com. It is an extremely large, complex project with many moving parts. I have been very impressed with John's ability to quickly grasp the complexities of the system we are trying to build, and his ability to bring high quality user experience to a business system. All too often, the user experience is neglected in business systems, but John has been diligent about understanding the end user and making sure they are represented in every decision we make. Additionally, he has introduced us to a number of new concepts around how to present mass amounts of data visually; these will allow us to truly move our vendor communication to the next level. I feel very fortunate to have had John on this project. His contributions will make a lasting impact to a critical part of our business operations for many years to come.”
From Jeff Ravetto, Product Manager, Walmart.com
“John is the hero of the user. For the rest of my career, when I think of excellence in advocating for the user, John will be among a handful of the most amazing UX experts that I've ever encountered that will come to mind. I've learned a great deal from him, and he's really helped me to always remember that everything we build needs to be centered around the user. You can see for yourself - search for the phrase "satisfy the cat" on youtube and watch John's user-centered design video to get a preview of what you can expect from him.”
From Gaurav Singh, Product Manager, SamsClub.com
“I first met John while working on a strategic eCommerce product. John was brought in to review and refine the interaction design created by another team. Within the first couple of hours, it became very clear the immense value John brought to the table. He quickly grasped the concept and gave practical suggestions which made the design simple and more user-friendly. John’s interaction design fundamentals are very strong and he naturally thinks from a user’s perspective. His ability to apply these principles in the given context is what makes him stand out. I strongly recommend using John’s services if you want to build a Valuable and Usable product for your customers.”
From Frank Labor, Project Manager, Cognizant (consultant at Walmart.com)
“John and I worked together at Walmart.com. I found John to be very open, easily conversant in his explanations of User Experience and User Interfaces. He had a unique outlook on the User Experience and I learned a lot from him and enjoyed working with him. As an interface architect on our project, John provided new insights and new designs that increased the usability and presentation of the User Interface. I was favorabley impressed with his designs and would enjoy working with him again.”
From Andrew Lester, Web Production Manager, Bank of America:
"I brought John Boykin to Bank of America as an information design and interaction design consultant from eFORCE. He proved to be a creative, versatile, and respected contributor to the User Experience team. He was always an articulate champion of users’ needs and interests. Teammates valued his judgment and expertise enough that we would often seek him out for consultation on our projects. We would often quote some 'Boykinism' to bolster our case when dealing with others in the bank.
"John’s interaction redesign of bankofamerica.com’s home page has been a big hit with customers and executives alike. One of our competitors has already brought out an imitation of it. John also wrote our style guide, conducted usability testing, and laid out an ambitious vision of how our Online Banking service could best satisfy users. Senior managers valued his critiques of competitors’ Web sites and his presentations on usability.
"We miss him and commend him to you. I am sure he will be as valuable a contributor to your team as he was to ours."
From Michael Davidson, Senior Vice President, Bank of America:
"John Boykin and I worked together at Bank of America. We supported the Bank's Online Banking System, developing the product to improve the customer experience and expand its penetration within our checking and credit card customer base.
"John introduced a vision for Online Banking's direction that was both inspired and comprehensive. That vision guided the development of a robust prototype as well as a program of customer usability testing designed to ground the prototype in the customer's experience. The prototype and testing have proved invaluable in setting product direction and achieving product improvements that have been delivered to Bank of America customers.
"John was a pleasure to work with. John's creativity, especially with the design of the customer User Interface, his attention to the details of the customer's experience and usage behavior and the ease at which he works with others on the team - all these conspired to mark his contribution as both unique and unparalleled. I will miss the challenge of John's perspective and the volume of his contribution. Most of all I will miss John's sense of humor and his good-natured style of work."
From Darren Su, Producer, Xfire (MTVN):
"John Boykin helped us conduct a much-needed usability review of our video game communication software. Although John had no prior working experience with video games, he impressed us with his ability to quickly get up to speed on unfamiliar subjects. John has worked with a diverse range of clients and we were no exception..
"Not only did John carefully describe the areas for improvement with great attention to detail in his concluding report, but he also offered a wealth of excellent recommendations and possible solutions.
"John is also wonderfully flexible and reliable. When we were forced to interview a more geographically diverse group than originally planned, John came up with a brilliant and affordable solution that enabled us to conduct and record the interviews remotely.
"John is a real pleasure to work with. I hope we will have the chance to work with him again soon."
From Kelly Lim, Project Manager and Business Analyst, Blue Shield of California:
"John is an absolute pleasure to work with. John’s talent and deep understanding of the principles of UI design are unparalleled and have left a mark on our products. John is gifted at accessing the business goals, understanding the end-user, and providing a fresh perspective on solving complex problems, striving towards simplicity in design. The quality of John’s work always exceeds my expectations and he consistently receives rave reviews from colleagues and business partners. I’m always looking forward to the next time that we work together.”
From Carley Hightower, Product Manager, Blue Shield of California:
"John brings a great deal of knowledge, design expertise and thougtfulness into everything he does. In working with John on a recent project, I have constantly been in awe with his out of box thinking and justification for improving a user's experience. There is not a day that goes by that John doesn't invest 100% of himself into his work. He is a joy to be around and any employer would benefit from his deep understanding of user needs.”
From Mary Wilmot, eBusiness Manager, Blue Shield of California:
"John has been great to work with. He takes the time to listen to us and our business needs and then he takes it to the max by adding his spin and expertise to projects. John is a passionate user experience advocate. On each project he ensures the project team understands the importance of user experience and interaction design. I think John sleeps/eats/breaths user experience!”
From Miriam Home, Producer, User Experience, Blue Shield of California:
"What I enjoy most about working with John is his passion -- passion for intelligent, user-centered designs, and passion for cranking out top-notch work in a full-tilt environment. We often worked on large, cross-functional projects and his dedication to excellence always shone through. Couple this with his thoughtful and solution-oriented personality, and you can see why it is a pleasure to work with John.”
From Dawn Nidy, Lead Interaction Designer, User Experience, Blue Shield of California:
“I had the pleasure of working alongside John as a fellow interaction designer. He is absolutely dedicated to user-centered design and will relentlessly advocate for users. He advocates in the best way possible - with convincing evidence, principles, and logic behind him, and never intimidated to say what he really believes. I was always impressed with John's commitment to finding the best solution possible and his courage in challenging constraints and justifying his designs.”
From Katie Zimmerman, Account Manager, Agency.com:
"I've had the pleasure of working with John Boykin on Web-related projects across several clients. As the Sr. Information Architect, John was invaluable in providing comprehensive and detailed UI recommendations and schematics, as well as thorough and engaging POV documents and presentations. In addition to having an in-depth understanding of best practices and a wealth of expertise, John has innate knowledge of design that set him apart from all others within the IA team.
"Our clients have raved about the work he provided to them and his presentations; when future opportunities have arisen for project work, whether it be a POV on Web site redesign, or Microsite development, John has been requested to be on the team.
"After my first project with John, I demanded to work with him on every subsequent project where IA was required. He’s highly efficient, extremely talented and knowledgeable. Most importantly, he’s great to work with.
"We at Agency.com were sad to see him go, but we send him off with our highest recommendation."
From Marc Miyashiro, Director of User Interface Services, eFORCE
“John Boykin is a brilliant interaction designer and gifted raconteur. I have been privileged to work with John, both as a design manager and as a design collaborator. As a manager, I knew that I could give John an assignment, and he would exceed expectations, both for me and for the client. As a fellow practitioner, I am awed at John’s ability to construct vibrant, meaningful design personas for a product/interface – and to do it in a meeting on the fly! It’s like having Alan Cooper on your team. John’s insights are deep, his reasoning is sound, and his designs are eminently usable.”
From Barbara Kendrick, Marketing Manager, Professional Publications, Inc.
"I want to thank you for the fine work you have done to improve the information presentation and interaction design of our online product, the Exam Café. You have managed to take the convoluted enrollment process, which we knew was off-putting to potential customers, and streamlined it into a thing of beauty. You completed the project on time, and the publication you prepared outlining recommended changes was clear and usefully detailed. Our programmers found your suggestions easy-to-follow and implement. We truly appreciate the high quality of the work you have performed for us. Next, I'd like to turn you loose on our entire web site!"
