The backgrounds of our key staff are presented on this page, including:

▼ Dean Wood - Director

Dean Wood - Director

Background

Dean established and leads Clear Choice Usability to raise the bar in the standard of usability, customer service and business success among international organizations.

Prior to setting up Clear Choice Usability, Dean was a senior consultant at The Hiser Group between 1996 – 2007. He led many large and complex design projects for Australian and international organisations.

These projects included successful engagements for the LexisNexis Butterworths (global), Australian Tax Office, Westpac, Macquarie bank, Optus & the United Nations.

Dean builds long term relationships with clients through his design experience, strategic business focus, flexibility and collaborative approach to projects. This ensured that user needs were met and that stakeholders were actively involved through the projects.

Before joining Hiser, Dean led a project exploring the design and evaluation of strategic educational & communications technologies for the Human Factors Unit at British Telecom in the UK.

Professional skills

Dean is proficient in all aspects of leading and applying user centred design methods and techniques to large, complex projects, including:

• User needs analysis
• Customer experience strategy / strategic planning roadmaps
• Conceptual design for user interfaces
• Collaborative design with users
• Expert evaluations
• Usability testing & competitive analysis

Project experience

Dean has completed a wide array of projects during his career, including many repeat engagements for the following clients: 

Financial services

• Westpac -Australia
• Macquarie bank - Australia
• Suncorp bank - Australia
• AFIG Wholesale -Australia
• Smartline home loan services - Australia
• Commonwealth bank - Australia
• Commsec - Australia
• HSBC -Australia
• Esanda finance & insurance - Australia

Government & non-profit

• United Nations
• Australian Tax  Office (ATO)
• Australian Department of Immigration (DIMIA)
• IP Australia (patents office)
• National Library ofAustralia
• Queensland Dept. of Emergency Services -Australia
• Victorian Electoral Commission -Australia
• NSW state government - Australia

Telecommunications & technology

• AUSTAR – subscription TV
• Optus
• Telstra
• Ozemail

Telecommunications & entertainment site usability evaluations

• TelecomNew Zealand
• HP / Compaq / Digital
• British Telecom Research labs

Business & legal research services

• LexisNexis (Butterworths)
• Australian Business Ltd
• IBISWorld

Education

• Singapore Polytechnic
• Victorian department of education

Retail

• Westfield

Resources

• EnergyAustralia
• BHP Billiton
• Orica

Qualifications

Dean has been trained in usability / human factors at one of the world's leading universities in the field, as well as in design in Australia:

• MA Human Factors - Loughborough University of Technology, England
• Graduate Diploma in Ergonomics - University of New South Wales, Australia
• BA Industrial Design - University of Canberra, Australia