A user centred, Agile approach to software development
How we at Aptivate help organisations and NGOs develop software applications using the iterative development approach called Agile in a user-centred approach
Jay Alvarez
User experience designer
Jay is Aptivate’s lead designer and has over 15 years experience in creating dynamic user-centred websites, specialising in low-bandwidth design and content development. She has a degree in Interactive Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University and worked freelance as artist, designer and workshop facilitator.
She has worked on a variety of projects to create interactive maps, emergency response news aggregators, monitoring and evaluation dashboards, knowledge sharing portals, mentoring schemes, community video distribution networks and organisational websites.
Jay helps clients communicate user needs as requirements through on-location, participatory discovery workshops which feed into Aptivate's agile methodology. Using open source tools, she works closely with developers to create graphic and paper prototypes as well as direct front-end development in HTML/ CSS/ JavaScript where needed.
Skills and Experience
- Developing web applications (e.g. Django/Python, PHP/WordPress, Drupal)
- Software engineering
- Business needs analysis and strategy
- Agile project management & product development
- Facilitation
- User research
- Technology evaluation
- Low-bandwidth optimisation
- Graphic design
- Branding & design of printed materials
- User experience (UX) design
- Accessibility (AX) design
- Participatory design & development
- ICT4D project design and strategy
- Working in developing countries
