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Will Hall Headshot

Hey! I'm Will

I'm an Accessibility Consultant from Philadelphia, PA. Through years of empathizing with users as a Quality Assurance Engineer, I've learned how to identify what separates a product with good design from one with great design. Now as a Product Designer, I combine what I've learned with design skills to deliver accessible, thorough, and intuitive interfaces built for users of all abilities.

 

The internet was created as a tool for everyone, by everyone. Let's work together to make sure it stays that way.

About My Experience

My career in Quality Assurance started with humble beginnings writing automated test scripts against work completed by the developers. But the more time I spent in the Software Development Life Cycle, the more I saw room for Quality Assurance to contribute. I started testing early in the design process, creating user personas and identifying pain points in mockups. I learned how to take these personas and create Test Driven Development Plans and User Stories with Acceptance Criteria that met our requirements. Soon I understood the importance of an MVP and how to help the business identify scope creep.

Since then I have become a generalist adept at wearing many hats. I’ve become accustomed to working with all departments in all teams involved in the development process, including but not limited to Business, Design, Development, and Dev Ops. I operated as a Subject Matter Expert that saw projects through their initial development to managing their launch and subsequent releases.

 Let's Talk Accessibility

My passion for Accessible Design started when I was working on the reboot of PebbleGo, an educational platform dedicated to students from third to sixth grade. We were in danger of losing our public school clients that required all software purchased with federal dollars be ADA compliant.

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While many of the rules seemed restrictive at first, I saw that designing for accessibility at the beginning of the development process made future decisions easier and led to cleaner interfaces that were easier to test and maintain.

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Since then, I have become a champion for accessibility for all teams I have worked on and strive to make sure software is not only accessible, but intuitive and understanding of the end user.

Why Product Design?

  • There are more opportunities to ask "Why?"

  • I want to learn from users, understand their needs, and translate their goals into achievable design solutions

  • Opportunities to foster meaningful cross-team communication 

  • While I am a technical person, I am also a creative person and love that product design demands both mindsets

  • Iterating and focusing on continuous improvement is something I strive for in both my professional and personal life

Bus Buddy Illustration
Spottd Illustration

Personal Philosophy

If I'm stuck on a problem, I do something else. I find my passions inspire me to make new connections and keep my mind open to even greater possibilities.

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Outside of work you can find me:

  • Illustrating - Including all illustrations and graphics present in this portfolio

  • Volunteering as an Emcee for my local Succulent and Cactus Society

  • Working the pottery wheel making my own planters and home goods

  • Growing cactus and succulents from seed and trading them with local collectors

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