I’ve had a number of Begin Agains since. And in that spirit, I’ve repurposed my site in order to promote myself as a UXer for Hire.

How We Got Here

I spent the last few months trying to find a new job with varying degrees of success: degrees all the way from Almost to Not So Much. As time progressed (it’s only been the summer) I realized I was getting bored. Really bored. So I reached out to a few friends who have their own overflowing work and offered my help.

Within a week I was on a new project. With 4 more projects from various sources in the works. I thought, while it will be tough, especially as the sole income for the fam, being a freelancer really fits the way I like to work.

I like to solve problems. I like to make things work better. I like variety. I like working with different people (sometimes engineers, sometimes marketers). I like challenging problems. I like dropping off and picking up my daughter from the bus stop.

While being an employee certainly brought me many good things like experience, stability, and low-cost insurance it just wasn’t me.

I don’t like having a boss. I don’t like having to be in the office even when I don’t need to be. I don’t like bureaucrats.

Where We Are Going

So. Freelancing. For Hire. Indie. Call it what you want (I’ve been using many terms interchangeably) it means a lot of opportunity, freedom, and challenges. Which is cool. By which I mean both, “Holy Crap!” and “Fun!”

All those aforementioned terms can be pretty vague. So let me tell you what it is I do do. Briefly… User Experience Strategy & Design, Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Usability Testing (remote & in-person), Copy Editing, Business Analysis, Communication Strategy, and, and, and.

All that stuff? Really? Well, as I say on my handsome-picture-of-me-having About page:

I take a “big D” approach to design. Which is to say I think anything that is created goes through a design process; even design processes.

You start with a problem or opportunity and need to create something to fill a perceived gap. How well one perceives a gap usually influences how well one bridges it.

And strangely enough, I’m really good at both perceiving and bridging.

Half of you are thinking, “Yeah, yeah…” The other half are thinking, “Um, what now…?” And the other half are all like, “Stop using 25-cent words man; dial it down!”

An Heuristic Evaluation is essentially another term for Expert Review. Which is another term for assessing what works, what doesn’t, and telling you how to make things better.

Here’s the pitch: I am offering my assessing what works, what doesn’t, and telling you how to make things better skills to anyone with a web site, web app, blog, product, or idea.

You give me $300 ($150 to start, $150 upon completion), I assess, and within 48 hours I’ll give you a to-do list which you can use to make your stuff better. The $300 offer is a limited time offer for first 20 customers.

Why Me?

If you know me, you know I don’t like to brag and even get shy when complimented. So when I say I am really quite good at this I mean it.

I’ve helped many companies, both those I’ve worked for as an employee and as a freelancer, figure out how to make their (usually web apps) better based on usability, platform, device, and “common sense” guidelines. What I’ve heard time and again from people is that it was an eye opening experience. Some of the things I find are known, so it’s good to have the validation, but a lot of the things I find have fallen into the blind-spots of the people working on the product.

And that’s really the selling point on this: A fresh set of well-trained, knowledgeable eyes.

Contact Me

You can email me at, matthew at xhipi dot com, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

If you have any specific questions about this service, let me know in the comments (because someone else is likely thinking the same thing) or send me an email.