Iwein Dekoninck web solutions

About Iwein Dekoninck

I was born in 1977 in Belgium, and moved to England in 2000. Outside of work I enjoy all sorts of outdoors activities, especially running, cycling, windsurfing and snowboarding.

Current employment

I work part time for Outscope, a young and dynamic Bath-based web site consultancy. Outscope offers project-managed access to a professional and experienced production unit based in Sri Lanka.

At Outscope I work as a project manager, using my expertise in usability, accessiblity, online marketing and the internet in general to help clients define their requirements and get the right design.

Previous employment

From November 2000 to December 2004, I worked for Open World, a global company with offices in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The company has built more than 1,000 hotel-related websites, representing more than 5,000 hotels. These websites attract more than 70 million visitors per year, generating over $100 million of annual revenue.

As the Project Manager for New Product Development, I was responsible for developing new products, in particular actively developing new product ideas, establishing and monitoring budgetary controls, establishing and monitoring schedules with other departments and developing specifications and full documentation.

I introduced and implemented usability into Open World's design process in 2002. This service was actively sold in the form of usability reports and user testing.

I developed a universal booking engine interface in Flash which has proved to be very succesful with website users. An increase in revenue generated on Open World websites can be attributed to this interface.

I developed an online design process scheduling tool. This tool tracks each project throughout the different stages in the design process, and has helped the designers keeping an overview and delivering on time.

Before I moved to England I was part of the web development team at Edge.be, a Belgian web design firm. I worked there on a freelance basis whilst I was at University. Initially I learned to use Photoshop, DreamWeaver and Fireworks as well as the tricks of the trade.

Later on I was given my own projects, and was involved in training new staff. I used ColdFusion, stylesheets and JavaScript to create professional websites.

Skills

I speak English and Dutch, am fluent in French and can get by in German and Spanish.

Education

Graduated with distinction from Hogeschool Antwerpen, Belgium, as Licentiate in Product Development (equivalent to MSc. in Industrial Design) in 2000.

Being a Licentiate in Product Development means that I can manage the entire product development process from initial ideas to product launch. Projects are always broken down in design process stages with set deliverables and targets.

The course integrates a number of design skills including conceptual thinking, graphic design, usability, product styling, ergonomics, CAD-drawing, 3D-modelling, product marketing, product engineering (including construction, mechanics, electronics and materials).

In 1998 I went to Brunel University (Department of Design) on the Erasmus exchange program, where I completed modules in product design, graphic design, electronics and life drawing.

For more details, you can download my CV as a Word document, or as PDF (download pdf reader).