About Me
My name is Monica Messaggi Kaya and lately, I am running a few freelance projects using my hats as Software Engineer and UX Designer.
I have a design / webdesign inclination with experience in programming. I try to keep myself current with the new technologies and trends, seeking training where needed and participating in events. My main interests at the moment lie in web and mobile applications, UX/UI and front-end development.
“I believe in the magic of little things, a spice, a herb, a touch, a thought...”
Tools of the trade
“The right tool for the job”
I have my favourites and could try anything that makes the task more enjoyable and efficient. Here are some tools and areas of development that I work with:
- UX, wireframing and prototyping: Balsamiq Mockups, Axure, InVision (RIP) Omnigraffe and Figma
- Design: Adobe Design Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe XD, InDesign, Sketch App.
- Structure and style: HTML5, CSS3, Front-end frameworks (Foundation Zurb, Bootstrap, Semantic UI).
- Functionality: Javascript, Node.js, Vue.js, Next.js, D3.js, Git, Bower, Grunt, Python, Apache Solr, PHP, MySQL.
- Content Management Systems (Wordpress, Drupal, Moodle)
- Favourite editor: SublimeText
* Talks *
In 2015, I've got invited to give a talk at the Future of Web Apps London and I used the project I was working on - Digital Manuscripts Toolkit - as a subject. The talking experience was great and as a result, I was also invited to give the talk at JSOxford.
That was my first experience in public speaking, it was a "baptism of fire" with over 200 people in the room.
My slides are available online; the project itself is really interesting and although the tecnologies reached end-of-life, the concept and what was used can still be seen at the DMT project holding page.
Work
Freelance UX / Software Engineer
June 2017 - Present
Being a versatile web developer, I've been delivering high-impact digital solutions for diverse clients across industries. I've been crafting responsive, conversion-optimised Shopify storefronts and websites, managing the complete project lifecycle for websites — from initial client consultation and UX strategy to deployment and analytics implementation. Continuously evolving my technical toolkit to create lightning-fast, secure, and scalable web experiences.
Senior UX Designer at Incuna
August 2016 - May 2017
Leading the User Experience at Incuna, responsible for conceiving and conducting user research, interviews and surveys; translating them into sitemaps, wireframes and prototypes; updating and defining UX for websites, mobile web and apps. Communicating the overall functionality with design, front-end and development teams to ensure great user experience.
Keywords: UX, UI, personas, user journeys, sketches, wireframes, prototypes, sitemap, interviews
eCommerce / Web Software Engineer at Elsevier
May 2016 - August 2016
Working with the latest web technologies building new functionality and liaising with other groups to ensure the Elsevier framework is maintained in a flexible and reliable way.
Keywords: HTML/HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, Adaptive UI, SEO, Git, Amazon AWS EC2 services, Solr, Elastic, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager
Front-end/Javascript Developer: Building the Digital Manuscripts Toolkit at The University of Oxford
January 2015 - April 2016
Working on a digital toolkit to enable users to engage with digitised manuscripts. Leading the development of the user interface(s) required for the project to ensure the tools will meet the user’s needs.
- Develop (code, test, and implement) a web interface for the tools and services being developed in the project, to a specification accepted by the wider community of developers
- Work with the rest of the Shared Canvas and IIIF teams ensure interoperability and compatibility with existing specifications and APIs
- Represent the project at relevant conferences/hackathons/workshops and to contribute appropriately to academic publications
- Produce technical documentation specific to the project, provide support and training to project participants and/or users
Keywords: UX/UI, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, IIIF, Shared Canvas
DAMS Software Engineer at The University of Oxford
March 2009 - January 2015
Member of the core Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) team working with the system architect to develop the DAMS architecture. Projects:
Short-version CV [pdf] Extended-version CV [LinkedIn]