"Anyone can throw the words ‘user experience' around in a sentence, but we actually have UX practitioners on staff. That's one reason we're different," says Abe Crystal, Ph.D. Abe is a User Experience Researcher at Bluespark.

A Bluespark project takes a more thoughtful approach to design by drawing on the expertise of its UX team—and Abe is an integral part of that team. With a doctorate in Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Abe brings more than 12 years of user-centered design experience to the Bluespark crew.

Bluespark uses research methods drawn from behavioral and social science to understand user needs and tasks in depth, and design for them appropriately. For example, when performing user testing for the Lynchburg College site, Abe and the UX team employed what's known as intercept testing. "In intercept testing," says Abe, "we recruit actual users in real time as they are using a website and collect their feedback. It's a method of user testing that's gaining some traction in the UX space, but I don't see a lot of practitioners using it."

It's this kind of real commitment—not just lip service—to UX that attracted Abe to Bluespark. Abe is passionate about proactively shaping user experience and is an active contributor to thought leadership in his field. He has published in Library and Information Science Research, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, International Journal of Metadata, Semantics & Ontologies, Technical Communication, and Conference on Designing for User eXperience (DUX). He also co-founded the Triangle Usability Professionals Association, and served as Vice President (2006), President (2007), and Chair of the Advisory Council (2008 and 2009).

When asked about his hobbies, Abe laughs, "I have an eight-month-old, so that's pretty much my hobby." He currently lives with his wife and son in Carrboro, North Carolina.