Founder and Chief Executive Officer

“Fighting for the users” since 1999

Cia Romano is a respected evangelist for end users of digital products such as the Web, apps, software, and touchscreens. A hands-on user interface researcher, Cia developed the widely disseminated Usable Times 5™ criteria for ranking computer screen effectiveness – a major factor in profitability for companies and organizations conducting business online. The metric, based on her usability lab studies, focuses on user response to five consistently observed factors: Orientation, Permission, Interactivity, Relevance, and Speed. “Every one of our user tests validates Usable Times 5,” says Cia. “The criteria are relevant across differences in age, gender, education, and technical expertise.”

Extending user experience into public spaces

Along with developing Usable Times 5, Cia and her team created guidelines for user interface on kiosks in public spaces. The Digital Interactive Guidelines were accepted for presentation by the Visitor Studies Association. This work led to a “Visualizing 2030″ engagement for the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Committed to education in technical literacy

Cia has trained hundreds of people in the fundamentals of usability. Her highly-rated conference sessions have been featured at Smithsonian’s Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums (Washington DC, San Diego, Ottawa), Magazine Publishers of America (New York), the Folio: Shows (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles), Seybold Seminars (San Francisco), Internet World (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles), the Visitor Studies Association (Ottawa), the American Society of Magazine Editors (New York) and COMDEX (Las Vegas).

A broad range of experience in varied environments

Diverse organizations – ranging from Lifetime and TVGuide to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and IEEE – have utilized Cia’s extensive experience in transitioning organizations from conventional media to digital implementations – and the attendant organizational changes.

Early adopter, years of experience

Cia began her Internet career at Arizona Highways (1994), pioneering e-commerce in 1995 and virtual reality online in 1996; she helped launch the ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) Web site in 1995, moving to the pioneering Web consultancy USWeb/MarchFIRST in 1996, and Gannett/Pulitzer’s StarNet – one of the world’s first newspapers online – in 1997. She founded Interface Guru in December 1999.