Dray & Associates, Inc., is a small consulting firm with an international reputation and a wide-ranging network of Associates who can help with specialized projects and international studies. Together, we are a world-class team of highly educated and experienced user-centered design professionals focused on meeting the needs of our clients. Read more about us:

Contents of this page:
Susan M. Dray
David A. Siegel
Our Worldwide Network of Associates

Susan M. Dray, Ph.D., CHFP

Since 1979, Dr. Susan M. Dray has worked in the field of human factors to increase the quality and intuitiveness of user interface designs for users around the world. She has worked as both an internal and external consultant, and combines expertise in interface evaluation, usability evaluation, and contextual and ethnographic research with a cross-cultural and organizational perspective.

As President of Dray & Associates, Inc., she consults internationally on interface design and usability. She has evaluated and helped redesign user interfaces for all types of websites, desktop and Web applications, as well as both hardware and software consumer products and technical equipment. She specializes in international user studies, and has conducted user research in 17 countries, including one of the largest international usability evaluations ever done - studying 120 users in 8 countries in Europe and Asia.

A pioneer in Human-Computer Interaction, she was Director of Human Factors at IDS [now American Express Financial Advisors], where, in 1988, she developed one of the first corporate usability labs outside the computer industry. Previously, at Honeywell, she was involved in evaluating usability of consumer product hardware and software, as well as military technologies.

Dr. Dray is a leader in the Human Factors profession nationally and internationally. She has given over 80 talks at conferences and symposia in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, including the invited Plenary Address to the 10th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association in Sydney, Australia, and the Keynote address at the 2nd South African Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, in Pretoria, South Africa in September, 2001. In addition, she has published numerous papers and book chapters. She was elected a Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and has chaired both the Organizational Design and Management Technical Group and the Computer Systems Technical Group of this same organization, as well as the Computers and Communications Scientific and Technical Committee of the International Ergonomics Association. Dr. Dray was the North American editor of the prestigious international journal Behaviour and Information Technology, and she currently edits the Business column of the Association for Computing Machinery's magazine interactions.

Dr. Dray received her doctorate in Psychology from UCLA (1980) and is a Board Certified Human Factors Professional.

David A. Siegel, Ph.D.

Dr. David Siegel has worked as Vice President of Dray & Associates, Inc. since 1993. He has been involved in all aspects of consultation on usability, user interface design, and user-centered design processes, including project planning and study design, expert evaluation of interface designs, formal usability testing, user-studies, and interface design consultation. He has conducted extensive field trials of new technology, and has experience carrying out studies in the US and overseas. He has evaluated or tested numerous software designs, including web designs and designs for innovative technologies, and helped product teams make pivotal improvements in their designs. He played a key role in the team that designed the interface for Hewlett-Packard's first digital camera and for its desktop software. In awarding the resulting product "Best Buy" status, PC Magazine specifically praised it for its ease of use.

Dr. Siegel brings to the field of Usability and Human Factors his strong background in psychology, including neuropsychology, assessment and measurement of cognitive processes, and research methodology. His education includes a B.A. in psychology from Princeton University (1974), and a Ph.D. in psychology from UCLA (1982). His experience in using behavioral data, observation, formal assessment, and interviewing to assess cognitive processes directly contribute to his skills in evaluating designs, identifying and analyzing usability problems, and recommending targeted solutions.

He also has a background in organizational consulting, which he has applied when consulting to companies on the organizational factors involved in the shift to user-centered design approaches, and when helping development teams deal with organizational issues that affect the design and development process.

Our Worldwide Network of Associates

We have developed a worldwide network relationships with professionals and facilities to help us conduct international user studies. This network includes recruiters, translators, facilitators whom we have trained in usability methods, marketing research professionals, etc. Because we have worked with many of these Associates over the years, we can pull together complex international studies relatively quickly and cost-effectively. We personally provide project management and coordination, oversight of all arrangements, supervise the recruiting and data collection, and carry out the analysis and reporting.