ClickStart helps companies develop usable products. We are commited to improving the user experience: our goal is for users to get started using products as easily as possible.

We provide a range of services, including:

• Interface design
• Online help, embedded user assistance, and printed documentation development
• Requirements and use case analysis
• WBT (Web-based training) and classroom training development and delivery

Who We Are

Scott DeLoach is the Founder and CEO of ClickStart. He has 18 years experience as a user experience architect and has provided consulting and training for over 100 companies across the United States and Canada and around the world. He is a frequent speaker at user assistance conferences, and he has received four Best of Show awards from STC for his work. Scott is the author of MadCap Flare Certified Test Review + Developer’s Guide, CSS to the Point, and MadCap Software’s Flare Training Guide, Flare Advanced CSS Training Guide, Flare Advanced Single Sourcing Guide, and Blaze Training Guide.

Scott is a MadCap Certified Instructor for Flare and Blaze, a MadCap Advanced Developer for Flare, an Adobe Certified Captivate and RoboHelp instructor, and a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW). He holds a masters degree in Technical and Scientific Communication from Miami University, and he is an associate fellow of STC.

Team Members

Patrick Hofmann is ClickStart‘s principal designer. For over twelve years, this vibrant Canadian has helped clients like Nokia, Motorola, Philips, FedEx, HP, BASF, and AGFA improve the usability of their products–often by visualising their online, hardcopy, and interface information.

Patrick’s award-winning work and undying passion for visual language have sent him around the world, as he teaches companies how to use pictures to improve communication. He recently developed the post-graduate Information Design curriculum at CPIT in Christchurch, New Zealand, and is currently completing his first book on visual instruction.

Steve Kersten is ClickStart‘s lead book and website reviewer. From Green Bay (with a layover in Madison) to Columbus in the late 1980s, Steve attended OSU for Classics. Master’s degree in hand, he followed a slightly meandering path, happily finding CheckFree Corporation where he recently transitioned from the Technical Communications department and now occupies the same desk, does many of the same things, but is part of the UI/UX Design Team.

Steve is particularly interested in information architecture and interaction/UI design, and works mainly on projects for customer service applications that support online bill payment. These days his motto "ensure delight-filled customer experiences" helps him socialize, evangelize, and institutionalize user-centered design, aiming to contribute to applications that need no help system and no training. An HFI CUA, Steve enjoys reading and listening to anything about his favorite acronyms: UX, UCD, IA, IxD, and ABBA.

Chris McRae is ClickStart’s FrameMaker instructor and resident Frame expert. A graduate of the Technical Communication program at Mercer University, he has provided information products, consulting services, and training for clients in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His specific interests include Adobe FrameMaker (for which he has obtained an Adobe Expert Certification), process improvement, product design, and quality assurance.  

Chris has received five STC awards for his work. He has presented at several STC Annual Conferences, and he helped found the STC Atlanta FrameMaker Users Group.