About Me

I might not actually be an astronaut... but I am a digital designer with a diverse skill set ranging from motion graphics to front end web development. I'm a strong believer that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. At heart, I'm a maker. I love building things from the ground up, whether it's a woodcut or a brand identity.

UX Skills

Tools

Figma, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AfterEffects, Premiere, ProTools, Fiery Impose, HTML/CSS, JavaScript

Soft Skills

Workflow optimization, customer service, logistics, communication, management, computer networking

Design Skills

Visual design, user experience, wireframing, rapid prototyping, storyboarding, user research, interviewing, responsive web, interaction, motion, sound

UI/UX Certification • 2022

Georgia Institute of Technology

Six-month training certificate in an online classroom setting.

BFA • Motion Graphics • 2008

Savannah College of Art and Design

Developed branding solutions and production artwork for broadcast networks. Utilized Adobe Creative Suite, including Adobe After Effects and 3D Software. Gained experience with sound design and web development.

UX Work

Travel App

Individual Project

In this student project, I went through the process of identifying a user need through to a high-resolution prototype, while incorporating user feedback throughout the process.

Government Agency Redesign

Individual Project

In this student project, I analized the data structure of the Homeland Security website and integrated user feedback into its redesign. A new brand style guide was created and web and mobile prototypes created with responsive web design in mind.

Non-Profit Website Redesign

Group Project

In this student project, I went through the process of identifying a user need through to a high-resolution prototype, while incorporating user feedback throughout the process.

Overview
Research
Definition
Ideation
Prototyping
Testing
Conclusion

Travel App

Objective: Create an app to solve a problem a user might encounter when traveling with a group of people.

Research

Summary

As a group of 5, we recorded interviews with general questions about traveling in a group.

One key takeaway came in the form of a direct quote from one of my interviews.

“It's just hard to boil something down like this that's probably going to be solved by people having conversations into an app, and ultimately it's like how much time is that going to save you?”

Research methods and exploration of concepts:

Definition

A change of direction...

Moving into the rest of the process I broke off from my group with my own direction based on user feedback.

Much of the process for planning group travel is easily done through traditional communication. Finding a specific part of the process that we can provide value for the user is our goal.

New problem statement:

Travelers planning activities for groups need a better way to coordinate with participants because traditional methods are too time-consuming.

Ideation

Here we explore the user's journey

Our user, Vanessa is traveling to New York City from Los Angeles with some of her yoga students. She invites her students to join her trip planning collaboration on GroupUp. Instead of communicating with multiple individuals, researching activities, and manually scheduling, she is able to save time and stress by using our app.

Prototyping

Lo-Fi / Mid-Fi Prototypes created an tested

Moving into the rest of the process I broke off from my group with my own direction based on user feedback.

Much of the process for planning group travel is easily done through traditional communication. Finding a specific part of the process that we can provide value for the user is our goal.

user feedback

Travelers planning activities for groups need a better way to coordinate with participants because traditional methods are too time-consuming.

Testing

Key insights

  • An easier way to navigate to create trips and events is needed.
  • Tooltips would be useful to help users through the create trip and event processes.
  • User frustration could be avoided by saving event details in case the process is interrupted.

Conclusion

Summary

Integrating user feedback during the research stage of the process allowed GroupUp to focus on what the user needed. This was possible because it helped identify which parts of the process were easily done through outside coordination and which parts the app could help with.

Overview
Research
Definition
Ideation
Prototyping
Testing
Conclusion

Case Study: DHS.gov - Government Agency Web and Mobile Redesign

This individual student project was completed over the course of 4 weeks. The goal was to analyze and redesign a government agency website for improved usability and responsiveness. Improving and standardizing the visual design of the site to better fit the users perception of the agency was a key part of the process.

My Role

Design thinking was employed to tackle the full cycle of a redesign project. I took on the roles of UX Researcher, Information Architect, UI/UX Designer and Visual Designer.

The Beginning

Initial User Research:

I used traffic analysis of the website to establish the most common types of users and tasks. To help inform our usability research we created a proto-persona. Website Traffic Analysis Most common searches and traffic was related to entering the country Demographics Majority of traffic is men and women ages 25 to 45

ProtoPersona

Meet Lukas, our imaginary typical user based on my research, who will help us understand the challenges those users may face when using the site.

Lukas is traveling to the US for business from Germany and needs to find information about the requirements for aliens entering the country. He knows he needs some sort of electronic documentation, but has never done it before.

The Problem

Typical user path:

  1. Home page > How Do I?
  2. For Travelers > Cross US Borders
  3. International Visitor Requirements
  4. Admission into the US > CBP site

Feedback we received from guerilla testing:

  • Navigation menu was overwhelming
  • “Bread-crumbs” were helpful for navigation
  • Hard to tell that the user has navigated away from dhs.gov to cpb.gov because of similar visual style and menu

User Testing

User testing was expanded to additional tasks. Key pain points were identified.

  • Opened topic link in new tab preventing user from using “back” button on browser
  • Information overload for navigation menu, hard to figure out where to find information
  • Confusing to navigate menu and the “How Do I?” and “Get Involved” topics were too vague
  • Overall very cluttered information and often topics overlapped or shown twice

These testing results were used to annotate usability and heuristic issues for the site.

"This site is kind of a mess... t's like a giant spider web..."

Priority Matrix

This tool helped me determine what to focus on.

  • Hard to find menu items
  • Sub-topics not clear
  • Poor organization
  • Hard to keep track of where user is on page

The Solution

Mood Board

This tool helped me determine what to focus on.

Mood board focuses on creating more visual distinction in the navigation menu while maintaining the agency's identity.

Invision Link

Usability and Heuristic Analysis

Testing results were used to annotate usability and heuristic issues for the site.

Many of the sub-sites within DHS.gov caused confusion among users because the navigation completely changes. These pages should be integrated into the main navigation.

Card Sorting

Based on user feedback that navigation menu categories were not easy to understand, card sorting was used to evaluate logical categories.

Figma Link

Site Map

Created a new sitemap based on the card sorting.

Figma Link

Wireframing

Wireframes created for the homepage using mobile first and atomic design thinking.

Prototyping

Style Guide

I expanding the visual style to be used on the site and applied it to the wireframes to create prototypes.

Mobile Prototype

Figma Link

Web Prototype

Figma Link

Conclusion

What I Learned

Organizing information using content chunking is not the easiest thing to do. Approaching the problem from the perspective of the typical user helps, but doesn't solve the problem.

Overview
Research
Definition
Ideation
Prototyping
Testing
Conclusion

Rescue Cats:

Non-Profit Responsive Web Design

Summary

Working as a team of five dedicated individuals we were tasked with redesigning an existing website, focusing on implementing mobile-first principles. We followed a comprehensive UX/UI design process, including stages such as research, definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and iteration. Our goal was to create an intuitive and user-friendly website for Rescue Cats, a real non-profit organization dedicated to saving and adopting cats.

To facilitate our design process and collaboration, we utilized various tools, including: Figma, Miro, Google Suite, and Adobe Illustrator

Research

Empathize

We began by empathizing with Rescue Cats' target audience and conducted extensive research to understand their needs and pain points. Through interviews and initial usability tests, we identified crucial insights. Users expressed difficulty in navigating the website due to jumbled information and outdated navigation features. One of our user personas, Susan, exemplified the need for an improved adoption process to find a rescue pet for her family.

Definition

User Centered Design

Based on our research findings, we developed a problem statement that addressed the issues faced by Rescue Cats. We observed that the website lacked a user-friendly navigation system, leading users to seek other non-profit organizations. Our aim was to enhance Rescue Cats' website, making it easier for individuals interested in no-kill shelters to adopt owner-released and homeless cats.

Ideation

Wireframes and Lo-Fi

During the ideation phase, we brainstormed ideas and generated wireframe sketches to visualize potential solutions. Taking user insights into account, we created low-fidelity prototypes to refine our concepts further. User flows and responsive design iterations were also developed to ensure a seamless experience across web and mobile platforms.

Prototyping

Summary

Moving forward, we transformed our wireframes into mid-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes. These interactive prototypes allowed us to evaluate the user experience more effectively. Additionally, we created a UI style tile to establish a cohesive visual identity for the website.

Testing

User Testing

To validate our design decisions, we conducted extensive testing with target users. We focused on areas such as filtering, navigation, and page indicators. The feedback and insights gained from these tests enabled us to iterate and refine our designs, ensuring optimal usability and satisfaction.

Conclusion

What I Learned

Through our collaborative efforts and adherence to the UX/UI design process, we successfully redesigned Rescue Cats' website, addressing the initial pain points and enhancing the overall user experience. Our goal of streamlining the adoption process and prioritizing information on pet care has the potential to increase site traffic and donations, ultimately contributing to the organization's mission of saving rescue cats.

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