I’m a Product Designer, a knowledge-seeker, and an observer. You know when brands include easter egg messages in their product packaging? I’m their audience.
My education in interior design provided the foundation for thoughtful, sustainable design and a fascination with psychology-based design, and my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania was monumental in shaping my professional values.
Spending two years living in a country surrounded by communist-era structures was an eye-opening experience. It gave me a sensitivity to the relationship between the built environment and the overall health and happiness of its user as few experiences could do. That realization was the first step towards a career in user-centered design and a drive to use design to contribute in meaningful ways.
For me, design is that intersection between art and expression, purpose and utility, vision and transformation.
I bring the same thirst for knowledge and growth to my other interests in photography, travel, climbing and hiking. I’ve always got at least three books going at once and I host an annual LOTR marathon which I’ve been doing for more than 15 years.
Branding
User Interface Design
Desirability Testing & Analysis
High Fidelity Design
Responsive Design
Design Systems
Style Guides
Animations
Accessible Design
Sketch
Figma
InVision
InVision Studio
InVision DSM
ZeroHeight
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Premiere Pro
Keynote
Site Maps
Microsoft Office Suite
Hive
Trello
Principle
ProtoPie
Adobe AfterEffects
Webflow! This is my first website built using Webflow, so I've learned a lot in a month, and I'm enjoying the process of evolution as I continue to learn new skills to update and refine the site
I'm always tooling around with something new, and I know my way around a a Goole search and a YouTube tutorial ;)
Research
Competitive Analysis
Ideation
Usability Testing & Analysis
Surveys
Site Maps
User Personas
Affinity Diagrams
Wireframing
Low & Mid-Fidelity Prototypes
A collection of disparate things that spark joy for me (bless Marie Kondo for giving us a term for this)
What I may lack in paper experience, I make up for in a range of well-developed skills and experience that allow me to learn quickly, work agilely and innovatively. As an early career designer I bring curiosity, eagerness and a can-do attitude to the table, and as a career-shift professional, I bring maturity, honed critical thinking skills and a wealth of transferable skills gained from my diverse work experience. Each role I've had has taught me skills or knowledge that make me a better product designer.
At INVNT, I learned how to work in a small, fast-paced environment that required role flexibility from everyone. I often found myself in situations where I was asked to fill a role or complete a task in which I had no experience. I welcomed the opportunity to learn something new and picked up a lot of skills on the fly (teaching myself programs along the way).
I worked with every team and department along with project stakeholders which required diplomacy, situational awareness and excellent communication skills. My position in the company also provided the unique opportunity to learn and understand what goes on under the hood in running a business, learning things about what makes a profitable margin, paying attention to the out costs to find opportunities for streamlining for efficiency and cost reduction, and learning to balance the needs of the business with the needs of the customer.
At cleverbridge, I honed my empathic listening skills – there's really no better substitute for learning how to be a user-first empath than spending your days listening to users vent their frustrations, express their confusions and celebrate their excitement. It was also an introduction into the world of e-commerce and payment processing platforms and gave me exposure to the considerations that accompany the checkout page (security, billing, client sales, platform management and even the importance of clarity in communication).
My experience in the Peace Corps taught me the value of being connected to a community and getting involved on a hands-on level. It was also my first informal training in the importance of user-centered design as my projects needed community buy-in if they were to succeed. Additionally, it sharpened my desire to contribute in meaningful ways to companies and organizations that have social impact.
