About Me
I am an accomplished UX Design Lead with over 20 years of digital design experience, based in Seattle, WA.
My drive for design excellence comes from my innate empathy and passion for making things. This, and my talent for understanding complex systems, led me to a career in user experience design, where I found my passion for humanity-centered design, as defined by Donald Norman:
Focus on people
Solve the right problem
Everything is a system
Do iterative work and continually improve
Expertise
User Experience Design
Designing engaging digital user experiences through strategic vision and cross-functional collaboration that enhance user satisfaction and meet business objectives.
Systems Design
Distilling sophisticated concepts into approachable experience frameworks that align with business objectives and user needs, enhancing the user experience.
UX Vision and Strategy
Collaborating with multi-functional teams to translate business and user needs into user-friendly solutions, define requirements, and design innovative systems that meet the needs of the users.
Design Leadership and Process
Crafting and adapting design processes for complex projects in a rapidly evolving environment.
Coaching designers, inspiring innovation, collaboration and excellence.
Idea Generation and Concept Development
Facilitate collaborative sessions and employ creative techniques to generate a diverse range of innovative ideas and concepts, addressing user needs and business opportunities.
Work closely with users to understand their needs, and deliver the core concepts or a point of view for a feature.
Visualizing Ideas
Thoughtfully creating wireframes, prototypes, flows, mapping, and other design techniques needed to assist in crafting sound features and products that address user-centered needs and behaviors.
Advocating for users and efficacy
Act as the voice of the user in the design process, ensuring that final products are efficacious, useful, usable, and desirable for everyday users.
Collaboration
Human-centered Design
Leading with Empathy
Planning and Process
Attention to Detail
Striving for Design Excellence
Finding Joy in the Process
Values
Work Experience
Elva — UX Design Director
6+ YEARS • MAY 2018 - AUG 2024
LiveArea (acquired by Merkle) — Senior UX Designer
5 YEARS • JUNE 2013 - AUG 2018
Spiral 9, Inc. — Senior UX/UI Designer
2+ YEARS • JAN 2009 - APR 2011
Smashing Ideas (acquired by Luxoft) — Senior Interactive Designer
3.5 YEARS • MAY 2005 - DEC 2008
Education & Training
Nielsen Norman Group, Online
UX Manager Courses
School of Visual Concepts, Seattle, WA
User Experience Design Courses
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
BA, Graphic Design