Designer 2
Microsoft
Modern Work Customer Co-Innovation team
July 2021 – Present
• Actively participate and often lead in brainstorming and ideation sessions with customers, including in scenario creation
• Convert output from brainstorming and ideation sessions into workable wireframes, concept designs, user flows, and prototypes
• Leverage and balance business principles, stakeholders and user research while delivering customer-centered design solutions
• Actively and quickly build domain knowledge to improve the impact and quality of designs
• Build storytelling videos, decks, websites, and newsletters for internal teams and customers
• Utilize principle-based interaction design to generate and refine core concepts, interactions, and information design
• Establish strong relationships with colleagues and partners, bringing them into the creative process and demonstrate the effectiveness and importance of good design
Lead UX Designer
Microsoft via Allovus
Modern Work Customer Co-Innovation team
January 2021 – July 2021
• Coordinate and lead solution design efforts for Modern Work Customer Co-Innovation projects, working directly with Fortune 500 customers
• Participate in ideation and brainstorming sessions that include any or all of the following outputs: User journey maps; scenarios; concept ideas (documentation)
• Create user experience design for proof of concepts, including: End-to-end scenario creation (features); Figma designs ready for engineering collaboration/integration
• Present concepts, designs and ideas, including: Creation of PPTX proposal and design decks for review with senior team leadership; collaboration with engineering and internal reviews
• Create design prototypes, including: Delivery of work to illustrate a proposal; delivery of prototypes on proof of concepts for user research and testing
• Coordinate directly with development team in daily scrum meetings and regular build reviews, assisting with product QA, and general assistance during builds• Helped solve complex design problems in simple and intuitive ways, that blended together brand personality and visuals to create delightful experiences.
• Created design solutions based on user research data and user goals.
• Produced design visualizations to help everyone understand what the best experience should be: storyboards, flows, wireframes, prototypes, and vision pieces.
• Worked closely and constructively with product management, editors, engineers and user researchers to iterate and deliver flawlessly.
• Advocated for my design solutions by putting them in context of business and user goals.
UX Designer
Microsoft via Allovus
Microsoft Research: Foundry 99 UX team
June 2019 – Sept 2020
• Helped solve complex design problems in simple and intuitive ways, that blended together brand personality and visuals to create delightful experiences.
• Created design solutions based on user research data and user goals.
• Produced design visualizations to help everyone understand what the best experience should be: storyboards, flows, wireframes, prototypes, and vision pieces.
• Worked closely and constructively with product management, editors, engineers and user researchers to iterate and deliver flawlessly.
• Advocated for my design solutions by putting them in context of business and user goals.
UX Designer
Sears Home Services
User Experience team
June 2017 – November 2018
• Designed and implemented end-to-end user experiences for searshomeservices.com—which partners with Parts Direct, Service Live, Sears Clean franchises, Sears Home Warranty, Kenmore, and Sears Commercial—to create multi-channel product experiences.
• Partnered with executives, researchers, program managers, and dev team to integrate Sears Home Warranty with Sears Home Service's website. Home Warranty unique page views increased by almost 43% after launch.
• Designed iOS experiences to improve technician task efficiency and reduce phone calls.
• Updated ad hoc personas to showcase current and future customer base.
• Conducted user research via focus groups and usertesting.com
Graphic Designer
Multiple companies
via Creative Circle / via The Creative Group / Seattle Weekly / United States Navy
May 2005 – June 2017
• Lead graphic designer for Sears Home Services (SHS) marketing team—which included SHS, Home Warranty, Home Improvement, and Commercial business units
• Rebranded technical manuals, marketing materials, and product photography from Motorola products to Zebra Technologies
• Managed 3 graphic designers at Seattle Weekly for weekly editorial layouts, print advertising, and web marketing campaigns from concept to publication throughout the Puget Sound region and surrounding areas
• Facilitated weekly meetings between creative, editorial, and sales teams
• Designed Seattle Weekly's 2013 Voracious Tasting & Food Awards marketing campaign which included: 12 weeks of print ads (circulation of 65,000 issues each week to over 2,000 distribution sites); a web campaign that was viewed more than 2.5 million times per month which reached more than 24,700 email promotions subscribers and 37,000 Facebook and Twitter fans
• Designed the 2010-2011 cruise book for the Abraham Lincoln Strike Group (total of 352 pages and distributed to 6,000+ Sailors and family)
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
Western Carolina University
Graduated 2005
Mass Communication Specialist
Defense Information School
Graduated 2007
Awards
6 patent awards
Microsoft
2021-2022
Best Microsoft Core Values
Microsoft // D+G Fix. Hack. Learn
Spring 2022
3 DoD VIAP awards
Department of Defense
2010
Software knowledge
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Sketch
Microsoft Office 365
Miro
Camtasia
UserTesting.com
& more