I was the kid who grew up playing LEGOs instead of with action figures. I've always been driven to build and create to see an idea come to fruition. This passion led me to become a designer. I've been designing for the web & tech since the mid-90s. I've spent nearly two decades in full-time positions.

I am aggressive toward keeping up with the latest technologies and trends. I regularly attend conferences. I finished a Master's program in Internet Marketing, with a focus on UX. I pursued the PMI-ACP (Agile) certification. My goal with my current studies is to learn the business better and improve my communication with stakeholders.

My passion for the web is so dedicated that I maintain several hobby websites on the side. One of my sites attracts nearly 5,000 unique visitors a day and has around 40,000 followers on social media.

My Process

I'm going to explain my process using the steps of Design Thinking.

❤️ Emphathize
I facilitate user or stakeholder interviews. I excel at empathy and anticipating the user’s pain points, which guides me toward asking the right questions. I'm very organized and take detailed notes.

🔍 Define
With the research and interviews in hand, I digest all the information and define the business, user, and technical requirements. Depending on the scale and importance of the project, I might do this in my own documentation or as a team effort with a Product Manager to put together formal documentation. With every project, I define user flows, create journey maps, write user stories, and use other methods of planning.

💡 Ideate
In other words, how do I come up with good ideas for my projects? Storyboarding, sketching, and other brainstorming activities between myself or with a team are essential for ironing out the project's direction and coming up with innovative ideas. I also research Google. I read up on UX articles on the given topic to learn about best practices (UX Collective's blog is my favorite). I explore image search and various design inspiration galleries. I’ll often go back to my research and break down an area to refine my ideas. I want to ensure that I do everything with purpose.

🔨 Prototype
My finished designs are presented in collaboration platforms such as Figma, Sketch Cloud, or InVision. I always stitch together my designs for a click-through prototype. When it comes to developer handoff, I have a detailed prototype and thorough documentation ready for the developers. My designs consist of instance screens and sometimes animations to make direction as clear as possible.

☑️ Test
As the developers implement my designs, I oversee their progress and QA their work to ensure that development matches the designs as intended.

🚀 Implement
The final Implementation of the product is never the end of the journey for me. As an in-house designer, I always maintain the products I design. New features are always being requested.

My professional values

🗒️ Always have a plan
Even for something small, it's essential to always have a plan. A good plan is backed by solid research, requirements, and thorough documentation. A good plan puts meaning behind every decision. It acts as the source of truth that can help resolve any conflicts or indecisions.

⛓️ Always be consistent
Whether internally with co-workers or externally with clients, work must always be consistent. From the messaging and intent to the presentation. Without consistency, the experience breaks, and as a result, the message gets lost. Consistency plays a major role in helping a user understand an application. Consistency makes a project clear to engineering when they receive the designs for implementation.

⭐️ Embrace change
Working in technology, embracing change is a necessity. The way we use technology is constantly evolving. It's important to stay ahead of the game and embrace the new. I understand it's not always easy to do if we've grown comfortable with the old ways.

💡 There's always a solution
You'll never see me panic and stress out over a problem or situation. There's always a solution. Do you like tea? I'll brew us some. Let's relax and talk about the challenge before us.

My personal values

🤗 Get out of the comfort zone
Life is short. You can't experience new flavors eating the same food all the time. You can't experience new people and cultures traveling to the places you've already been to. You'll never know if there are better tools/apps/solutions out there if you only want to use the tools you're comfortable with. I always make an effort to try new things and embrace the unknown. Learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable opened up exciting new experiences for me or better ways to achieve my goals.

❤️ Empathy is everything
With our work, our professionalism, and our personal lives, I believe practicing emotional intelligence is the path to happiness and success. It's not easy - empathy can be a daily struggle. When we understand what others are experiencing as if we were feeling it ourselves, it brings us closer to what we're looking for.

🐶 Pets are a blessing
Nothing beats coming home to a dog or cat happy to see you and wanting rubs.

My work

I've selected a few of my projects that I'd like to share with you.

Explore My Portfolio

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