portfolio

Extensive depth and breadth of work, industries, and company sizes.

Q

ServiceNow Portals Consolidation

International manufacturer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Phase 1: Design a unified portal from separate portal instances and with consideration for onboarding additional business units into the platform over time.

Phase 2: Audit & redesign 600+ service forms with usability best practices and create design standards.

Throughout: Various creative explorations.

Audit of existing portal design and taxonomy
UX design of unified portal
Improved Information Architecture
Redesign of all service forms, including process improvements
Established design anatomy and UX standards for new forms
UX guidance and advocacy

Impact

Despite the fact that discovery was not possible until after launch, my design and IA recommendations were proven to be spot on to user needs.
Gratitude from dev teams and stakeholders for the improvements I made and the ongoing UX guidance I provided.

"You know so much about user experience.'

Challenges

Discovery not possible at project onset

Was brought on to the project shortly before launch and told there was no time for discovery. Thankfully, I'm highly skilled at walking in the shoes of users.

No prior data governance

The taxonomy was a mess...poor organization, items incorrectly categorized, lots of duplication. I overhauled it.

Low UX maturity in the organization

I continuously provided guidance, educating management, stakeholders, and developers.

ServiceNow UX flaws and limitations

The platform has flaws and limitations that prevent a pristine user experience without extensive and costly customization. which was not possible for this project. I pushed the limits as much as possible and created design guidelines to to minimize the issues.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Prototype - Home page

Prototype - filterable My Tickets page

Prototype - filterable Favorites page

Prototype - filterable Search Results page

Content strategy creative exploration

Audit & revision directives



ServiceNow Portals Consolidation

International manufacturer

Impact

Despite the fact that discovery was not possible until after launch, my design and IA recommendations were proven to be spot on to user needs.

Details

Q

ServiceNow Portals Consolidation

International manufacturer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Phase 1: Design a unified portal from separate portal instances and with consideration for onboarding additional business units into the platform over time.

Phase 2: Audit & redesign 600+ service forms with usability best practices and create design standards.

Throughout: Various creative explorations.

Audit of existing portal design and taxonomy
UX design of unified portal
Improved Information Architecture
Redesign of all service forms, including process improvements
Established design anatomy and UX standards for new forms
UX guidance and advocacy

Impact

Despite the fact that discovery was not possible until after launch, my design and IA recommendations were proven to be spot on to user needs.
Gratitude from dev teams and stakeholders for the improvements I made and the ongoing UX guidance I provided.

"You know so much about user experience.'

Challenges

Discovery not possible at project onset

Was brought on to the project shortly before launch and told there was no time for discovery. Thankfully, I'm highly skilled at walking in the shoes of users.

No prior data governance

The taxonomy was a mess...poor organization, items incorrectly categorized, lots of duplication. I overhauled it.

Low UX maturity in the organization

I continuously provided guidance, educating management, stakeholders, and developers.

ServiceNow UX flaws and limitations

The platform has flaws and limitations that prevent a pristine user experience without extensive and costly customization. which was not possible for this project. I pushed the limits as much as possible and created design guidelines to to minimize the issues.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Prototype - Home page

Prototype - filterable My Tickets page

Prototype - filterable Favorites page

Prototype - filterable Search Results page

Content strategy creative exploration

Audit & revision directives

Q

Local Marketing Automation SaaS Platform

Late stage SaaS startup

Project Brief & Deliverables

This amazing, complex product is magical from a functional standpoint. But the interfaces were a disaster. I was tasked to improve each feature on our ever-expanding roadmap.

Audit every feature set prior to redesign
Research / Discovery
Improved process flows
Improved Information Architecture
Content Strategy
UX Design and Guidance
"Lunch n Learn" presentation educating the company about Information Architecture

Impact

Client stakeholders were exceedingly happy with each feature's redesign.
Fostered a great, collaborative relationship with the Customer Success team (for obtaining customer insights.)

Unsolicited Recommendation

Challenges

Complex platform with many nuances and dependencies.

I love this type of environment. I delved into the weeds and all the gnarly bits for every feature.

No direct access to users

We were contractually forbidden to contact end users of the platform. I used our Customer Success team to garner user insights. Not only was this successful for that purpose, I became a trusted resource for them to vet ideas.

Fragile code base and lmited dev resources

The devs were afraid to touch the fragile code base so I was not allowed to improve anything on the primary interface except elements that were directly related to the feature being improved. Everything else was considered "future phase", despite its desperate need for improvement. I incorporated small improvements whenever possible.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Design close-up

Concept model intro to wireframes

Wireframe sample

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Marketing Automation Platform

Late stage SaaS startup

Impact

“She led the transformation of our enterprise SaaS platform, optimizing the user experience for different personas…designed workflows that created efficiencies for our end-users and simplified experiences end to end”

Details

Q

Local Marketing Automation SaaS Platform

Late stage SaaS startup

Project Brief & Deliverables

This amazing, complex product is magical from a functional standpoint. But the interfaces were a disaster. I was tasked to improve each feature on our ever-expanding roadmap.

Audit every feature set prior to redesign
Research / Discovery
Improved process flows
Improved Information Architecture
Content Strategy
UX Design and Guidance
"Lunch n Learn" presentation educating the company about Information Architecture

Impact

Client stakeholders were exceedingly happy with each feature's redesign.
Fostered a great, collaborative relationship with the Customer Success team (for obtaining customer insights.)

Unsolicited Recommendation

Challenges

Complex platform with many nuances and dependencies.

I love this type of environment. I delved into the weeds and all the gnarly bits for every feature.

No direct access to users

We were contractually forbidden to contact end users of the platform. I used our Customer Success team to garner user insights. Not only was this successful for that purpose, I became a trusted resource for them to vet ideas.

Fragile code base and lmited dev resources

The devs were afraid to touch the fragile code base so I was not allowed to improve anything on the primary interface except elements that were directly related to the feature being improved. Everything else was considered "future phase", despite its desperate need for improvement. I incorporated small improvements whenever possible.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Design close-up

Concept model intro to wireframes

Wireframe sample

Q

Platform Design Overhaul

Large Fintech company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Overhaul decades of differently designed screens in a multitude of sub portals to make all design elements and similar screens consistent, using the client's newly created design system.

Discovery sessions
UX Audits (100+ screens)
Prototypes
Analysis of a multitude of dependencies that were not known by project champion
Manage junior practitioners

IMPACT

Discovered many screens unknown to project champion
Established a great rapport with stakeholders
Successfully redesigned all screens to client's satisfaction despite significant challenges throughout the project
Identified and improved various flaws in the design system.

“This project would be a smoldering crater in the ground if not for you”
- CX Consulting Practice Director

“Thank you so much for everything you've taught me. ”
- Junior UX Practitioner

Unsolicited Recommendation

Challenges

Flawed design system

I found various usability and functionality issues with the system and employed delicate encouragement to remedy them.

Highly regulated industry

We were prohibited to record any meeting, even discovery sessions, which made all the work extremely difficult. I found various workarounds to prevent this issue from impacting the project.

Project scope severely underestimated

The client project champion's due diligence did not uncover the level of depth and nuance involved. She estimated there would be 7-9 screens per use case. I found 24 in the very first use case and worked significant overtime to keep the project plan on track.

Inaccessible Interfaces

We were unable to accesss one of the critical systems. The only way to see the interfaces was via teams meetings AND we couldn't record them. I took as many screen captures as I could to enable us to make revisions

Samples

Regulated Industry...unable to show any visuals so...let's chat.



Ecosystem Design Overhaul

Large Fintech company

Impact

“This project would be a smoldering crater in the ground if not for you”

Details

Q

Platform Design Overhaul

Large Fintech company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Overhaul decades of differently designed screens in a multitude of sub portals to make all design elements and similar screens consistent, using the client's newly created design system.

Discovery sessions
UX Audits (100+ screens)
Prototypes
Analysis of a multitude of dependencies that were not known by project champion
Manage junior practitioners

IMPACT

Discovered many screens unknown to project champion
Established a great rapport with stakeholders
Successfully redesigned all screens to client's satisfaction despite significant challenges throughout the project
Identified and improved various flaws in the design system.

“This project would be a smoldering crater in the ground if not for you”
- CX Consulting Practice Director

“Thank you so much for everything you've taught me. ”
- Junior UX Practitioner

Unsolicited Recommendation

Challenges

Flawed design system

I found various usability and functionality issues with the system and employed delicate encouragement to remedy them.

Highly regulated industry

We were prohibited to record any meeting, even discovery sessions, which made all the work extremely difficult. I found various workarounds to prevent this issue from impacting the project.

Project scope severely underestimated

The client project champion's due diligence did not uncover the level of depth and nuance involved. She estimated there would be 7-9 screens per use case. I found 24 in the very first use case and worked significant overtime to keep the project plan on track.

Inaccessible Interfaces

We were unable to accesss one of the critical systems. The only way to see the interfaces was via teams meetings AND we couldn't record them. I took as many screen captures as I could to enable us to make revisions

Samples

Regulated Industry...unable to show any visuals so...let's chat.

Q

Extensive Competitive Analysis

Technology merger

Project Brief & Deliverables

The agency’s client had recently merged with several companies in the same space and was trying to figure out how best to market the newly formed company and position itself against large, established, and well-known, competitors.

I was tasked with doing an in-depth competitive analysis, concentrating on several key topic areas.

I thoroughly reviewed each competitor site, hunted for the applicable information, and summarized how the competitors organized and presented their site content for each topic area.

Additionally within each topic area, I provided guidance for how the client should handle it on the new site.

Extensive Competitive Analysis
Information Architecture Guidance
Content Strategy

Impact

Agency client was thrilled, and apparently so was the client company

“The research work you did was excellent. I’m not saying that because the client appreciated it; I’m saying that because it was smart and useful information.

Thank you for distilling it down into useful summaries and actionable intelligence we can use for a better, smarter, more intuitive user experience.”

Challenges

Extensive ask

Research such as this doesn't generally carry specific challenges but there was an enormous amount of information to review, evaluate, corral, and distill.

A balancing act...

...to provide details where necessary, but easily digestible and meaningful insights elsewhere.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Summary analysis

Topic analysis sample



Deep Competitive Analysis

Technology merger

Impact

“…thank you for distilling it down into useful summaries and actionable intelligence we can use for a better, smarter, more intuitive user experience.”

Details

Q

Extensive Competitive Analysis

Technology merger

Project Brief & Deliverables

The agency’s client had recently merged with several companies in the same space and was trying to figure out how best to market the newly formed company and position itself against large, established, and well-known, competitors.

I was tasked with doing an in-depth competitive analysis, concentrating on several key topic areas.

I thoroughly reviewed each competitor site, hunted for the applicable information, and summarized how the competitors organized and presented their site content for each topic area.

Additionally within each topic area, I provided guidance for how the client should handle it on the new site.

Extensive Competitive Analysis
Information Architecture Guidance
Content Strategy

Impact

Agency client was thrilled, and apparently so was the client company

“The research work you did was excellent. I’m not saying that because the client appreciated it; I’m saying that because it was smart and useful information.

Thank you for distilling it down into useful summaries and actionable intelligence we can use for a better, smarter, more intuitive user experience.”

Challenges

Extensive ask

Research such as this doesn't generally carry specific challenges but there was an enormous amount of information to review, evaluate, corral, and distill.

A balancing act...

...to provide details where necessary, but easily digestible and meaningful insights elsewhere.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Summary analysis

Topic analysis sample

Q

Service Design Pilot & Evolution

Non-profit

Project Brief & Deliverables

The client wanted to launch a video coaching program to provide tech savviness to the mentally challenged.

The task was to create the service design for both the pilot program (which would be highly manual) and the V1 state (for which they'd build a digital platform).

Service process flows for both Alpha & V1 states
- Applications, Matching & Scheduling
- Session & Post Session
- QA Activities
- Exceptions (drop outs, cancellations, reschedules)
Guidance

Impact

Delighted client, excited to launch the program.

“I wish we could keep you for launch and throughout the evolution.”

Challenges

I love complexity and lots of gnarly bits. But to give some visibility into the challenge of pulling this all together...

5 Personas...

...with completely different needs, plus multiple use cases for each (client, coach, matcher, admin, QA)

6 Touch points...

...to smoothly integrate (emails, web pages, google forms, spreadsheets, calendar tools, alert messages, video coaching platform, survey tool)

9 Primary rocesses...

...to smoothly coordinate:

coach onboarding
announcement
client onboarding
client application
matching activities
engagement confirmation
scheduling
coaching session
post-session surveys, and QA activities

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Service flow - Application, Matching + Scheduling

Service flow - Session + Post Session



Service Design Pilot & Evolution

Non-profit

Impact

“I wish we could keep you for launch and throughout the evolution.”

Details

Q

Service Design Pilot & Evolution

Non-profit

Project Brief & Deliverables

The client wanted to launch a video coaching program to provide tech savviness to the mentally challenged.

The task was to create the service design for both the pilot program (which would be highly manual) and the V1 state (for which they'd build a digital platform).

Service process flows for both Alpha & V1 states
- Applications, Matching & Scheduling
- Session & Post Session
- QA Activities
- Exceptions (drop outs, cancellations, reschedules)
Guidance

Impact

Delighted client, excited to launch the program.

“I wish we could keep you for launch and throughout the evolution.”

Challenges

I love complexity and lots of gnarly bits. But to give some visibility into the challenge of pulling this all together...

5 Personas...

...with completely different needs, plus multiple use cases for each (client, coach, matcher, admin, QA)

6 Touch points...

...to smoothly integrate (emails, web pages, google forms, spreadsheets, calendar tools, alert messages, video coaching platform, survey tool)

9 Primary rocesses...

...to smoothly coordinate:

coach onboarding
announcement
client onboarding
client application
matching activities
engagement confirmation
scheduling
coaching session
post-session surveys, and QA activities

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Service flow - Application, Matching + Scheduling

Service flow - Session + Post Session

Q

Project Collaboration App

Recruiting company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a simple mobile app to facilitate collaboration on projects, including task status and completion, and centered around a calendar framework.

UX Design
Information Architecture
Strategy for features and future state

Impact

I landed the gig!

“No one else has put this much effort into this.”

Challenges

Tight timeframe

I worked extra hours on my own time.

Balancing...

...the need for simplicity and super easy collaboration aspects with the need for valuable features.

Samples

Design close-up

Wireframe sample

App structure

Wireframe sample

Future state recommendation



Project Collaboration App

Recruiting company

Impact

“No one else has put this much effort into this.”

Details

Q

Project Collaboration App

Recruiting company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a simple mobile app to facilitate collaboration on projects, including task status and completion, and centered around a calendar framework.

UX Design
Information Architecture
Strategy for features and future state

Impact

I landed the gig!

“No one else has put this much effort into this.”

Challenges

Tight timeframe

I worked extra hours on my own time.

Balancing...

...the need for simplicity and super easy collaboration aspects with the need for valuable features.

Samples

Design close-up

Wireframe sample

App structure

Wireframe sample

Future state recommendation

Q

Emergency IA Consultation

Pharma company

Project Brief & Deliverables

A former client called me in a panic one Friday evening, begging me to be on-site with their client first thing Monday morning, regarding a project with which I had NOT been involved.

Another agency had been brought on to the project for a specific purpose but was imposing an uninformed information architecture.

My client agency said it needed my expertise to refine “our IA” and defend it to the client.

I worked late into the night on the site map and related guidance, presented it in the meeting, and explained why it was the better approach.

Information Architecture
Expert guidance regarding IA principles
Lead the client meeting

Impact

The end client was extremely pleased, not only for the IA itself but for the expertise and guidance I imparted.
My agency client proclaimed that they were forever in my debt.

“This puts us in very good shape to describe and defend our vision of the site structure.”

“Awesome meeting today guys. Rich P very impressed. Thanks to all for the long weekend work.”

Challenges

No familiarity with the project

Emergency request to jump into the project at the 11th hour.

Almost impossible turnaround time

There were less than 2 days to get familiar with the project and prepare the deliverables.

Location

The end client is located in NJ and I live on Long Island (NY). Commuting Monday morning would not have enabled me to be there on time. My agency client said it would do anything to facilitate my “critical” presence in the meeting. As such, it paid for a hotel for me on Sunday night.

Severe weather

Battled a raging snowstorm on the drive which almost prevented me from getting there.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Site map - high level



Emergency IA Consultation

Pharma company

Impact

“This puts us in very good shape to describe and defend our vision of the site structure.”

“Awesome meeting today guys. Rich P very impressed. Thanks to all for the long weekend work.”

Details

Q

Emergency IA Consultation

Pharma company

Project Brief & Deliverables

A former client called me in a panic one Friday evening, begging me to be on-site with their client first thing Monday morning, regarding a project with which I had NOT been involved.

Another agency had been brought on to the project for a specific purpose but was imposing an uninformed information architecture.

My client agency said it needed my expertise to refine “our IA” and defend it to the client.

I worked late into the night on the site map and related guidance, presented it in the meeting, and explained why it was the better approach.

Information Architecture
Expert guidance regarding IA principles
Lead the client meeting

Impact

The end client was extremely pleased, not only for the IA itself but for the expertise and guidance I imparted.
My agency client proclaimed that they were forever in my debt.

“This puts us in very good shape to describe and defend our vision of the site structure.”

“Awesome meeting today guys. Rich P very impressed. Thanks to all for the long weekend work.”

Challenges

No familiarity with the project

Emergency request to jump into the project at the 11th hour.

Almost impossible turnaround time

There were less than 2 days to get familiar with the project and prepare the deliverables.

Location

The end client is located in NJ and I live on Long Island (NY). Commuting Monday morning would not have enabled me to be there on time. My agency client said it would do anything to facilitate my “critical” presence in the meeting. As such, it paid for a hotel for me on Sunday night.

Severe weather

Battled a raging snowstorm on the drive which almost prevented me from getting there.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Site map - high level

Q

Payments & Gifting Ecosystem

Early stage start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a phone app and tablet experiences for “social gifting” and payments, serving customers, pushing promotions, and management reporting.

The App: Order, send drinks (“Goodies”) and pay the tab.

The Service Interfaces: See who’s ordered what, who’s sent Goodies to whom, serve the drinks. automatically collect digital payment.

The Merchant (Owner) Interfaces: Send promos to loyal customers, direct messaging to customers about special events, analyze sales.

UX Design (iPhone wireframes)
UX Design (iPad wireframes)
Process Flows (various)
Industry guidance

Impact

Extremely happy client.
Successful product launch.

”Using HouseTab has made my life easier, especially when we are busy. It has significantly reduced the time I spend checking out customers, and I have also seen my tips increase to approx. 20%”
– Bartender

“Customers have been actively engaging with other users on the network and sending drinks to one another. At the end of the day, it means that HouseTab is increasing my sales and driving new customers in the door.”
– Merchant

Challenges

Lofty vision meets reality

The client didn’t realize the volume of screens needed for such transactional interfaces. I educated them on the process steps and other nuances that were needed.

Significant mental model consideration

The gifting aspect needed to mimic the real world actions of ordering rounds of drinks at a bar, as well as, gifting drinks to people you don't know. It’s more complex than meets the eye.

Critical context

The server interface needed to consider the frenzied nature of a crowded establishment, as well as, low light conditions, so that it did not slow down the service to customers.

Samples

Consumer App – design sample

Bartender Interface – design sample

Consumer App – design sample

Merchant Interface – design sample



Payments & Gifting Ecosystem

Early stage start-up

Impact

”Using HouseTab has made my life easier, especially when we are busy. It has significantly reduced the time I spend checking out customers, and I have also seen my tips increase to approx. 20%”

Details

Q

Payments & Gifting Ecosystem

Early stage start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a phone app and tablet experiences for “social gifting” and payments, serving customers, pushing promotions, and management reporting.

The App: Order, send drinks (“Goodies”) and pay the tab.

The Service Interfaces: See who’s ordered what, who’s sent Goodies to whom, serve the drinks. automatically collect digital payment.

The Merchant (Owner) Interfaces: Send promos to loyal customers, direct messaging to customers about special events, analyze sales.

UX Design (iPhone wireframes)
UX Design (iPad wireframes)
Process Flows (various)
Industry guidance

Impact

Extremely happy client.
Successful product launch.

”Using HouseTab has made my life easier, especially when we are busy. It has significantly reduced the time I spend checking out customers, and I have also seen my tips increase to approx. 20%”
– Bartender

“Customers have been actively engaging with other users on the network and sending drinks to one another. At the end of the day, it means that HouseTab is increasing my sales and driving new customers in the door.”
– Merchant

Challenges

Lofty vision meets reality

The client didn’t realize the volume of screens needed for such transactional interfaces. I educated them on the process steps and other nuances that were needed.

Significant mental model consideration

The gifting aspect needed to mimic the real world actions of ordering rounds of drinks at a bar, as well as, gifting drinks to people you don't know. It’s more complex than meets the eye.

Critical context

The server interface needed to consider the frenzied nature of a crowded establishment, as well as, low light conditions, so that it did not slow down the service to customers.

Samples

Consumer App – design sample

Bartender Interface – design sample

Consumer App – design sample

Merchant Interface – design sample

Q

Marketing Automation Platform

Late stage SaaS start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Audit the existing interfaces for a marketing campaign creation and asset management platform.

UX Audit
Guidance

Impact

All stakeholders were extremely pleased with the deliverable.
- For some it was eye-opening regarding the many aspects of the platform that were impeding users.
- For their in-house designer and customer success team, however, it was invaluable. It vetted everything they had been vying for internally. Their recommendations hadn’t been being heard but now had a voice.
Approximately 1 year later they hired me as the UX Architect for the entire platform

“Your feedback on our user experience has already lead to a lot of positive discussions for us.”

“I thought the report was great by the way. Nice job!” - CEO

Challenges

Platform not uniform - auditing challenge

Each of the platform’s clients had different instances of the software...not just for styling...structurally and functionally as well.

As such, my audit required looking at multiple instances and pulling the findings together into a single, cohesive evaluation.

Platform not uniform - deliverable challenge

Those differences also posed a challenge to crafting a cohesive deliverable. I utilized a universal legend to identify which usability issues were present on a given page within a given instance, making it easier for the client to absorb.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample

Audit executive summary

Audit sample



Marketing Automation Platform

Late stage SaaS startup

Impact

“Your feedback on our user experience has already lead to a lot of positive discussions for us.”

“I thought the report was great by the way. Nice job!”

Details

Q

Marketing Automation Platform

Late stage SaaS start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Audit the existing interfaces for a marketing campaign creation and asset management platform.

UX Audit
Guidance

Impact

All stakeholders were extremely pleased with the deliverable.
- For some it was eye-opening regarding the many aspects of the platform that were impeding users.
- For their in-house designer and customer success team, however, it was invaluable. It vetted everything they had been vying for internally. Their recommendations hadn’t been being heard but now had a voice.
Approximately 1 year later they hired me as the UX Architect for the entire platform

“Your feedback on our user experience has already lead to a lot of positive discussions for us.”

“I thought the report was great by the way. Nice job!” - CEO

Challenges

Platform not uniform - auditing challenge

Each of the platform’s clients had different instances of the software...not just for styling...structurally and functionally as well.

As such, my audit required looking at multiple instances and pulling the findings together into a single, cohesive evaluation.

Platform not uniform - deliverable challenge

Those differences also posed a challenge to crafting a cohesive deliverable. I utilized a universal legend to identify which usability issues were present on a given page within a given instance, making it easier for the client to absorb.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample

Audit executive summary

Audit sample

Q

Theater Community Platform

Early stage start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a website that connects all players, scripts, and opportunities in the theatrical community and facilitates the collaborations that typically take place between them.

There was far more to consider than the stakeholders realized.

UX Design
Information Architecture
Process Flows (signup, engagement, collaboration)
Functionality Design & Guidance (for document submission and collaboration)
Filtering Design & Guidance (complex and multi-phased filters)

Impact

Client was extremely happy with all aspects of the work.

“Maureen is incredible.”

Challenges

6 Different profile types

5 personas with substantially different needs and goals plus 1 profile for scripts which needed to be presented in a similar fashion.

Vision meets reality

The site goals were impressively lofty but I needed to educate the client as to the variety of hurdles to conquer, both strategic and executional, in order to reach those goals.

Robust features = unexpected hurdles

The feature set included a multitude of filters to find information, collaborators, and collaboration opportunities. The client’s “freemium to premium” model caused the filter complexity to expand exponentially for premium subscribers. But I crafted a means for keeping it from being overwhelming.

Samples

Profile & portfolio frameworks per persona

Site Map

Wireframe sans annotations - Home

Showcased items - anatomy

Showcased items - robust interaction samples

Robust filtering - basic + premium

Wireframe: - people + organization profiles

Wireframe - story profile



Theater Community Platform

Early stage startup

Impact

“Maureen is incredible.”

Details

Q

Theater Community Platform

Early stage start-up

Project Brief & Deliverables

Design a website that connects all players, scripts, and opportunities in the theatrical community and facilitates the collaborations that typically take place between them.

There was far more to consider than the stakeholders realized.

UX Design
Information Architecture
Process Flows (signup, engagement, collaboration)
Functionality Design & Guidance (for document submission and collaboration)
Filtering Design & Guidance (complex and multi-phased filters)

Impact

Client was extremely happy with all aspects of the work.

“Maureen is incredible.”

Challenges

6 Different profile types

5 personas with substantially different needs and goals plus 1 profile for scripts which needed to be presented in a similar fashion.

Vision meets reality

The site goals were impressively lofty but I needed to educate the client as to the variety of hurdles to conquer, both strategic and executional, in order to reach those goals.

Robust features = unexpected hurdles

The feature set included a multitude of filters to find information, collaborators, and collaboration opportunities. The client’s “freemium to premium” model caused the filter complexity to expand exponentially for premium subscribers. But I crafted a means for keeping it from being overwhelming.

Samples

Profile & portfolio frameworks per persona

Site Map

Wireframe sans annotations - Home

Showcased items - anatomy

Showcased items - robust interaction samples

Robust filtering - basic + premium

Wireframe: - people + organization profiles

Wireframe - story profile

Q

Eye Institute Site

New Business Pitch Concept Site

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create the information architecture and design options for a pitch to a newly formed institute.

Information Architecture
UX Design
Persona Matrix

Impact

The Creative Director who led the project was thrilled with my deliverables.
Sometime thereafter, he recommended me to another agency

“First of all, you’re fabulous…”

“I think your ‘through the eyes of ___’ idea is actually great — shows real world context.”

Challenges

Pitch concept - no content to audit

Since there was no existing site or content, regular site maps would not suffice to help the prospective client understand the content and structural ideas the team had in mind. So, I created a “content” site map to make it easier for the client to understand.

Vast libraries require robust filtering

The potential site content included a vast library of research which might be sought via a variety of different search criteria. I designed a robust filter experience within a single page.

Demonstrate impact without overwhelming

Since this was a pitch, a fully fleshed out design was not required. But, making an impact with the recommended content and high-level design ideas was a critical need. As such, I dialed down the wireframe details a bit to avoid overwhelming the client.

Samples

Wireframe sample

Persona matrix

Wireframe sample

"Content site map"



Eye Institute Site

New Business Pitch – Concept Site

Impact

“First of all, you’re fabulous…”

“I think your ‘through the eyes of ___’ idea is actually great — shows real world context.”

Details

Q

Eye Institute Site

New Business Pitch Concept Site

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create the information architecture and design options for a pitch to a newly formed institute.

Information Architecture
UX Design
Persona Matrix

Impact

The Creative Director who led the project was thrilled with my deliverables.
Sometime thereafter, he recommended me to another agency

“First of all, you’re fabulous…”

“I think your ‘through the eyes of ___’ idea is actually great — shows real world context.”

Challenges

Pitch concept - no content to audit

Since there was no existing site or content, regular site maps would not suffice to help the prospective client understand the content and structural ideas the team had in mind. So, I created a “content” site map to make it easier for the client to understand.

Vast libraries require robust filtering

The potential site content included a vast library of research which might be sought via a variety of different search criteria. I designed a robust filter experience within a single page.

Demonstrate impact without overwhelming

Since this was a pitch, a fully fleshed out design was not required. But, making an impact with the recommended content and high-level design ideas was a critical need. As such, I dialed down the wireframe details a bit to avoid overwhelming the client.

Samples

Wireframe sample

Persona matrix

Wireframe sample

"Content site map"

Q

IxDA Site Redesign Audit

UX Association

Project Brief & Deliverables

Provide feedback to the Interaction Design Association regarding the wireframes for its site redesign,

Deep analysis of the proposed wires
Substantial, detailed, audit feedback

Impact

Many members in this large professional association responded with feedback but only I, and one other member, were mentioned by name in the Thank You message sent to the community.

“Special thanks for the most cogent & detailed audit feedback from IxDA members goes to Maureen Murphy.”

Challenges

Extreme diplomacy needed

Critiquing the valiant efforts of the members who worked on the redesign required a delicate balance.

Being too soft would result in a site that did not meet the needs of the members.

Being too strong would insult the skills of colleagues in the community.

Samples

Deliverables were written (not visual), and are proprietary.

As such, they cannot be showcased.



ixDA Site Redesign Audit

UX Association

Impact

“Special thanks for the most cogent & detailed audit feedback from IxDA members goes to Maureen Murphy.”

Details

Q

IxDA Site Redesign Audit

UX Association

Project Brief & Deliverables

Provide feedback to the Interaction Design Association regarding the wireframes for its site redesign,

Deep analysis of the proposed wires
Substantial, detailed, audit feedback

Impact

Many members in this large professional association responded with feedback but only I, and one other member, were mentioned by name in the Thank You message sent to the community.

“Special thanks for the most cogent & detailed audit feedback from IxDA members goes to Maureen Murphy.”

Challenges

Extreme diplomacy needed

Critiquing the valiant efforts of the members who worked on the redesign required a delicate balance.

Being too soft would result in a site that did not meet the needs of the members.

Being too strong would insult the skills of colleagues in the community.

Samples

Deliverables were written (not visual), and are proprietary.

As such, they cannot be showcased.

Q

UX Research Analyses

UX research company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Analyze user testing videos and report the findings:

so that clients didn't need to spend time doing so.
to ensure that UX eyes reviewed the videos rather than folks who are not versed in UX (who would draw incorrect conclusions about the root cause of the issues).

Deep analyses of user testing videos
Findings reports

Impact

A multitude of clients extremely appreciative for the significant insights provided by my analyses of UX research videos.
The research company was extremely happy when I found flaws in the execution of some of the tests, causing users to be unable to complete the tests or some of the tasks.
Although that type of observation was not part of my responsibilities, my ability to pinpoint those issues enabled the tests to be corrected and re-run, so the insights would actually be meaningful.

Challenges

Generally, these analyses did not carry challenges but some tests or test scripts were poorly crafted.

Poorly crafted test = difficult to analyze

The ones with executional issues were initially difficult to analyze. It took time to figure out what was going wrong and the intention of the test questions. I stuck with them, got underneath the issues, and was able to complete the analyses.

Extreme diplomacy needed

Explaining the poor execution of the test required a delicate touch so as not to insult the test creator.

Samples

Deliverables were written (not visual), and are proprietary.

As such, they cannot be showcased.



UX Research Analyses

UX research company

Impact

A multitude of clients extremely appreciative for the significant insights provided by my analyses of UX research videos.

Details

Q

UX Research Analyses

UX research company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Analyze user testing videos and report the findings:

so that clients didn't need to spend time doing so.
to ensure that UX eyes reviewed the videos rather than folks who are not versed in UX (who would draw incorrect conclusions about the root cause of the issues).

Deep analyses of user testing videos
Findings reports

Impact

A multitude of clients extremely appreciative for the significant insights provided by my analyses of UX research videos.
The research company was extremely happy when I found flaws in the execution of some of the tests, causing users to be unable to complete the tests or some of the tasks.
Although that type of observation was not part of my responsibilities, my ability to pinpoint those issues enabled the tests to be corrected and re-run, so the insights would actually be meaningful.

Challenges

Generally, these analyses did not carry challenges but some tests or test scripts were poorly crafted.

Poorly crafted test = difficult to analyze

The ones with executional issues were initially difficult to analyze. It took time to figure out what was going wrong and the intention of the test questions. I stuck with them, got underneath the issues, and was able to complete the analyses.

Extreme diplomacy needed

Explaining the poor execution of the test required a delicate touch so as not to insult the test creator.

Samples

Deliverables were written (not visual), and are proprietary.

As such, they cannot be showcased.

Q

Multi-site Ecosystem Overhaul

Association

Project Brief & Deliverables

Part I: Extensive, multi-site audit and mapping of the 18 sites in the association’s ecosystem.
Part 2: Design a new user experience for a harmonized site incorporating voluminous content from the very old, out-dated ecosystem of sites.
Part 3: Design the personalized and social interaction aspects of the redesigned / harmonized site.

UX Audits (18)
Information Architecture (current site maps)
Information Architecture (harmonized map)
UX Design
Process improvement and guidance

Impact

Both the client and development team were ecstatic about the deliverables (described below) because they took into consideration the fact that the volume of site maps and unstructured content would be overwhelming for them.

Each site's content and UX issues were summarized before the site maps were discussed.
Wireframes were interactive to be easier to follow the flows and content of the harmonized site.
The new design simplified pages and processes with templates and provided a consistent, robust filtering experience for the large volumes of content.

The third party development firm was so impressed with my work that they have become a client of mine.

“I’m thrilled. So thorough”…”I don’t know anyone else who has the patience for this.”

Challenges

Very short turnaround time

I was brought into the project late in the game and the client was bumping up against an impending deadline but, I got it all done under the wire.

No documentation whatsoever

There had been a significant, undocumented evolution of “sister sites”, microsites, and subordinate sites. Thus, the client not only had no prior documentation on the multitude of sites within its ecosystem, it was not even sure exactly how many sites actually existed.

A painstaking effort

Since there were no guiding documents, the endeavor required clicking on every link within every site and analyzing every page in order to properly map the sites, and offer recommendations.

Significant inconsistency

Content, designs, and branding were all highly inconsistent across the ecosystem. I corralled and harmonized all of it.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample close-up

Audit sample

Wireframe sample

Site map sample



Multi-site Ecosystem Overhaul

Association

Impact

“I’m thrilled. So thorough”…”I don’t know anyone else who has the patience for this.”

Details

Q

Multi-site Ecosystem Overhaul

Association

Project Brief & Deliverables

Part I: Extensive, multi-site audit and mapping of the 18 sites in the association’s ecosystem.
Part 2: Design a new user experience for a harmonized site incorporating voluminous content from the very old, out-dated ecosystem of sites.
Part 3: Design the personalized and social interaction aspects of the redesigned / harmonized site.

UX Audits (18)
Information Architecture (current site maps)
Information Architecture (harmonized map)
UX Design
Process improvement and guidance

Impact

Both the client and development team were ecstatic about the deliverables (described below) because they took into consideration the fact that the volume of site maps and unstructured content would be overwhelming for them.

Each site's content and UX issues were summarized before the site maps were discussed.
Wireframes were interactive to be easier to follow the flows and content of the harmonized site.
The new design simplified pages and processes with templates and provided a consistent, robust filtering experience for the large volumes of content.

The third party development firm was so impressed with my work that they have become a client of mine.

“I’m thrilled. So thorough”…”I don’t know anyone else who has the patience for this.”

Challenges

Very short turnaround time

I was brought into the project late in the game and the client was bumping up against an impending deadline but, I got it all done under the wire.

No documentation whatsoever

There had been a significant, undocumented evolution of “sister sites”, microsites, and subordinate sites. Thus, the client not only had no prior documentation on the multitude of sites within its ecosystem, it was not even sure exactly how many sites actually existed.

A painstaking effort

Since there were no guiding documents, the endeavor required clicking on every link within every site and analyzing every page in order to properly map the sites, and offer recommendations.

Significant inconsistency

Content, designs, and branding were all highly inconsistent across the ecosystem. I corralled and harmonized all of it.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample close-up

Audit sample

Wireframe sample

Site map sample

Q

Email Verification Process

Digital news company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Improve various transactional aspects of a local community news web platform. This 65-page deliverable included process flows, dynamic messaging recommendations, wireframes covering every state of being and all possible “next step” actions.

Process Flow
UX Design
Guidance

Impact

Well-received by all project teams and fully implemented.

“Maureen is great. Can we keep her?”
- Project Owner

“Happy to tell her how awesome you are.”
- Visual Designer teammate

Challenges

Challenging? Sure. But I love digging into things like these to create stellar user experiences.

Many process paths

Email verification processes involve a variety of different states, dependencies and next steps. I tackled them all, and simplified the process overall.

Customized copy needed

I provided customized, dynamic copy for each possible action users could take after verification and created a uniform framework for it.

I provided customized, dynamic copy for each possible action users could take after verification in a uniform framework.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Email Verification Process

Dynamic messaging



Email Verification Process

Digital news company

Impact

“Maureen is great. Can we keep her?”

“(I was) Happy to tell her how awesome you are.”

Details

Q

Email Verification Process

Digital news company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Improve various transactional aspects of a local community news web platform. This 65-page deliverable included process flows, dynamic messaging recommendations, wireframes covering every state of being and all possible “next step” actions.

Process Flow
UX Design
Guidance

Impact

Well-received by all project teams and fully implemented.

“Maureen is great. Can we keep her?”
- Project Owner

“Happy to tell her how awesome you are.”
- Visual Designer teammate

Challenges

Challenging? Sure. But I love digging into things like these to create stellar user experiences.

Many process paths

Email verification processes involve a variety of different states, dependencies and next steps. I tackled them all, and simplified the process overall.

Customized copy needed

I provided customized, dynamic copy for each possible action users could take after verification and created a uniform framework for it.

I provided customized, dynamic copy for each possible action users could take after verification in a uniform framework.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Email Verification Process

Dynamic messaging

Q

Asthma Flare-up Tracking App

Pharma company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create a mobile app that enables asthma sufferers to track their asthma attacks (thus enabling them to more accurately report their “flare up” history to their doctors).

The work did not require traditional wireframes but rather, a more high level and conceptual document for the client to understand the general features of the proposed app.

Concept UX Design
Feature guidance
Functional specifications

Impact

Client thrilled with the concept, particularly the empathy for the user in the context of having just experienced an asthma attack.

As such, the app was touted as “coming soon” on the home page of the website while the client sought funding to develop it.

Challenges

Mobile apps not yet common

The concept was pitched in the early days of mobile and the client was particularly “in the dark” about mobile apps. Thus, the presentation needed to be simple and educational.

Varied user scenarios

There is a long list of asthma triggers but each sufferer only experiences a few, unique to him / her, on a regular basis.

Critical context

The app was to be utilized right after an attack so it was important that it be easy and not burdensome to the users. As such, I designed the concept of a “short list” for use after the first time users designate their triggers.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept design sample

Guidance and Functional Specification

Concept design sample



Asthma Flare-up Tracking App

Pharma company

Impact

Client thrilled with the concept, particularly the empathy for the user in the context of having just experienced an asthma attack.

Client also Immediately sought funding to build the app.

Details

Q

Asthma Flare-up Tracking App

Pharma company

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create a mobile app that enables asthma sufferers to track their asthma attacks (thus enabling them to more accurately report their “flare up” history to their doctors).

The work did not require traditional wireframes but rather, a more high level and conceptual document for the client to understand the general features of the proposed app.

Concept UX Design
Feature guidance
Functional specifications

Impact

Client thrilled with the concept, particularly the empathy for the user in the context of having just experienced an asthma attack.

As such, the app was touted as “coming soon” on the home page of the website while the client sought funding to develop it.

Challenges

Mobile apps not yet common

The concept was pitched in the early days of mobile and the client was particularly “in the dark” about mobile apps. Thus, the presentation needed to be simple and educational.

Varied user scenarios

There is a long list of asthma triggers but each sufferer only experiences a few, unique to him / her, on a regular basis.

Critical context

The app was to be utilized right after an attack so it was important that it be easy and not burdensome to the users. As such, I designed the concept of a “short list” for use after the first time users designate their triggers.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept design sample

Guidance and Functional Specification

Concept design sample

Q

Product Hierarchy & Taxonomy

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

The client recognized that its marketing-focused site pages and its tech support site pages spoke about the products very differently, and that it created a very confusing experience for customers.

They tasked us to "harmonize" the product hierarchies into a unified taxonomy.

However, the client did not realize that the issues went deeper than categorical verbiage. I realized it, and told my boss that I needed an export of the full product database so I could analyze it.

A deep analysis of the 2500-product database and identified that significant data management issues existed.
Subject matter research and competitive research
Deconstructed all the product information and reconstructed it in a consistent manner.
Provided data management and governance guidance, educating stakeholders about the difference between hierarchical structures and attributes,

Impact

Unanimous positive feedback from the stakeholders.
Even though the realization of what lay ahead for them to do was overwhelming, they conceptually understood the issues I’d uncovered and what I proposed to rectify them.
And they were eager to jump in and get started overhauling things on their end.

“…feedback I got from the team..."

"My thought is WOW, I want this all now!”
"Gotta run, but this is exactly inline with our thinking"

Challenges

No access to SMEs

No access to technical SMEs for my product detail questions. Even the project stakeholders were not able to obtain this information internally. I had to comb the full website, wikipedia, competitive sites, and other tech resources to get the information I needed.

Diplomacy needed

As a decentralized company, there was no central stakeholder group overseeing the business rules, data governance, product alignments, and marketing messages, which wreaked havoc on the site experience. I had to delicately explain this to the project champion and her team.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept model - Hierarchies vs, Attributes

Concept model - close up (Hiherarchies vs. Attributes)

Guidance - Information Architecture

Product data analysis



Product Hierarchy & Taxonomy

International technology retailer

Impact

“My thought is WOW, I want this all now!”

Details

Q

Product Hierarchy & Taxonomy

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

The client recognized that its marketing-focused site pages and its tech support site pages spoke about the products very differently, and that it created a very confusing experience for customers.

They tasked us to "harmonize" the product hierarchies into a unified taxonomy.

However, the client did not realize that the issues went deeper than categorical verbiage. I realized it, and told my boss that I needed an export of the full product database so I could analyze it.

A deep analysis of the 2500-product database and identified that significant data management issues existed.
Subject matter research and competitive research
Deconstructed all the product information and reconstructed it in a consistent manner.
Provided data management and governance guidance, educating stakeholders about the difference between hierarchical structures and attributes,

Impact

Unanimous positive feedback from the stakeholders.
Even though the realization of what lay ahead for them to do was overwhelming, they conceptually understood the issues I’d uncovered and what I proposed to rectify them.
And they were eager to jump in and get started overhauling things on their end.

“…feedback I got from the team..."

"My thought is WOW, I want this all now!”
"Gotta run, but this is exactly inline with our thinking"

Challenges

No access to SMEs

No access to technical SMEs for my product detail questions. Even the project stakeholders were not able to obtain this information internally. I had to comb the full website, wikipedia, competitive sites, and other tech resources to get the information I needed.

Diplomacy needed

As a decentralized company, there was no central stakeholder group overseeing the business rules, data governance, product alignments, and marketing messages, which wreaked havoc on the site experience. I had to delicately explain this to the project champion and her team.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept model - Hierarchies vs, Attributes

Concept model - close up (Hiherarchies vs. Attributes)

Guidance - Information Architecture

Product data analysis

Q

Concept Model Becomes A Design

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Client was looking for a tool to enable its content authors to easily and accurately tag content for the voluminous number of pages on its international website.

Our agency hired an expert in controlled vocabularies to educate the agency and the client to the concept, and explain how one would be used to enable content authors to tag content in an easy and consistent manner.

However, the client had difficulty understanding the concepts.

I was asked to create a visualization to make it easier for the client to understand how a controlled vocabulary could be employed for tagging content.

Concept Model (which became a UX design)
Content Strategy
Guidance

Impact

Account manager was thrilled because the client finally understood how controlled vocabularies could be utilized.
It was NOT intended to be a design, just a conceptual illustration. But, the third party firm which was providing the tool realized their standard tool was not sufficient for the client's needs so they took my visual model, exactly as designed, and built it as a custom interface for the client.

“Amazing job. Client gets it now. And the 3rd party implementation partner is going to actually use this as a design.”

Challenges

Foreign concept

No one at our agency, nor the client, had any familiarity with controlled vocabularies. I'm a quick study and immedately grasped the concepts explained by the specialist in the area.

No known design construct

I'd never seen an interface for utilizing a controlled vocabulary. But that didn't hinder me at all.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept close-up

Wireframe sample



Concept Model Becomes A Design

International technology retailer

Impact

“Amazing job. Client gets it now. And the 3rd party implementation partner is going to actually use this as a design.”

Details

Q

Concept Model Becomes A Design

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Client was looking for a tool to enable its content authors to easily and accurately tag content for the voluminous number of pages on its international website.

Our agency hired an expert in controlled vocabularies to educate the agency and the client to the concept, and explain how one would be used to enable content authors to tag content in an easy and consistent manner.

However, the client had difficulty understanding the concepts.

I was asked to create a visualization to make it easier for the client to understand how a controlled vocabulary could be employed for tagging content.

Concept Model (which became a UX design)
Content Strategy
Guidance

Impact

Account manager was thrilled because the client finally understood how controlled vocabularies could be utilized.
It was NOT intended to be a design, just a conceptual illustration. But, the third party firm which was providing the tool realized their standard tool was not sufficient for the client's needs so they took my visual model, exactly as designed, and built it as a custom interface for the client.

“Amazing job. Client gets it now. And the 3rd party implementation partner is going to actually use this as a design.”

Challenges

Foreign concept

No one at our agency, nor the client, had any familiarity with controlled vocabularies. I'm a quick study and immedately grasped the concepts explained by the specialist in the area.

No known design construct

I'd never seen an interface for utilizing a controlled vocabulary. But that didn't hinder me at all.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Concept close-up

Wireframe sample

Q

Chat Widget

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create an improved, interactive “chat” interface for an event to be held on the web site at various times during the year by the client’s engineers.

Deep analysis of transcripts from prior year
UX Design
Point of view document for guidance to internal teams

Impact

Overwhelming positive feedback from the client
Successful run of the events for the year

Given the enormous challenges associated with the project, my boss’s response was...

“You’re tenacious. You will do whatever it takes.”

Challenges

No prior documentation

The ask was to improve on a PRIOR interface. However, neither the client, nor the agency had any visual records of the original interface. So, I designed it from scratch.

Prior endeavor's "success" was an illusion

Due to the lack of documentation of the prior chat, the only means of gaining any insights into the previous experience was by combing through the voluminous transcripts of the prior events.

And they told a different story. To users, the prior event was an epic failure. I used those incredible insight to inform my design.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Wireframe sample

Design close-up



Chat Widget

International technology retailer

Impact

Overwhelming positive response from the client.

And given the enormous challenges of the project, my boss’s response was: “You’re tenacious. You will do whatever it takes.”

Details

Q

Chat Widget

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Create an improved, interactive “chat” interface for an event to be held on the web site at various times during the year by the client’s engineers.

Deep analysis of transcripts from prior year
UX Design
Point of view document for guidance to internal teams

Impact

Overwhelming positive feedback from the client
Successful run of the events for the year

Given the enormous challenges associated with the project, my boss’s response was...

“You’re tenacious. You will do whatever it takes.”

Challenges

No prior documentation

The ask was to improve on a PRIOR interface. However, neither the client, nor the agency had any visual records of the original interface. So, I designed it from scratch.

Prior endeavor's "success" was an illusion

Due to the lack of documentation of the prior chat, the only means of gaining any insights into the previous experience was by combing through the voluminous transcripts of the prior events.

And they told a different story. To users, the prior event was an epic failure. I used those incredible insight to inform my design.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Wireframe sample

Design close-up

Q

Content Strategy – Forum

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Content assessment and point of view to inform and advise the creative team on appropriate site content to be up-leveled into a microsite for a specific audience segment (effectively, a social forum for IT professionals).

(While the deliverable is merely a Word document, the impact and result are significant.)

Content guidance document
Inquiries to equivalent personas in my personal network (for insights)
Scouring content from many forums (to provide samples)
Competitive research (for vetting my recommendations)

Impact

My content strategy recommendations were proven to be spot on. (The creative team had maintained its belief that the microsite should be brochureware and paid a Flash developer to have that experience built. It was an epic fail.)
Additionally, the account team shared with me that the client made several statements as to what the experience should be like and each of the comments mimicked a point I had made in my recommendations.

“Maureen nailed it.

The client told the creative team, “This is pretty but you don’t understand our audience.”

Everything in Maureen’s document was spot on to the audience.”

Challenges

No persona details

We were only given a light description of the intended audience. So, I sought out prior bosses who fit the general profile of the audience to garner insights.

Limited competitive inspiration

There wasn't much in the way of similar endeavors on competitive sites. So, my boss had me scour general forums for the audience, and the client's forums, to pull together recommended content for the project.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Content guidance sample



Content Strategy – Forum

International technology retailer

Impact

“Maureen nailed it.

The client told the creative team, “This is pretty but you don’t understand our audience.”

Everything in Maureen’s document was spot on to the audience.”

Details

Q

Content Strategy – Forum

International technology retailer

Project Brief & Deliverables

Content assessment and point of view to inform and advise the creative team on appropriate site content to be up-leveled into a microsite for a specific audience segment (effectively, a social forum for IT professionals).

(While the deliverable is merely a Word document, the impact and result are significant.)

Content guidance document
Inquiries to equivalent personas in my personal network (for insights)
Scouring content from many forums (to provide samples)
Competitive research (for vetting my recommendations)

Impact

My content strategy recommendations were proven to be spot on. (The creative team had maintained its belief that the microsite should be brochureware and paid a Flash developer to have that experience built. It was an epic fail.)
Additionally, the account team shared with me that the client made several statements as to what the experience should be like and each of the comments mimicked a point I had made in my recommendations.

“Maureen nailed it.

The client told the creative team, “This is pretty but you don’t understand our audience.”

Everything in Maureen’s document was spot on to the audience.”

Challenges

No persona details

We were only given a light description of the intended audience. So, I sought out prior bosses who fit the general profile of the audience to garner insights.

Limited competitive inspiration

There wasn't much in the way of similar endeavors on competitive sites. So, my boss had me scour general forums for the audience, and the client's forums, to pull together recommended content for the project.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Content guidance sample

Q

SaaS Platform Redesign

Large talent recruitment company

Project Brief & Deliverables

The 2-phased, consultancy encompassed a variety of deliverables for a large, complex web application in the recruiting industry that serviced hiring managers, recruiters, and contractors alike, in a single digital marketplace.

UX audit
Deep product exploration & testing
User research
Personas (crafting & guidance)
Information Architecture overhaul
UX design overhaul
Process simplification
UX education sessions for every department

Impact

Was asked to present my findings and recommendations to the President and his Leadership team...and they were in awe.
Despite having no access to actual users, my design was exactly what Microsoft had requested in a meeting with the VP, New Business.
The President asked me to educate every department about the platform's UX issues. Immediately thereafter, the dev team, recognizing the value of my expertise, began seeking my input on all the work that was already in their pipeline.

“Maureen is one of the best Usability people that I have worked with in a long time…I highly recommend her for any UI redesign effort”<
- Senior Project Manager

“Maureen’s ability to facilitate meetings is exceptional.”
- Systems Analyst

Challenges

Huge volume of content (records)

I analyzed dozens in order to capture the various record types and all the data points

No existing user research AND no direct access to users

I utilized the service department as surrogates, which proved invaluable

Incorrect persona knowledge

System was built for one user type when four primary user types were ultimately identified during my discovery.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample

Persona sample

Design close-up



SaaS Platform Redesign

Large talent recruitment company

Impact

“Maureen is one of the best Usability people that I have worked with in a long time.

Details

Q

SaaS Platform Redesign

Large talent recruitment company

Project Brief & Deliverables

The 2-phased, consultancy encompassed a variety of deliverables for a large, complex web application in the recruiting industry that serviced hiring managers, recruiters, and contractors alike, in a single digital marketplace.

UX audit
Deep product exploration & testing
User research
Personas (crafting & guidance)
Information Architecture overhaul
UX design overhaul
Process simplification
UX education sessions for every department

Impact

Was asked to present my findings and recommendations to the President and his Leadership team...and they were in awe.
Despite having no access to actual users, my design was exactly what Microsoft had requested in a meeting with the VP, New Business.
The President asked me to educate every department about the platform's UX issues. Immediately thereafter, the dev team, recognizing the value of my expertise, began seeking my input on all the work that was already in their pipeline.

“Maureen is one of the best Usability people that I have worked with in a long time…I highly recommend her for any UI redesign effort”<
- Senior Project Manager

“Maureen’s ability to facilitate meetings is exceptional.”
- Systems Analyst

Challenges

Huge volume of content (records)

I analyzed dozens in order to capture the various record types and all the data points

No existing user research AND no direct access to users

I utilized the service department as surrogates, which proved invaluable

Incorrect persona knowledge

System was built for one user type when four primary user types were ultimately identified during my discovery.

Samples

NDA protected so, samples are purposely blurred or anonymized

Audit sample

Persona sample

Design close-up

Before you dive in, you really need to see these UNSOLICITED recommendations

From CX Consulting Practice Director, Birlasoft
Michael Pearo

I brought Maureen on as a UX Architect to manage and execute an intensive engagement with a major financial company.

This engagement required both a strategist and a hands-on leader and UX Architect who could easily switch hats and roles. The timeline was aggressive and required excellent communication, time management, and customer interaction skills. Maureen has delivered on all three.

In particular, she quickly built a great rapport with both our immediate customer stakeholders as well as customer SMEs. Her ability to communicate our project and team objectives clearly, her ability to engage with and make these people comfortable was critical to our project success.

Her ability to synthesize the key concepts and convert them into clear and actionable designs drove the project forward, especially when customer requirements were discovered to be less than clear and not well prioritized.

Lastly, Maureen’s work ethic is outstanding. Her dedication to this project has been inspiring and I am grateful to have such a strong leader in Maureen.

Maureen has exceeded my expectations and I would rehire her in a heartbeat. Should you have any questions about Maureen, feel free to reach me at (503) 267-7276.

From VP Product, CampaignDrive by Pica9
Rachel Berman

Maureen is a highly skilled User Experience Architect and a delight to have on your team.

I have had the pleasure of working with Maureen for the past three years. During this time she led the transformation of our enterprise SaaS platform, optimizing the user experience for different personas including field users, marketing teams, creative teams, and executives. She designed workflows that created efficiencies for our end-users and simplified experiences end to end.

With years of experience and an open mind to changing technologies, she brought standards and best practices to our UX design and information architecture. She has a comprehensive process including customer discovery, UX audits, and wireframes in order to thoughtfully address different challenges. That said, she is able to be agile and work within an iterative framework, which was critical to our changing needs and fast paced release cycles.

Above all else, she is a true team player with a wonderful attitude. She is someone you can count on to get the job done well,collaborate with, and learn from.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Got it. Maureen's dope!