User Studio

About me

Product Designer and UX Design Lead with a diverse design skill set and extensive experience across various industries. I am passionate about crafting impactful customer experiences, developing creative teams, solving difficult problems, and designing for emerging technology trends.

Design & Research Focus

Full-Stack Product Designer/UX Designer

End-to-end strategic product development, encompassing  all stages  including user  research, vision development, ideation, service design, experience design workshops, prototypes,  user testing and final implementation.

User-Centered Design and Research Approach

Customer insights from research are central to the design process, using  evidence-based research approaches from early-stage discovery, continuous feedback, analytics  and usability testing..

Creative Leadership, Thought-leadership and Collaboration

Evangelize design thinking, facilitate problem solving, and  partner with multi-functional teams and senior leaders in the product design journey.

Early Product Development and Emerging Technology Expertise

A creative technologist who works to create seamless UX with technology, striving to push design forward with new emerging capabilities.

Skills & Expertise

Creative leadership, team and client management and design evangelism
Product lifecycle management and charting 0->1 product design
Holistic design thinking, service design, and journey mapping
Design strategy, concepting, co-creation/workshops, design sprints and prototyping
Qualitative and quantitative user
research methods, customer insights, personas, and CX archetypes
Data analytics, customer
segmentations, and North Star metrics (NPS, CSAT)
Content strategy, SEO, and publishing platforms
Agile working methods, rituals and team management
Knowledge of core technologies SAAS, Cloud, AI, Gen AI, CMS/CX platforms, mobile, and data privacy

BA Human Communication
MA Art History & Art Market
SOFTWARE
Figma, Sketch, InVision,
Adobe Creative Suite,
Dovetail, SEO, Analytics

Work Experience

McKinsey & Co., New York — Product Design Manager (2018-2023)

As a design chapter manager, I created proprietary platforms for knowledge management and content distribution. (Impacting 30K/70% weekly usage by consultants) Recently, design initiatives focused on Gen AI to improve slide generation and content summarization, with ChatGPT and internal ML models.

User Studio, New York — Principal Designer (2012-2018)

Worked with a variety of clients on design strategy and re-imagining the
art-of-the-possible. Example clients include digital media, financial, and digital radio.  (Improving adoption, retention, and revenue streams across multiple industries and products)

Thomson Reuters, NY/Zurich — VP Product/Search Innovation (2007-2012)

Reimagined platforms for leading financial products, with a deep focus on ML for Eikon's "market making" news and trading data. Filed patents for Atlas, a concept showcasing the power of ML/AI to create smarter content for financial professionals. (Search enhancements improved CSAT by 20+% upon release)


HUGE Inc., NY —
New York - Experience Director (2005-2007)

Directed UX, research, and creative teams for diverse clients including book publishers, airlines, media, and e-commerce companies. (Improved  brand, product offerings and commerce opportunities)

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Case study

GenAI at Mckinsey

A design-led approach accelerates innovation by employing research, ideation, co-creation, and prototyping.

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Case study

Refocusing on customer value and measurement

Utilizing mixed methods research and design-led thinking, we effectively pivot towards new customer opportunities and provided focused direction for product development.

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Design Process

A framework for Design Sprints

Design-led approach to product development and innovation that fosters business transformation across teams and groups.

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  • Enterprise B2B

    Broad knowledge of enterprise software, processes, and optimization opportunities.
    McKinsey & Company
    Shutterstock
    Thomson Reuters
    Webdam
    Health Ventures
    France Telecom
    General Electric
    Cisco Systems
    Pfizer
    Genentech
  • Media

    Deep understanding of publishing and advertising models, social media and SEO strategies.
    Reuters Financial News
    Conde Nast
    Time Inc.
    This Old House
    The Street.com
    Brides.com
  • Consumer B2C

    Familiar with commerce and payment platforms and consumer brand development
    HD Radio
    Match.com
    Scholastic
    Orange mobile
    Petco
    JetBlue