experience

Lead User Experience Researcher and Designer
Investor’s Business Daily, Apr 2018-Present

  • Currently, I am a planner and architect of a comprehensive site redesign, while optimizing existing products, apps, and SaaS applications for this financial media tech company that has 7M visits a month and a member base of 70,000 subscribers.
  • Responsible for building a UX research and user-centered design process from scratch, leading and mentoring a team of 4 designers, on-boarding vendors and integrating the UCD approach into the company’s culture, development process and design practices.
  • Design and conduct quantitative and qualitative research including stakeholder interviews, moderated and unmoderated user testing, competitive audits and evaluations, user journey maps, card sorting, wireframing and prototyping to make strategic recommendations.
  • Apply multidisciplinary skills and perspectives to gain an explicit understanding of customers, their tasks and environments, and implement key learnings to elevate the entire customer experience.
  • Evangelize research findings to a diverse audience of stakeholders through written reports and presentations.

Principal User Experience Designer
DuMont Project (AARP Client), Sep 2016-Sep 2017

  • Led hands-on UX design initiatives for this full-service digital consultancy, driving consumer engagement and revenue growth for Fortune 500 e-commerce clients.
  • Provided end-to-end UX research, user testing and A/B testing to inform product strategy and innovative design solutions, helping increase customer satisfaction of AARP’s 38MM subscribers.
  • Achieved dramatic lifts in CVR for AARP, using applied qualitative and quantitative learnings, helping double their online CVR.
  • Designed desktop and mobile experiences, including a new landing page experience that generated a 15% lift in CVR and became the control experience used to launch multiple campaigns.
  • Managed and mentored UX design team members, helping grow the team from 2 to 6 people.
  • Consulted and contributed to UX assessments for clients Merrell, Sperry, Plated and Bonobos.

Senior User Experience Designer
Edmunds, Nov 2014-Aug 2016

  • Led UX design initiatives across multifunctional teams, supporting a desktop site that receives 20M uniques and 240M page views a month.
  • Developed innovative, user-centered product offerings across mobile, tablet and desktop through research, ideation, protoyping, design and user testing.
  • Optimized the Used+ brand and product launch with an annual budget of over $5M, aligning product requirements, analytics and research into impactful user experience solutions.
  • Achieved dramatic wins with the Used Car team through A/B testing and conversion path optimization that reduced bounce rates, increased page views and increased lead conversions, including a +28% lift in desktop lead conversions and a +32% lift in mobile lead conversions (Q1/2016).
  • Developed Used+ redemption Dashboard for the Live Help team that helped reduce processing expenses by 70% and increased order fulfillment time by 2x.

Senior Design Manager
The Search Agency, Sep 2010-Nov 2014

  • Serve as Art Director and UX Designer for all Paid, Owned and Earned media clients.
  • Responsible for A/B Optimizations, including strategy, wire-framing and design of home pages and landing pages according to usability heuristics.
  • Develop strategy, market-leading creative solutions, and visual direction for Fortune 1000 brands that addresses the clients’ marketing and communication challenges.
  • Instrumental in achieving dramatic wins for all eCommerce clients through A/B Optimization— Viking Cruises +42%, Beringer +20%, Goldline +14%, LawInfo +23% and Farmer’s Choice +31%.
  • Key to increasing forecasted profits for Curacao.com by $100k annually by implementing a search focused home page resulting in an enhanced user engagement and more targeted results.
  • Consultant, team lead and designer for Optus Digital Agency, Australia, designing desktop and mobile templates for SMBs as part of the SaaS Digital Agency, generating over 3,500 websites with new subscribers added daily.
  • Currently leading responsive landing page design efforts for Yellow Pages Canada.

Senior Designer
The Search Agency, Sep 2006-Sep 2010

  • Hired as employee #26 to build a team of designers from scratch. Built design department, recruiting and mentoring 4 direct report designers and hired additional contractors as needed.
  • Served as Art Director and Lead Designer for all client websites, landing pages, brand development, display and social media channels and agency owned and operated websites.
  • Consultant, team lead and designer for Yell.com, UK, designing desktop templates for SMBs as part of the SaaS Digital Agency, generating over 250 thousand websites and counting.
  • Work directly with clients, executives and agency stakeholders, design and present wireframes, user flows and recommendations to client.

Freelance Graphic Designer
Print and Web, Aug 2002-Sep 2006

  • Strategy, concept to completion of all manner of print and web collateral for public interest, political, union, entertainment, and corporate clients – brochures, invitations, book covers, direct mail, stationary, websites and brand development.
  • Clients: The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, People For the American Way, West Coast Analytical Service, The California Women’s Law Center and The Bone Marrow Foundation.

Interactive Menu Designer
Organa, Feb 2002-Aug 2002

  • Internship while attending school. DVD menus for feature films and documentaries including “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder”, “Swingers – Anniversary Release” and “Twist”.

education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Multimedia
Loyola Marymount University, May 2002
Graduated Cum Laude with a concentration in design, photography, art history and critical theory.

Advanced Typography
UCLA Extension, Dec 2005

certifications and awards

Google Analytics Certification
Google, March 2014

UX: Ultimate Guide to Usability
UDemy, Dr. David Travis, March 2014

Landing Page Optimization
MEC Labs, Flint McGlaughlin, October 2013

Multimedia Scholar of Distinction
Loyola Marymount University, 2002