Good design is informed design.

Products, brands, and people don't work in a vacuum (surprise!), and that means your design shouldn't either. From unpacking the real appeal, to making sure it does exactly what it needs to, my work adheres to the philosophy that informed design happens via process – a process driven by the dialectic between user goals and business goals.

Exact ratios and ingredients differ between projects, but here's a rough breakdown of what you can expect.

Research

Interviews & Qualitative Research
Here's where the gold is. What's behind the need? Why do your users even care? Time to unpack what actually matters outside the conference room doors. 

Competitive/Comparative Analysis
Differentiation means knowing why you're different from what's out there, and you can't know what's out there if you don't know what's out there. 

Strategy

Feature Prioritization
Balance is key. Just because you think the feature is great doesn't mean your user does. Simplifying and prioritizing features makes the foundation for a product that's clear, intuitive, and compelling. 

Information Architecture + Taxonomy
How is your information organized? How do your users categorize and organize? The simpler the better. 

Personas
Story time. Here's where archetypes start to guide decisions: features, navigation, interactions, and even visual aesthetics. 

User Flows + Site Maps
How does the user do what the user does? Break it down now step-by-step. 

Design

Sketching + Wireframes + Testing
Translating insights and user flows into tangible design. Start lo-fi, test. Iterate. Repeat. Move up the fidelity ladder as design choices are affirmed.

Prototyping + Testing
Iterative design is at the core of robust UX design: Design, test, and support/deny choices based on what users really say. Bring it to life, test, adjust. Repeat. Success in this day and age means being responsive, not monolithic.