I am a seasoned creative professional with over thirty years of experience in product and print design, having worked on both the client and agency sides. As a digital design leader specializing in front-end user interface and user experience design, I excel in leading brainstorming sessions, design sprints, presenting strategies, and delivering final designs. My strong collaboration skills are regularly utilized in working with my team, upper management, and product and business owners throughout the creative process.
I have a comprehensive background in establishing, planning, directing, and implementing UX/UI design for successful web, mobile, and tablet properties, leveraging the latest technologies and mobile operating systems. I provide visionary leadership that can translate new business ideas into compelling visual stories, bringing them to life. With a keen eye for innovation and pixel perfection, I am recognized as a creative team builder with key skills in strategy, leadership, communication, and talent retention.
My interpersonal, multidisciplinary, and problem-solving skills foster a comfortable working atmosphere, ensuring high energy and creativity as we design and execute our projects. I maintain close interaction with designers, art directors, copywriters, project managers, business owners, and developers throughout a project's lifecycle. I remain closely involved with all my projects at every stage, from ideation and site mapping to wire-framing, design, user testing, and final handoff. I ensure projects progress smoothly and on time, delivering comprehensive build kits to the development team.
Passionate about creativity, I also enjoy playing intricate guitar riffs and consider sushi a top favorite in my culinary preferences.
Presently working at Novartis, through Pro-Unlimited as their UX Design Lead, on their global Imagineering and Innovation team. I help accelerate the digital innovation process throughout the global enterprise by rapidly visualizing and prototyping future states for web, mobile, and social applications, while working closely with cross-functional teams. Provide superior in-house design resources for launch brands. Participate and lead the creative direction for usability sessions, proof of concept presentations and dessign sprints. Collaborate with external agencies/vendors on new web concepts and usability sessions. ALso refine and expand upon their global design system across all brands.
At Verizon, I served as the CX Product Design Lead mainly for Product Gizmo, overseeing the design of several key products. These included the Gizmo smartphone app, Gizmo watch, Gizmo tablet, Gizmo Tracker, Verizon’s first Disney smartwatch, the Care Smart app and smartwatch for seniors, and the Smart Family App. In this role, I collaborated closely with designers, product owners, product managers, developers, and business stakeholders to ensure the successful development and launch of these products. Redesigned the second generation of the Gizmo tablet for kids, a learning device aimed at engaging children in both education and entertainment. Also managed and mentored a small group of junior UX designers.
At Sanofi, I engaged as a web and app UX/UI designer through Pro-Unlimited, I collaborated with Sanofi’s in-house design team on their global Imagineering and Innovation team. My role focused on accelerating the digital innovation process across the enterprise by rapidly visualizing and prototyping future states for web and mobile applications. This involved working closely with cross-functional teams to provide superior in-house design resources for launch brands and successfully collaborating with external agencies.
As the Sr. Art Director for the digital design and UX strategy team, I was deeply involved creating innovative solutions and digital strategies for future implementations throughout the organization. I Collaborated successfully on the creation and launch of ESI’s first mobile app. Design and implement over 100+ million transactional and promotional HTML emails per year. Create site maps and interactive prototyping wire frames for user experience/user interface design of successful web, mobile and tablet properties utilizing the latest technologies and mobile OS, for both corporate & e-commerce websites. Manage internal processes for the handling of all digital assets: images, copy and samples; including internal approvals and distribution to appropriate stakeholders.
At Ogilvy, I led the Future State Visualization team for the organization’s key portfolio projects, playing a crucial role in shaping the strategic direction and visual communication of our initiatives. In this capacity, I was responsible for creating compelling narratives, visualizations, and conceptual prototypes for several prominent pharmaceutical brands. This involved working closely with cross-functional teams, including marketing, product development, and research, to ensure that our visual solutions effectively conveyed the innovative potential and strategic vision of our projects. My work helped to align stakeholders, drive engagement, and provide a clear, aspirational view of our future state, ultimately contributing to the successful advancement of our portfolio initiatives.
Managed and mentored a diverse creative department comprising art directors, UX/UI designers, copywriters, production artists, and freelancers. Provided creative vision and concept design for the QualityHealth site and corporate site properties. Developed full-page corporate print ads for pharmaceutical magazines, including MedAd News, MM&M, and PharmaVoice. Oversaw the daily operations of projects and sessions, including creative direction, budget management, and the recruitment process for both internal staff and freelancers.
Product design involves conceptualizing, developing, and iterating on products to meet user needs and solve specific problems. It encompasses disciplines like user research, ideation, prototyping, and testing to create functional and aesthetically pleasing solutions. Effective product design considers user experience, usability, and market viability to deliver innovative and impactful products that resonate with users and achieve business objectives.
Conceptual prototyping involves creating early models of a product to explore and validate design ideas before full-scale development. It allows designers to visualize and test concepts, identify potential issues, and gather feedback from stakeholders. This iterative process helps refine the design, ensuring that the final product meets user needs and achieves its intended functionality and aesthetics.
Mobile applications, or mobile apps, are software programs for smartphones and tablets, offering functionalities from communication and entertainment to productivity and information access. They leverage mobile device features like touchscreens, cameras, and GPS to deliver personalized user experiences. Essential in today's digital landscape, mobile apps drive engagement, enhance convenience, and provide seamless access to services and information on the go.
Design sprints are time-bound, collaborative processes used to solve design challenges and test ideas rapidly. Typically spanning five days, they bring together cross-functional teams to focus on defining problems, brainstorming solutions, creating prototypes, and gathering user feedback. Design sprints accelerate decision-making and innovation, allowing teams to quickly validate concepts and iterate on designs before full-scale development.
Team Leadership and Development involves guiding individuals to achieve common goals while fostering personal and professional growth. Effective leadership sets clear objectives, provides support, and facilitates open communication. Development enhances team members' skills, encourages continuous learning, and promotes a positive, collaborative environment, driving team success and organizational growth.
UI/UX design and strategy focus on creating user-friendly interfaces and enhancing experiences across digital products. UI design crafts visually appealing layouts, while UX design ensures seamless interactions by understanding user behavior. A well-defined strategy integrates both, aligning design with user needs and business goals for effective, engaging digital experiences.
Agile methodologies are iterative approaches to software development and project management that prioritize flexibility, collaboration, and customer feedback. They emphasize adaptive planning, continuous improvement, and rapid delivery of functional software through short cycles called sprints, usually lasting one to four weeks. This iterative process enables teams to respond swiftly to changes and deliver value to customers more frequently and efficiently than traditional methods.
Design Systems are centralized collections of reusable components, styles, and guidelines that streamline the design process. They ensure consistency and efficiency by providing a single source of truth for UI elements, typography, colors, and more, facilitating collaboration across teams. This approach promotes scalability and maintainability, allowing for rapid prototyping and iteration while maintaining a cohesive and user-friendly experience.
