Hello, I’m Anna. I’m a Product Designer with 8 years experience.
I specialize in UX strategy & UI design.
UX Strategy
As with any strategy, you cannot develop a plan of action without knowing what you are working towards. I begin every project with a mission to understand the business and the user goals that are driving the initiative. For product decisions to be effective, they need to be in service of a clear goal, metric, improvement, etc.
Basically, what is the value added?
The value added can be determined through a mix of factors, such as industry/market standards, competitive products, leadership initiatives, engineering effort/cost and existing product functionality. Determining which factors are applicable to the current problem I am solving totally depends on the context of the problem and the intended outcome.
UI Design
The culmination of this understanding of strategy is usually experienced through a digital interface. After 8 years, I have experience designing for all screen sizes across many platforms. Beginning my career in visual design with a BFA in Graphic Design, I am very comfortable working with existing and creating new UI patterns and layouts.
Important supporting skillsets
Interaction design
Bridging the gap between UX and UI is Interaction Design. To effectively apply the principles of Interaction Design, I focus on how to appropriately communicate with users. Some questions I may ask myself: “How will users know what actions they can perform?”; “How will users know what actions will lead to other actions?”; “How will users know when they are finished with their intended action?” These basic inquiries help me guide users to successfully utilizing the product.
UX Research
Talking to users, stakeholders and other relevant persons is an important part of any product design process. I have experience sourcing interviewees, writing interview guides, moderating interviews and then synthesizing and sharing discoveries with teammates.
Pattern Design
To properly translate UX and product decisions into a usable interface, I first need to determine which UI patterns and layouts are appropriate. Proper reuse of existing patterns is better for usability (users can figure out new flows by their similarities to existing flows) and for development speed.
Agile Method
All of my previous teams have used some version of agile development. I am very comfortable keeping pace with sprint cycles. I work closely with engineers and product managers, as well as marketing, sales, support, etc. Frequent communication and collaboration is key to finishing projects with all requirements met.
Start-up experience
I have experience on small teams as well as being the first and only designer on my product team. I am very comfortable working independently and getting up to speed quickly on requirements.
