Work

Due to the confidential nature of these projects, visuals cannot be showcased online.

2018

Learning Platform
Client/Parent Agency: Confidential / RTS Labs
Realized: October 2018 – Present
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

(In progress)

Employment Application
Client/Parent Agency: Confidential / RTS Labs
Realized: June 2018 – Present
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

(In progress)

Interface Design II
Client: ECPI University
Realized: May 2018 - August 2018
Categories: Course Design and Development

This project is focused on the design and implementation of an instructor-led course on advanced interface design and application development. Over the course of three months I developed over 120 pages of course materials (primarily narrative) to provide instruction over a five week timeframe.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Gain additional interface design experience using Figma.
  • Learn how to transform a visual design into working code using Bootstrap and Zeplin.
  • Understand the differences between SPAs and PWAs.
  • Gain valuable technical experience using Gatsby.js, a popular static site generator.
  • Manage their codebase using GitHub.
  • Store and manage content using Contentful.
  • Deploy and manage their application using Netlify.
  • Gain design and development experience using Google’s Material Design System.
  • Create their own design system.

GosuConnect
Client/Parent Agency: Capital One / Aquent
Realized: May 2017 – May 2018
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

During this year-long engagement, I contributed to Capital One’s Tech College, which serves Data Engineering, Machine Learning, and Emerging Technology disciplines. I spent the majority of my time working on a React application called GosuConnect.

GosuConnect was custom-developed to serve as the system through which Associates can apply to become Gosus (read: “subject matter experts”), Deans can vet and designate Gosus, and Gosus can sign up for activities they wish to contribute to. My role was to design the full user experience for this application, which encapsulates separate experience paths for Associates, Gosus, and Deans.

This user experience was realized through a master experience map, wireframes, exhaustive user research, UX analysis guides, and high-fidelity interface design visuals. The application is currently in production.

Interface Design I
Client: ECPI University
Realized: November 2017 – February 2018
Categories: Course Design and Development

This project focused on the design and implementation of an instructor-led course on interface design. Over the course of three months I developed over 100 pages of course materials to provide instruction over a five week timeframe. Leveraging course materials and tools including the Business Model Canvas and Figma, students are expected to realize the following objectives:

  • Explain how UX and UXD fit within a broader business model and value proposition context
  • Create low-fidelity prototypes to address specific business challenges
  • Conduct user research to influence interface design decisions
  • Create high-fidelity interface designs that build from low-fidelity prototypes
  • Apply the use of design guidelines and principles to both low and high-fidelity designs
  • Present their design(s) in an effective and efficient manner
  • Give and receive critique

2017

Presentation Builder
Client/Parent Agency: Confidential / RTS Labs
Realized: March 2017 – April 2017
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

This project centered around the design and implementation of a “Digital Deliverable Platform,” a web application designed to streamline the creation and deployment of interactive digital content presentations to the client’s web and mobile channels.

I designed an experience map and associated wireframes to advance a foundational UI/UX exercise that had been created by a developer several months prior. Once this new “foundation” was designed, I transferred the experience map and wireframes to the UX designer at RTS Labs for refinement, expansion, and use in a multi-year development effort.

Analytics Platform
Client/Parent Agency: Confidential / RTS Labs
Realized: January 2017 – March 2017
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

During this project, I created wireframes and high-fidelity interface designs for a new analytics application used by church community leaders. The project started with an emphasis on interface concepts, but it eventually changed into a wireframing and design exercise focused on online forms and a diverse set of data points.

I realized that a course correction was necessary in order to keep the project on track and drive additional discussions to bridge the gap between the front-end and data management layers. To achieve this, I focused a greater percentage of my time on low-fidelity wireframes, which made it much easier to include/exclude various fields and adjust field positioning without the overhead of styling and aesthetics.

Both the design and the development efforts were well-received by the client. This project will be piloted in November 2017.

Accounts Receivables Intelligence Portal
Client/Parent Agency: Confidential / RTS Labs
Realized: December 2016 – January 2017
Categories: User Experience, Interface Design

In this project, the client desired usability improvements to credit reporting and accounts receivable monitoring products. The client was also interested in the design and implementation of a dashboard that would be presented to the user upon login. While the existing interfaces were functional, their lack of modularity and interactivity had a perceived negative impact on future revenue.

I spent several days analyzing the existing application to identify gaps. After identifying 30+ areas for improvement, I then designed new interface concepts to improve the user experience. This improvement effort encapsulated general user experience updates, aesthetic improvements, and new capabilities.

The client was pleased with the revised design, and core aspects of the solution have since been launched in production.

2016

Small Business Portal Engineering Effort
Client/Parent Agency: PayPal / West Cary Group
Realized: March 2016 – August 2016
Categories: Web Development, Project Management
Parent Agency: West Cary Group

I successfully managed a six-month web development engagement with PayPal, focusing on the Working Capital product and leveraging technologies such as Backbone.js, Grunt, and CSS. My team added new functionality to showcase additional loan and repayment options, introduce new tracking tags across the application, and implement text modifications to support revised disclosures.

This was a challenging engagement as it required considerable technical and organizational expertise and the ability to manage expectations and teams across several time zones.

Please visit PayPal’s Working Capital site to learn more.

Multi-platform Digital Engagement
Client/Parent Agency: GiftCaddies / West Cary Group
Realized: July 2014 – December 2015
Categories: Web Development, Project Management, Interface Design, User Experience

I led the design and development of a mobile application specializing in personalized gift giving and leveraged such technologies and platforms as Heroku, Appcelerator, Node.js, Auth0, and Stripe. I also created a marketing website and administrative portal. My time was spread equally across user experience, interface design, architecture, project management, technical documentation, and back-end development.

I was a member of the three-person team that successfully launched the solution in December 2015. While the iOS version took priority, the Android version was a fast follower in early 2016.

Once the first version of the application was in production, the second phase enabled my team to add a number of new features and improvements to the app, including new Facebook capabilities (sharing) and a new Heroku development pipeline. Recognizing that today’s development teams are measured by how quickly they can promote code into production, I began laying the foundation towards a culture of “continuous integration” and automated code reviews.

The second phase also allowed me to create new support visuals and consolidate a wealth of documentation that had been previously captured across numerous notebooks.

Due to a responsibility transfer and re-platforming decision in late 2016, the visuals shared here are not reflective of the current production environment.

2015

Marketing Portal
Client/Parent Agency: (Confidential) / West Cary Group
Realized: January 2015 – March 2015
Categories: Requirements Analysis, User Experience, Interface Design, Design Strategy

The client, a large retailer, had a number of marketing products and services that targeted a variety for business customers. To improve this complex user experience, strengthen the value proposition, and simplify the underlying marketing message, the client opted to combine the products and services into a single marketing portal for advertising goods and services. My former employer, West Cary Group, was hired to provide interface design assistance. As the lead designer on this project, I provided a turnkey UX solution, including sitemaps, (navigation) decision trees, wireframes, sitemap/wireframe hybrids, and various interface design options.

Commercial Bank Portal Strategy (Capital One – Commercial Bank IT)
Client/Parent Agency: Capital One / West Cary Group
Realized: February 2015 – June 2015
Categories: Design Strategy, Interface Design, Conceptual Design

I served as lead contract designer to improve user experience and provide a new look for Capital One’s Commercial Banking CreditPath application. The combination of improved user experience and an updated appearance ultimately established a design roadmap for this critical application.

Bicycle Race Website
Client/Parent Agency: Capital One / West Cary Group
Realized: February 2015 – June 2015
Categories: Design Strategy, Interface Design, Conceptual Design

I led the UX design and implementation of a wayfinding website for the UCI Road World Championships, a cycling event that attracted more than 645,000 visitors to the Richmond area over the course of 9 days.

The agency I worked for at the time was hired by Richmond 2015, the committee responsible for organizing the UCI Road World Championships, to be the agency of record for the three years leading up to the race. The team created logos, collateral, two websites, signage, and digital and social campaigns.

Richmond 2015 asked us to design and develop a navigational website that was simple and easy to use; the website would serve as a guide for race participants, local residents, and tourists to explore multiple aspects of the elite event.

Marketing Campaign Contest
Client/Parent Agency: (Confidential - International Shipping Firm) / West Cary Group
Realized: June 2015 – September 2015
Categories: Requirements Analysis, Solution Design, Analytics, Project Management

This digital project was focused on incentivizing prospective customers, via an online game, to schedule an appointment and drive social engagement. I partnered closely with the client and the account team to create a project foundation, a framework and set of components designed to strengthen the team’s understanding of the business need. Relevant constraints, the project schedule, and a formal set of requirements were all part of this foundation document.

Once the project foundation and landing page design (“the game”) had high-level approval, my team proceeded with implementation by leveraging front-end JavaScript libraries and back-end APIs using Zapier. Since this marketing portal allowed website visitors to enter a sweepstakes, I also created a comprehensive, multi-step process to determine the winner(s).

Through the successful contributions of my team and the client’s sales and marketing groups, our combined efforts resulted in more than a $1MM return on investment for the company, and a follow-up sweepstakes promotion the following year which achieved even greater success.

2014

Commercial Bank Application Interface Redesign
Client/Parent Agency: Capital One / West Cary Group
Realized: April 2014 – September 2014
Categories: User Research, User Experience, Interface Design

From April 2014 through September 2014, I worked as a lead design consultant for Capital One on a multi-year application redesign initiative.

The 700-member business unit of Capital One’s Commercial Bank uses an online CRM application called Siebel. The user interface and experience fragmented as the application’s usage expanded, resulting in poor user adoption.

Given both the target application’s importance to the bottom line and the associated UX challenges faced by its user community, the Capital One Commercial Bank unit and its IT team dedicated resources to redesign the interface and improve the user experience. The first step was to conduct formal interviews with the user community to understand the pain points; this process ultimately generated 700+ comments.

I then established a macro-level strategy for the redesign effort that would assist in evolving the application to increase user adoption and long-term usage. Once I created and socialized the strategy, I worked closely with members of the IT team to understand how the application was being used. This knowledge helped me and my team to advance the design from a “flat” information/navigation hierarchy to one that was more “guided” in its approach.

With time, the design effort transformed into a full-scale development effort, and my recommendations were implemented into a new release of the application.

2010

Portfolio Website
Client: Ransone Builders
Realized: June 2010
Categories: Design Strategy, Interface Design

For this project, I formulated new designs to replace the existing web presence for a local builder. However, I wanted to step beyond the graphic design need to obtain a true understanding of the client’s long-term business vision and then work backwards to make the web presence reflect that vision.

Prior to this engagement, I had read Marty Neumeier’s Zag book series, which highlights the need for organizations to truly differentiate themselves in order to achieve long-term success. I took aspects of Neumeier’s work and combined them with my own ideas to map out a high-level strategy for Ransone Builders. This strategy was centralized around a forward-looking client testimonial and worked backwards from that point to define the message: In essence, what do we (collectively) need to do to ensure the client is satisfied?

Once the testimonial was defined, I then proceeded to call out words that described not only the Ransone customer but also Ransone Builders by asking, “What are the themes that resonate across both players?” This combined exploration allowed me to think about the emotional element that the brand design needed to convey.

Once the themes were defined, I then proceeded with the graphic design. Since the builder had shared photographs of past work, I combined these in a unique but modern way to show that he and his team possessed valuable experience while also permitting visitors to click on each image to see the project results.

Unfortunately, the builder was ultimately unable to pursue the project. Still, I learned several key principles from this engagement: Solid graphic design can come from unexpected places, and understanding business strategy and direction is central to developing an effective brand strategy.