UX is understanding the needs and pain points of the user, and making usable and accessible products that solve their problems.
Making users’ interactions faster, smoother, more engaging.
That’s always been my focus as a designer. Whether in UX or publication design, successful design is closely tied to the designer’s ability to understand how users will consume their product.
Designing from the start
By the time I got to college I’d already redesigned the high school newspaper into a magazine and worked at a daily newspaper and an alternative weekly. So naturally I set my sites on… marketing? Within a few weeks I recognized my heart was truly in design.
After a move to New York, I worked in publishing for Conde Nast, Time Inc., Hachette, and Hearst on titles like Real Simple, Details, People, CosmoGirl, and Saveur. But what I really enjoyed was helping shape those magazines to better engage readers. So I joined Roger Black Consulting as a magazine redesign specialist, where I executed redesign projects for Newsweek, the National Geographic Society and American Media, among others.
Once I headed out on my own, I worked with Universal Music Group, Random House, The Smashing Pumpkins, the University of Texas School of Law, and Texas Monthly Custom Publishing.
You can see a selection of print and other traditional work in my other portfolio.
What I love
Ultimately what I enjoy is being part of creative, collaborative environments. I’m always up for new challenges and I’m at my happiest when I feel I’ve improved a user’s life, if only for a moment. I am serious about listening to the client and the user, and I’m dedicated to finding a way to serve both without compromise.
When I’m not designing, you can find me creating musical doodles on my iPad or trying to convince my terriers that I am, in fact, the boss of them.
