How I work

DESIGN METHODS

User-centered design is fundamental to my process. I had the privilege of studying with Kim Erwin, Vijay Kumar, Anijo Mathew and Jeremy Alexis at IIT's Institute of Design, and learning their methods. My experience at the University of Idaho gave me the skills to play with and create methods to find the best tools for the problem. I am experienced in methods ranging from sensing intent, understanding context and people, framing insights, exploring concepts and framing solutions to realizing offerings.

DESIGN SKILLS

• Formative research

• Evaluative research

• System Design

• Experience Design

• Strategy/Design Thinking

• Storytelling

• Synthesizing research

• Reframing

• Ideation

• Low fidelity prototyping

• Handling ambiguity

• Iterating

• Empathy

• Communicating ideas

• Facilitating workshops

• Multidisciplinary teamwork

• Project management

• Visual Communication

Fun NON-DESIGN SKILLS

Outside of design, my skills are very diverse. I've studied and taught as a ballroom and swing dancer, calculus tutor and white-water rafter. In working retail for the last decade in conjunction with design, I've come to understand the complexities of service. I've lived all over the US and traveled internationally; including hiking in Iceland and ziplining in Costa Rica. Theatre has also been in interest of mine, studying lighting and costume design, as well as projection mapping for liquid scenery. I'm also quite the nerd, from GMing D&D campaigns, watching anime, Dr. Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, PC, PS4 and board gaming to being a movie trivia buff.