Redesigned the digital platform of an international Earth and space science nonprofit, consolidating dozens of individual wordpress sites into one cohesive ecosystem emphasizing discovery and exploration.
Creative Direction
UX / UI Design
Digital Branding & Visual Identity
As the Senior UX/UI Designer for Icreon, I was the sole member of the creative team and was responsible for every aspect of the project. I interfaced with clients and internal stakeholders, led workshops and designed and implemented the UX for this project as well as the creative and visual direction.
Through direct and indirect research we immerse ourselves in the client’s business – their current content, visual language, tone and voice, business processes, and goals. We explore their audience – current as well as aspirational, and develop comprehensive personas as guidelines.
Personas are crafted through individual users’ goals and needs, but also the circumstances in which they are engaging with the client’s business – are they relaxed and at home? Traveling? Working? Context and circumstance often drive the most interesting decisions, and only through our careful exploration can we understand and direct those choices. Through mapping this research of business goals and users’ needs, we can identify current pain points and suggest areas of opportunity.
Audiences and personas
Stakeholder Workshops
Mapping user needs
Users’ needs support the shaping and optimization of the content organization and ultimate Information Architecture, which in turn helps us map their journeys and outline specific user flows. By crafting these narratives and pathways – creating the experiences we want for people in accomplishing their goals – and with all our accumulated data informing our decisions and direction, I moved into the next phase of the design process.
Option 1: Report
Option 2: Modern
Option 3: Exploration and Discovery
After compiling our research results and drafting our plans, I began sketching and wireframing, creating the UX structure based on the purpose and direction for each page, projected responsiveness and motion is designed, and interaction models mapped out.
Initial planning and sketches
Streamlined information architecture
In the next phase of the design process, I further developed the designs for more nuanced visuals and motion design. As I designed out the platform, I crafted a visual language for the client’s digital product, and developed a flexible design system of components and interaction models. I designed for growth – with this toolkit and visual library, the digital product is infinitely scalable, adapting to fit new business directions and shifting goals.
Iterations
Menu + Navigation Experiments
Targeted follow-up workshops
Search Refinement Iterations
Throughout our design process, I have my team maintain detailed documentation – decisions made, descriptions of elements, interactions, and motion – and work closely with the client’s team to align priorities, content, and goals, and produce the best combination of business and user needs and experience in the final product.
Flexible system of modular building blocks
Specialized templates
Search refinement
Intuitive navigation
Organization of Meetings and events
Flexible Meeting microsites
Extensive interactive profile for continued engagement
Easy, streamlined processes
Discover new content with Channels
User-generated content channels adds dimension and engagement
Our team’s design process doesn’t stop when development phase starts, and I maintain constant communication throughout the development process. We work closely with our development team to translate concepts and designs throughout the building process, and proactively grow and adapt designs to solve any issues and address any feedback that comes up during development and user testing. Even after the design is “finished,” built, and deployed, we continue to collect data and feedback, evaluate, and design for growth over the life of the digital product.