Experience gaps provide the insights for better design and strategy
I specialize in translating what users do to what the data show they need. I convert those needs and gaps into insights that guide stakeholders towards better solutions.
I live in Charlotte, NC and I studied human visual perception at The University of Georgia's Psychology program. Over the past decade, I have used behavioral psychology and quantitative and qualitative research to help provide better experiences in spaces like banking, personal finance, healthcare, and academic publishing.
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What I bring
- Approach
- Behavioral psychology · Quantitative and qualitative research
- Worked in
- Banking · Personal finance · Healthcare · Academic publishing · Education
- Ph.D. in
- Psychology (human visual perception), The University of Georgia
- Based in
- Charlotte, NC
A mix of structured and unstructured spaces
Problems where the product exists but users don't trust it or utilize it
Building the roadmap for new products and exploring untested ideas
Problems where I can foster improvements to the user experience and provide impactful, research-based recommendations that inform design, product, and business decisions are the most exciting and impactful.
How I shape what gets studied, not just execute what is handed to me
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Research lens
User centered research
- Understanding the difference between what users say and do
- Finding the insight: where users intuitively interact with the product
Behavioral science principles
- How users think (mental models, biases)
- How users choose and what they ignore (decision architecture)
Accessible solutions and humility
- How needs change for different users across the lifespan
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Understand the context
- Which phase of build the design is in (discovery, selection or iteration, evaluation)
- What will help stakeholders in their process (design decisions)
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Decide on methodology
- Which methodology suits the design phase
- Logistics: turnaround time, prototyping state, availability of tools, panel characteristics
- Risk to business, to assess urgency, priority, and impact
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Think beyond the result
- Plans for the next iteration or a pivot (null results)
- Keeping an active record of insights for future use
What has changed because of my work
Research impact
- Established reusable process tools for setting up studies and collecting data
- Presented research stories in the internal library to make them more visible and accessible
Design impact
- Helped the design team deliver solutions to 20+ products and 10+ strategy features by using data-driven insights
- Demystified research by sharing process and reasoning behind decisions and insight generation
Product and business impact
- Carved space and time for research in the feature delivery timeline with Product leadership, keeping research 2 to 3 PIs ahead of delivery
- Helped avoid $4M+ in estimated post-implementation remediation costs through strategic efforts