Objective: Baseline test current AlwaysOn app to gain an understanding of the users needs for redesign concepts.

Process: Using Design Thinking methodology, I followed the process of Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.

Empathize: In this stage, my goal was to gain a deep understanding of those using the app to help define the problem. To do this, I created test scripts and lead 30 minute moderated and unmoderated baseline testing sessions with over 20 participants using the UserTesting platform.

The unmoderated tests allowed for quicker turnaround and provided more quantitative data while the moderated tests allowed us to dive deep and gain real qualitative insights from users. Video was required for all participants so my team could observe the facial expressions that went along with each participant’s verbal statements. We wanted to know how users really felt when using the AlwaysOn app.

To improve user testing processes within the UX team, I also introduced and implemented the Lean UX Rainbow Spreadsheet, affinity mapping, and the feedback diagram. This helped drive collaboration and provided an effective way to gather insights for feedback and metric reporting.

Define: Through analyzing the feedback, we learned the core problems were users didn’t feel the content was personalized enough for them and they wanted more guidance through the onboarding process. They weren’t sure what the next right thing to do was and felt the app looked generic and unorganized.

Here’s what the real users were saying:

“I would say it's kind of boring, the interface is kinda drab. It could use some organization [on the homepage].”
– 58, Female

“I wish the thumbnails were a little more personalized to what I want to see. It gives me somewhat of an advertisement or a popup type feeling.”
– 24, Male

“Sometimes the initial page for applications like this explains something small about what the app is rather than just saying the name of it on this page.”
– 32, Female

Ideate: After listening and understanding what the users needed, the problem statement was clear. How might we deliver a more personalized and guided wellness app experience to help members achieve and maintain better health?

To gather ideas, I led brainstorming sessions while encouraging everyone on my team to have an open mind. The goal of these sessions were to generate a wide range of possibilities regardless how wild they seemed. We used InVision sticky notes to collaborate and explore creative solutions.

Wireframe and Prototype: After analyzing ideas and documenting findings, I created concepts to test and validate. To help members resonate more with the content, I added a page where we ask the users what they were interested in so the content is catered to their selections.

Quite a few test participants wished there was more information before signing into the app. To solve for this, we added a splash screen with a tagline to help users understand the purpose of the app. We implemented push notifications to help users who want to receive updates on new content that’s relevant to their personalized health goals.

A personal welcome message was added so members sign-in and feel greeted by their name. We also worked to improve the user’s journey so they feel more guided and know what to do next. The bottom navigation was also updated to help users understand what each icon meant and where they would go upon clicking.

Test: Through testing we were able to validate which solutions were working best and which needed more work. One of the changes made after testing was the tagline was moved from the splash screen to the sign-in screen. This allowed more time for users to read the tagline while they were signing in. An interesting insight we gained from this was learning how much this improvement helped to build trust for users. The new sign-in and onboarding process was shown to be favored by 100% of users.

Real feedback from moderated tests:

“The design is nice and looks modern. I could immediately tell it’s a wellness app.” – 32, Male

“I have no complaints. I like the colors and how it welcomes me with my name as kind of a nice personal touch.” – 27, Female

“I really want to start using it and appreciate the mission of this app. I feel it could help me reach my goals and like that it asks what I actually want vs. just telling me what to do.” – 48, Female

These felt great to hear and were big wins in terms of results and knowing we made a difference!

View Clickable Prototype

View Prototype Demo Video

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Objective: Coaching is an important part of guiding the members to better health and helping them reach their goals. If member’s need or want any assistance, we want it to be as easy as possible to find their coach and reach out. After conducting many usability tests on the current member portal, we honed in on the highest areas participants struggled with the most.

Our team knew we needed to create a fresh coaching experience to better serve the user’s needs. For the website, we did 60 minute moderated baseline tests with 10 participants to conduct qualitative research. We also gathered quantitative data by running a similar unmoderated and task-based test with a different set of users. Both tests worked hand-in-hand to help our team truly understand how real users engage with the portal. After creating concepts, we created additional tests to validate and iterate for an improved experience.

Solution: Previously the coaching section was placed at the bottom and members didn’t even know they had a coach or how to reach out to them. To solution for this, we reworked the page hierarchy to bring the coach section front and center.

Instead of users having to go into their program to message their coach, they now have access to it right on the “My Coach” page. When redesigning for this, one of the questions that came up was, “How will the coach know which program they are referring to when asking for help?”. To solution for this, we added a dropdown that auto-populates with all in-progress activities and even provides the option to ask a general (non-program related) question.

Other solutions: The “My Health Score” page was a new and exciting addition to help solution for member’s who want to know their numbers. After gathering information from their health assessment, test participants frequently had the same questions “What now?” and “Where will this information go?” or “How will it help me to improve my health?”. The goal of this new page is to make it easy for member’s to monitor and improve their health. It’s all about transparency and understanding where to improve. Activities are then recommended based of their results to users take action and improve their well-being.

Problem: Over 80% of Florida Blue employees surveyed were not getting enough career and skill growth within the company.

Solution: Mentor Match was an exciting project created after hours of brainstorming with affinity maps, fishbone diagrams, and mind maps. This innovative mobile application inspires professional growth within the company by simplifying the process of finding mentors. Feedback was gathered from 16 users as well as management and HR stakeholders to ensure a seamless user flow. Updates and new features suggested by the users are were added for further prototype testing before build.

Objective: Collaborate with a team to design a phone app that makes the user’s everyday life easier.  

Solution: The AutoMate app was designed to help young women manage car maintenance and assist in troubleshooting. Over 20 women were surveyed to identify and create personas. After understanding their needs, concepts were created and validated based off their feedback for improvements. Using design thinking, the user interface was developed to streamline tasks for the users while educating and guiding them along the way. The main menu consists of four unique sections to service, fix, maintain, and manage alerts. Photographs accompany step by step instructions to assist the user in easily diagnosing and fixing their vehicle. Modern vector based iconography is used to differentiate each unique category while accompanying text helps users feel confident they are navigating where they need to go. Stylish color combinations and gradients provide a unique experience that grabs the attention of the target female audience. 

Problem: The users previously had to access multiple applications to monitor their metrics and this was time consuming and inefficient.

Solution: As both the lead and only designer on this project, I created the Work Center from scratch to provide users with a much needed centralized place where they can easily track their performance and manage their workload. It started out as a dashboard yet grew to be a larger user-centered design application helping internal employees work more effectively and efficiently by minimizing their workload.

Process: The initial goal was aimed to provide users with a streamlined way to monitor their metrics and work more efficiently. After over 20 hours of initial user shadowing, to better know and understand the users, I began brainstorming ideas and listing out the features they needed most. Initial wireframes were then created in Adobe XD and InVision to test and gather early feedback from 5 focus groups (each with 5-20 users). These were beyond helpful in shedding light to how quickly they work and what they truly needed from this application. A high-fidelity prototype was then created with interactions to capture additional feedback.

I conducted in-person focus groups, in both Jacksonville and Orlando office, and online sessions with users in Miami. Additional features were added like ‘Helpful Links’ and the ability to customize metric tiles. Hover states like overlays and tooltips were added as well as front-end validation like “snackbars or toasts” (in dev. terms) so the users knew if changes were successfully made. I even tested these down to how many seconds they should be displayed on screen before fading off. These are amongst the many other user focused design elements added to Work Center.

The application was then built in React JS and I created spec. sheets outlining HTML and CSS updates for color, type, padding, borders, and more along with dark mode specifications. Ongoing user focus groups along with UX/UI alignment sessions with the developers are currently being conducted to ensure user satisfaction and prototype alignment. The Work Center then was expanded to have a customized view for Leaders/Supervisors, Seniors, and Senior Leaders following a similar process to design for the user’s needs.

Link to prototype: Leader Work Center

Objective: Create a series of posters connecting different IT departments and showcasing their goal in a creative way.

Solution: A series of large posters were created with an innovative space theme. The concept behind surrounds exploring the unknown yet navigating through it together as all teams are needed to ensure end of year success. Spencer Goldbach created the top left and bottom right poster for this collaboration project.

Objective: Create a visually distinct campaign that encourages the target audience to save the bees.  

Solution: The BeeHave Campaign was designed to stand out from currently existing campaigns that aim to save the bees. With the growing impact of social media, it encourages both male and females to “take the world by swarm” by spreading the word and standing up for the efforts to end the use of Neonicotinoid pesticides in plants.

The design decisions used throughout the website and touchpoints are bold and reflect the urgency of the matter. Quirky wording is used in the tagline and website content to further encourage the younger crowd to participate in bee saving efforts. The website promotes the cause by encouraging the user to sign the petition against Neonicotinoid use, donate to the campaign, and purchase products with trendy designs to help spread awareness.

The BeeHave kit was designed to offer an incentive to the consumers. It also increases sales while advertising the campaign and is actively promoted on website’s homepage. 

Objective: Rebranding of the non-profit organization School on Wheels, to set them apart from traditional schools, by reaching out to their target audience in an educational, supportive, and non-threatening way. 

Solution: A unique identity was created that inspires and welcomes the homeless youth to receive educational help at School on Wheels. A whimsical approach was taken to provide the students with a sense that they are able to safely learn and grow. A sense of guidance, safety, and positivity was achieved through the graphic treatment of color, shape, and structure working together to provide a safe learning environment for underprivileged kids. The logo and touch-points provide a sense of hope and inspiration that welcome the homeless youth to trust they will be driven “to a brighter future.” 

Problems:

Due to inconsistent labels, users were getting confused which page they would be sent to.

Users hesitated when hovering over the slide out list, at times closing without clicking the revision.

Users were frustrated by having to go back and forth when clicking through revisions.

Users had to go back to see who edited the revision and what time it was edited.

Users weren’t sure which version was new vs. old.

Solutions:

Created consistent verbiage so users can easily navigate and identify between pages and versions.

Enlarged the slide out and created a hover state so it’s interactions were more noticeable.

Side panel was created so users can easily tab through and compare revisions.

Timestamp was added to all revision pages with name of person who updated the persona.

The layout was changed to organize older and newer versions with a red stroke added to further indicate which fields were changed in a way that stands out to the users.

Side Note: The revision page within EOP (shown to the left) was redesigned by me with the help of user feedback based off the previous version. The EOP application itself (not shown here) was created by another designer prior to my arrival on the team.

Objective: Design exciting, unique, and gender neutral promotional pieces along with a book for UNF’s 2015 Graphic Design and Digital Media Portfolio Show.

Solution: This event was a portrayed as being a movie or show that they worked so hard to finally be ready and have the public view. The 3D anaglyph colors are gender neutral and, when combined with the flat style, looks modern and up to date. The layouts on each individual page have just enough experimentation on the top to keep the overall theme but maintain simpler layouts on the bottom portions to display their work in a neutral/non-distracting manner. The promotional materials communicate a sense of excitement while expressing that the graduates are prepared and ready to land some jobs in the creative field. 

Objective: Create engaging reusable bag designs for customers to purchase at checkout while staying in line with the Winn-Dixie, Fresco y Más, BI-LO, and Harveys brands. 

Solution: Created a variety of bag designs for each retail banner with color, style, and type that communicate the brand while providing engaging illustrations to drive sales. These went through a review process and the images on the left showcase the final review stage before bags were approved and sent for print. I created the Illustrations as vectors on a Wacom tablet allowing for future planned usage on billboards and interior store walls.

Objective: Build an identity system suitable for a boutique in Miami, FL.

Solution: A boutique in Miami deserves a name as hot as the styles as well as the environment. The Fever Fashion Boutique brand was created to appeal to the ladies who are in their prime years and looking to stand out on the beach. The logotype was hand created with a brush pen then refined in illustrator to provide a distinct outgoing flair. The contrast of the type weight, vibrant warm colors, and flaming hot pattern rapidly hint at their mission of providing their target customers with “the hottest fashion in Miami.” Consistent use of brand elements throughout the stationery system, web banners, and touch points emphasize the personality of Fashion Fever Boutique’s brand identity. 

Objective: Create a variety of visually unique illustrations to be used on different home décor products while maintaining the RoomCraft brand aesthetic. 

Solution: With the consumer in mind, various illustrations were created and applied across home décor products ranging from throw pillows, toddler bedding, wall canvas sets and other room coordinates. Fresh patterns, quirky statements, and modern styles were applied to popular décor themes to set the designs apart from the competitors. Additionally, to help distinguish RoomCraft products (such as toddler bedding sets) from other brands, I focused on combining multiple themes that were in popular demand to develop products that appealed to the consumers through the visual content, design/aesthetic, and colors.

Objective: Design a unique package inspired by a fruit with a brand that is able to be expanded upon in the future.

Solution: The organic lemon inspired skin cleansing brand, Citrus Burst, was created. The facial soap package reflects the shape, color and beneficial properties of a lemon. The design of this product is marketed towards young health conscious females who are drawn to fun creative packaging and organic products with fresh citrus scents. A bright yellow color compliments the vibrant pattern used on each unique product such as cleansing wipes and facial toners. Organic type used in the logo and throughout the package offers brand consistency and further connects the consumer to the natural source of the product. Additionally, the brand name Citrus Burst provides the company with valuable potential to expand on other citrus inspired cleansing products.