experience
ADPList.org
Volunteer Mentor
Nov 2023 – Present
- Mentoring young designers on UX career paths and professional development
- Recognized as a Top 1% ADPList Mentor in Design Dec 2023 – Feb 2024
Home Depot (contract)
Senior Service Designer
Oct 2022 – Dec 2023 | Remote
- Led program-level B2C service design initiatives within the Home Services CX group
- Discovered service gaps and opportunities through user research, analysis, workshops, design strategy, concept creation, and service blueprinting
- Delivered service design assets, recommendations, and design strategy for future implementation across more than 400 Home Services in over 2,300 stores
Ford Motor Company
Lead UX Strategist
Dec 2020 – Oct 2022 | Hybrid
- Led the UX strategy for omnichannel connected vehicle camera security & monitoring products by defining research plans, user needs, and project scope with global cross- functional teams including product owners, engineers, vehicle programs, and SMEs
- Modernized the team’s UX design process to integrate agile design principles in parallel with program development milestones, leading to increased work output and expedited iteration cycles
- Received 2020 Ford Systems Engineering Innovation Award
Lead UX Designer
June 2019 – Dec 2020 | Hybrid
- Led UX design & research initiatives to define ideal physical and digital solutions for the 2024 Mustang by developing project scope and direction in collaboration with the vehicle team, Ford Performance, Ergonomics, Vehicle Engineering, and SMEs
- Delivered a UX strategy, high-level design concepts, information architecture, wireframes, and interactive prototypes
- Mentored five junior designers to foster growth as designers and professionals
Interaction Designer
June 2017 – June 2019 | On-Site
- Hired to modernize Ford’s UX approach by utilizing a more agile user-centric design methodology
- Owned the blue sky UX strategy for a connected product suite tailored to the hard-core off-road enthusiast in the new 2021 Bronco
- Defined project scope and direction through collaboration with the FordPass app team, Ford Performance, Bronco program, engineering, and SMEs
PR Newswire / Cision
UX Designer
Sept 2015 – June 2017 | Denver, CO
- Led the redesign of all global-facing PR Newswire websites including US, Europe, and EMEA variants, increasing visibility by an average of 1,000,000 unique visitors per month
- Collaborated with global product owners and dev teams in an agile setting on the ground-up redesign of the Cision Communication Cloud media monitoring SaaS
Bob Allen Design, LLC
Owner, Design Lead
July 2010 – May 2017
- Designed products, experiences, and services for small businesses in cooperation with founders, engineering teams, subject matter experts, and marketing professionals
- Solved user problems through design research & analysis, identifying gaps & opportunities, and exploring innovative solutions that best balanced the project needs
Miller Signs, Inc.
Design Manager
July 2012 – April 2015 | Kearney, NE
- Led the restructure of the design management processes to improve the delivery of signage products, improving revenue by 22% in my first year and 45% my third year
- Redesigned their B2C website to increase service offering awareness, modernize to responsive html 5, and meet customer usability needs
University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design, & Planning
Graduate Teaching Assistant
January 2011 – May 2012 | Lawrence, KS
- Supported undergraduate learning of intermediate design principles on a variety of methods and techniques
- Designed and taught a course on interactive exhibition design to a class of twenty students, demonstrating practical design applications in real-world design
University of Kansas Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation
Interaction Designer
August 2011 – March 2012 | Lawrence, KS
- Developed and integrated interactive features to improve SaaS function and usability through use of HCI design expertise
- The scope of my proposals pushed the Center to hire an outside firm to handle the larger bandwidth, helping it to eventually grow from a Kansas-only testing program to a system used in eighteen states nationwide by 2013
- Note: the CETE is now known as The Achievement & Assessment Institute, which has a significantly expanded portfolio since my departure
Heartland Scenic Studio
Design Engineer
June 2007 – August 2010 | Omaha, NE
- Touched all aspects of the build process from project design and management to final assembly and installation
- Increased revenue by over 40% through our team’s efforts during my tenure with the organization
skills
design
- Omnichannel UX & HCI
- Design thinking & methods
- Rapid prototyping
- Ecosystems & frameworks
- Human factors & ergonomics
research
- Applied ethnography
- User interviews
- Qualitative & Quantitative analysis
- Opportunity definition
- Workshop facilitation
leadership
- Design management
- Strategy & planning
- Team & culture growth
- Cross-functional stakeholder engagement
- Mentoring & professional development
tools
- Miro
- Sketch
- Figma
- Axure
- dScout
- Qualtrics
- Jira
- Adobe suite
- Office 365
- Intermediate HTML & CSS
- SketchUp
- AutoCAD
- SolidWorks
education
MA, Design Management
University of Kansas School of Architecture, Design, & Planning
2010 – 2012
Concentration: User Experience
- 2012 KU magna cum laude graduate
- 2010 – 2012 KU Dean’s academic list
- 2011 KU Graduate Teaching Assistant appointment
BFA, Industrial Design
University of Kansas School of Fine Arts
2003 – 2006
Concentration: Social Sciences
General Studies
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
2001 – 2003
Concentration: Paying in-state tuition to save money before transferring to KU