Below is a sample of past projects spanning design, research, and independent initiatives.
Morgan Stanley: Spending and Budgeting tool
Budgeting tool
Design
Research
Strategy
Morgan Stanley wanted to end their dependence on a vendor experience that was lacking, so I was tasked with designing a comprehensive budgeting system that would live inside of the MS ecosystem.
This project was nominated for a 2022 Banking Tech award for Best Use of IT in Private Banking/Wealth Management.
Understanding the complexity was the first step. Not only could a user have multiple linked accounts, they could also have several levels of categories and preferences. They may want to see their activity in ranges of months or years. They may want summaries or details. I started by mapping out these complexities based on a list of MVP requirements we had agreed upon as both a business and product team.
One of the things we heard from our users was that creating a budget could be overwhelming. Many people we talked to had abandoned their budgeting apps and were using spreadsheets that they updated manually. With that in mind, I simplified the creation process as much as possible and used a friendly, supportive voice. Throughout the process, the question was: What is the smallest amount of information that we could give/receive and still ensure the user had confidence in the end result?
This had a 100% success rate in both completion and comprehension when tested with users.
Victoria’s Secret, PINK, VS Sport: Site and brand evolution
Product page
Design
Research
Strategy
For over three years I served as the UX Lead on the Product Detail Pages for Victoria's Secret, PINK and VS Sport. Collaborating with a fully agile product team, I participated in a site redesign and two roadmap creations and builds while also completing two-week sprints.
By focusing on one part of the customer’s journey, across three brands, I was able to ensure that the customer’s experiences and interactions were consistent and elevated while they were in the decision-making stage of their journey. My goal was to simplify while still maintaining brand and business needs.
The product part is a vital part of the experience and included complex size guides, reviews, images, product details, and recommendations. All of these parts had to come together in a way that made the customer feel confident in their decision while also having a pleasant experience.
Morgan Stanley: 401(k) Projections Research
Onlinle planning experience
Research
Strategy
While finances can lack excitement, it rarely lacks emotion. When it comes to planning for the future, people tend to experience stress, fear, and sometimes shame. I conducted 1:1 interviews to understand if participants understood a new planning process but we learned a lot about how people approach the topic and were able to adapt the experience to be more gentle. Working collaboratively with the designer and business team, we were able to update our designs throughout the test and in the end, they had a strong launch and I was able to provide research results on three different designs of one experience, all within our timeline.
For this research, I recruited look-alike participants that represented three client segments. I had a diverse range of ages, genders, financial experiences, and education. One of the consistent themes that showed up immediately is that people have a lot of apprehension about planning for retirement. As I moved through the research we adapted the test to the feedback and ended up adding an information screen as well as softening some of the language and images participants saw.
Part of the test included a series of charts. We were also able to adapt the charts to the feedback and the design team ended up using a third iteration as their final design.