Turning complex workflows & ambiguis projects into impactful product solutions.
Hi, I'm Lisa, a Lead UX Designer & Researcher with 10+ years of experience transforming complex, often data-heavy systems into intuitive digital products. Stepping in as a true product partner, I leverage user research, business goals and cross-functional leadership to bring clarity and experience design direction to ambiguous projects.
My background spans leading solutions for enterprise tools, B2B applications, IT tools, financial platforms, and consumer B2C experiences.
Selected Works
Application Redesign
A large scale redesign of an Application Management product. Unifying 3 powerful applications and converting them from thick client apps to a SaaS product in order to expand customer base through an improved user experience.
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Partnering with a 3rd party design firm, we provided the framework for a new Business Service product that gave insight into SLAs and IT services. I then continued as a lead Product Designer for the future phases of the product.
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Foundational Direction for
New Business Service Product
A redesign of CA Technical Support's website with a goal of reducing support calls and improving customer satisfaction. Providing a seamless experience for customers trying to find solutions to technical issues.
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Technical Support Portal
Pro Bono Work
Pro bono web design projects for local small businesses and non-profit organizations
during 2015-2020 career break. Below is a sample of my work. Select a thumbnail for an overview of each project.
My Design Philosophy
Good product design must bring value to the company, value to the customer, and be well built.
Start with the problem, not the solution.
Remember the difference between what you think users do and what they actually do.
The importance of a company being able to profit from a product, the product solving a customers problem, and the product working well should all be aligned. Further shows the value in working as a team as not one part is more valuable than the other.
Starting with the root cause of a problem enables you to explore many different solutions that could help you resolve the problem, rather than getting attached to one solution prematurely.
It can be tempting to think you know what your users would do, feel or think. While I might empathize well with my users I need to remember that I am not the user and must not make assumptions on their behalf.
My Ideal Approach*
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
GET TO KNOW THE PROJECT TEAM
Introductions, roles, expectations, high level design scope.
DISCOVERY / RESEARCH
Understanding the problems you are trying to solve, the users & their needs, any constraints.
SYNTHESIZE & SHARE FINDINGS
Update strategic document/roadmap & design plan.
USER JOURNEY
Deep dive into the user journey and exploring personas, stories, task flows.
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
DESIGN EXPLORATION
Brainstorming, design sessions to explore solutions. Designing / prototyping and testing solutions. Design language.
DESIGN REFINEMENT
Refining chosen design direction, final content & visual design, prepare for engineering hand off.
HAND OFF
Work with engineering teams to ensure successful implementation.
MONITORING
Monitor performance to ensure success criteria met & discover possible enhancements.
* While this is my ideal approach it is important to note that the ideal approach is not always applicable. I find that one must be flexible as the actual approach often depends on many factors such as the project, resources, timelines, & constraints.
Work Experience
Sr. Designer User Experience
Empower, Remote, August 2022 – Current
Drive the end-to-end design of data-intensive internal tools by transforming user needs into intuitive solutions that streamline workflows and enable informed decision making. Project highlights:
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Designed multi-view dashboards that simplified complex monitoring workflows, delivering real-time and historical insights to improve monitoring and accelerate problem resolution.
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Led navigation redesign for an enterprise portal migration, aligning 10+ business teams through workshops, research and iterative designs to deliver a streamlined navigation that improves findability.
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Redesigned dashboards, creating reusable templates and visualization patterns that helped users identify bottlenecks, analyze progress and drive continuous improvement.
Product Designer, Contract Returnship program
Heap, Remote, April 2021 – August 2022
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Researched user needs and pain points in Heap integrations and partnered with product and engineering to simplify setup, configuration and permissioning for a more intuitive experience.
Career Break
August 2014 – April 2021
Took on small independent UX design projects for nonprofit organizations while stepping away from full-time work.
Principle Product Designer
CA Technologies, N.Y., April 2006 – August 2014 (Resigned to spend time with family)
I successfully led the design of user experience solutions for a range of large web applications in the IT sector, including but not limited to Data Visualization, Business Dashboards, Automation, Application Performance Management, Dev Ops, and Customer Support solutions.
My responsibilities included conducting research & strategy initiatives, concept generation, the creation of all interaction design artifacts and related validation testing, vendor management, project management of UX deliverables, driving cross functional collaboration and relationship management.
Vice President, Information Architect
Credit Suisse, N.Y., October 2005 – April 2006
I was responsible for gathering business and end user needs and interpreting the data to design and validate strategic, compelling and user friendly financial web applications.
Senior Information Architect
Prudential Financial, N.J., April 2001 – September 2005
I conducted user interviews, stakeholder workshops, concept testing and UX evaluations in order to define strategic direction, user experience and functional processes for large-scale insurance, retirement services, and investment digital solutions.
Senior Information Architect
Rare Medium, N.Y., October 2000 – March 2001
Responsibilities included conceptual design, content strategies and content taxonomies, as well as authoring design focused deliverables such as site maps, workflow diagrams, wireframes and functional specifications to communicate direction to cross functional teams.
Senior Information Architect
Grey Interactive, N.Y., March 2000 – September 2000
Identified, gathered and analyzed client and end user requirements in order to define strategic direction, user experience, site organization, navigation, and functional processes for a broad range of Internet solutions. Solutions included: Covergirl.com, Elizabeth.com, INGdirect.com, areas of Lizclaiborne.com, Robertallendesign.com, nylottery.org, jif.com, Salesafari.com.
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
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Pro bono web design: Sugar Rush Bakeshop (2015), Greenlawn Civic Association (2016), Sustainable Costa Rica Center (2016), Core Connection NY Therapy (2017)
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Information Architecture teacher at the Katharine Gibbs School, NY, NY, 2001
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Lead Information Architect focusing on Investment digital solutions for Rare Medium, NY, NY 2000-2001
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Consultant for developing guidelines for A&E sales presentation materials. NY, NY, 2001
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Senior Information Architect for Grey Interactive, NY, NY, 2000. Designed experiences for Covergirl.com, INGdirect.com, M&Ms.com, Lizclaiborne.com, Robertallendesign.com, nylottery.org, & jif.com
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Information Architect Consultant for AOL MovieFone.com, Remote, 2000
EDUCATION:
B.F.A., Graphic Design, Long Island University, C.W. Post
Acknowledgements
“Lisa was one of the best hires I've made. She's sharp, savvy, and has a strong balance between her design skills and business acumen. She has strong leadership and communication skills and can bring together people from around the organization. She was instrumental in several projects including the complete redesign of CA's online support skills. She has the ability to lead a UX group and she has my highest recommendation.”
Direct Manager, CA Technologies
“Lisa is an exceptional UX Architect. I worked with Lisa, while we were building an innovative cloud management product from the ground-up. Lisa was very active in the customer meetings as part of the requirements gathering process. She worked very well with the engineering and product management teams to translate the requirements into meaningful user interactive workflows in the product. Lisa is a very collaborative person and a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend her! ”
Product Manager, CA Technologies
“Lisa is a creative, flexible, highly professional and enthusiastic UX Designer and Information Architect. She's also a wonderful team lead, and great fun to work with - even remotely! We worked together on a high-profile, forward-looking project where she was the Product Design Architect (out of NY) and I was a senior designer (out of CA). The product was highly technical and complex, but she ramped up quickly and was able to start producing her own wireframes while resourcing, coordinating, and mentoring several other designers. Lisa engaged closely with Product Managers and Engineering Architects, as well as other designers, and accepted and incorporated their feedback. She also gave excellent feedback to others, urging greater simplicity in the UI and a clean visual design. Among her many talents is the ability to identify requirements, prioritize, and strategize goals and tasks. I strongly recommend her to any company with a challenging set of design problems”
Peer / UX Designer, CA Technologies
“The Product Manager mentioned that he previously worked with Lisa on the Oblicore project, was really impressed with her work, and knew that if he got us involved and we did the same level of work on this project that she did it would be a huge success.”
Sr. Management, CA Technologies