Capital One

NEXT GEN DECISION MAKING DESIGN

Modernized investing research functionality and user flow for optimal user experience on both web and mobile platforms based on user testing and Design Thinking workshops.

PROJECT OUTPUT

Product Vision, Wireframes, User Flows, Prototypes, Research Plans & Findings, Design Specification

COLLABORATED WITH

Product Management, Brand Strategy, Engineering

MY ROLE

Led collaboration efforts of multi-disciplinary team driving design objectives and research plan. I clarified customer needs, delivered designs, and guided implementation.

THE STORY

Capital One Investing (the self-directed trading platform that Capital One eventually sold to ETrade) was ready for a redesign of the Investing Research platform. I led the redesign which was necessary to modernize the most heavily trafficked pages in the user flow that drove revenue.

The Customer Problem

Investing research heavily drives active self-directed trading (buy and sell). Capital One Investing's research experience was not optimized for Investor research on-the-go. Customers reported getting easily overwhelmed with information overload and using multiple platforms for research before making a trading decision. The experience drove customers onto other platforms and sometimes delayed a transaction due to a poor mobile experience. In short, the high revenue driving user flow was also causing customer attrition.

The Process & Solution

Leading this effort, I immediately put the existing experience into user testing and unpacked the results with the entire team. This quickly revealed the customer's priority for the elements in the experience relevant to making a trade. The team collaborated to gather and analyze competitive and analogous experiences. Then we took these inputs into a Google Ventures Design Sprint, an intense 5-day project to identify and align our goal with customer needs, ideate, iterate, and test multiple solutions. This process revealed that the team had a huge opportunity to introduce simplicity and agility into a customer's experience of not just researching, but researching and placing a trade seamlessly.

The Result

This customer-first collaborative effort was a big win for my team because we jump-started a redesign for a simplified, well-informed, self-directed research experience on the same platform that they trade on whether they were on their mobile or desktop device.

I also partnered closely with the engineers to guide implementation and make minor adjustments during the build process which resulted in time efficiency and breaking down potential communication barriers.

Summary

With my project leadership, we uncovered a deeper customer problem that empowered the team to iterate on a design solution that will delight customers, increase revenue, decrease attrition and set the company apart in the industry. This was a leadership milestone I hold to high esteem not just because of the result, but also because the team appreciated my role in activating their input and truly understanding the customer problem.

Amazon.com

DIGITAL AUTHOR PRESENCE BREAK THROUGH

Redesigned the platform’s author pages to not just increase sales, but to be a meaningful end user experience by iterating and relentlessly pursuing a successful UX.

PROJECT OUTPUT

Design Tenets, Wireframes, Design Comps, Prototypes, Research Plans & Findings, Design Specifications

COLLABORATED WITH

Product Management, Engineering, Visual Design, VP and SVP of Kindle Content Ecosystem

MY ROLE

Design lead that drove a multidisciplinary team to deliver a collaborative concept, design objectives and research plan. Owned and was responsible for chartering the product’s design vision and strategy across teams and up to the SVP level. Design ownership included synthesizing designs, conducting research, analyzing and making recommendations based on insights.

THE STORY

Amazon Author Pages (the part of the store you see when searching for an author or clicking on their name) was looking dated and was hurting the company’s author relations. I led the redesign that was needed to modernize and boost revenue generated through these pages.

I joined the team during a push to increase the prominence of authors’ social content on this page. The intent was to replace an author’s need for a custom professional website.

The Customer Problem

Customers were using the page as a filter to find books to buy. Meanwhile, authors relied on Amazon to sell their books, so they could spend their time writing rather than marketing themselves by updating multiple social platforms.

Additionally, site instrumentation showed there was a sharp fall-off as users scrolled down on the page, giving limited space for the content to fill a customer’s need and solve the author’s needs of effectively selling their books and having a strong, marketable social presence.

The Process & Solution

I led the redesign by collaborating closely with the team in workshops introducing Design Thinking methods to explore broadly and iterate relentlessly. Ultimately, I recommended an approach that capitalized on the business intent while turning the strategy around 360 degrees for bigger impact. The redesign displayed the author’s books prominently at the top and integrated their existing social media activity in a constrained space. I made this pitch successfully to the affected teams across the company and up to the VP level.

This design introduced a new sales funnel by letting customers subscribe to receive notifications when authors release new books. This was incubated by my team and we found that customers who clicked on these notifications purchased the books at a rate of over 80%. I placed this button in the most prominent space at the top of the page right under the author’s profile picture. This feature was ultimately owned by another team which had their own priorities that included a more generic label for this button that lost it’s critical context. Knowing the power of this functionality when executed well, I stepped up my collaboration effort with this team through influence and actionable efforts with the Designer and Product Manager. While I conducted Usability testing and presented the findings, deep collaboration with their team leads allowed me to provide a recommendation that met their needs while also ensuring the success of this important new revenue driver.

The Result

This feature was launched incrementally in an A/B test and scaled up to 100% before being localized for international marketplaces. It received critical acclaim during interviews with authors and in the press. In a tweet, one author stated they will be linking to this page rather than their own site.

A fun fact about this design is that it appeared on the silver screen in the film Ghostbusters. Look for it when the fictional character Erin Gilbert, played by Kristen Wiig, learns of the publication of a book she had co-authored with Abby Yates, played by Melissa McCarthy.

Summary

With my leadership and drive, a multi-disciplinary team devised a unique and modern approach that aligned the customer, author, and business needs. The pages went from being a simple customer filter to a proactive book-selling page and an active social media marketing tool for the authors.

I coordinated across multiple lines of business and managed competing concerns while bringing in user insights that led to the launch of a successful new way to capture future revenue for Amazon and authors. This outcome means so much to me, not only because of its obvious tangible success, but especially because my leadership introduced the power of Design Thinking methods to stakeholders across disciplines and the broader organization.

Amazon.com

UX DELIVERS COMMUNITY GROWTH

Increased user activation and engagement on publishing-focused site for authors by advocating for user experience needs.

PROJECT OUTPUT

Design Tenets, Wireframes, Design Comps, User Flows, Prototypes, User Research Plans & Analysis, Design Specifications

COLLABORATED WITH

Product Management, Community Strategy, Engineering, Visual Design, Design Direction, VP and SVP of Kindle Content Ecosystem

MY ROLE

Led cross-team efforts to enhance product and grow community by driving design objectives and research plan. I aligned vision and product strategy across multiple teams, clarified customer needs, delivered designs, and guided design implementation.

THE STORY

Write On needed to grow its community to thrive and ultimately produce valuable content for the Amazon Kindle bookstore. I joined the team when the site had basic functionality that enable authors to share their works-in-progress, connect with early readers, and get feedback. But, it lacked levers to drive engagement and growth and had a visual appearance that some described as "DIY". I took on the role of identifying how UX could improve the Write On community with the intent to drive growth and engagement. I also led and oversaw a complete visual refresh that elevated the site's professionalism.

The Customer Problem

Many writers rush to publish their works independently and find that they get little response in the market, or worse, receive reviews criticizing the quality of their writing. Some writers aspire to sign with a publishing house and believe they just need a way to prove their work and connect with readers prior to hiring an agent.

The Write On Community was Amazon’s way of solving this customer problem. However, they found that they were just merely missing the mark showing low engagement, lack of growth and a lackluster visual appearance.

The Process & Solution

I led the Product Manager, Community Manager, and Engineers in Design Thinking methods by planning, conducting, and analyzing user interviews. I synthesized designs and practiced rapid iteration in order to get to a design that truly connected the writers to the community and enable story discovery. I also led a brand and visual design refresh by engaging and guiding Visual Designers in an internal consulting group on this work. I guided the vision and maintained alignment with stakeholders across Kindle Content and up to the VP level as I upheld a high-bar overseeing the implementation of this redesign.

One of the most vital parts of this experience was a commenting interaction that let authors get feedback while workshopping their stories. At one point, leadership asked for a redesign of this functionality, and directed that this should behave like the inline comments that were available at the time on Medium.com. By rapidly prototyping, running user testing and user interviews, and especially by inviting all stakeholders including the engineers, we discovered together that this behavior did not match the customers needs. This version, which was nearly a copy of our competitor, was estimated at 6 months of engineering effort.

The Result

By iterating and collaborating with both the engineers and product owners on inline commenting, I was able to recommend a simpler solution which truly delighted our writers and cut engineering time to only one month. Before this update was launched, Medium announced that they were abandoning the inline commenting behavior that originally sparked this effort.

Iteration of top funnel experiences drove me to design the Feature Banner, which instrumentation data and customer surveys showed was the primary driver of customer activation and engagement. To address the learning that some writers felt their work was going “into a void” I conceptualized, pitched, and delivered the design for Story Shuffle, which enabled serendipitous story discovery and drove activation and engagement of lesser known writers on the site.

As a result, users were able to get meaningful feedback on their work. Some of the writers self-published their works while a few even signed with Amazon Publishing through the Kindle Scout program.

And, the visual refresh was a big hit with the community. One of my colleagues said we’d “removed the dinge” from the site and one customer commented that it felt like we’d “turned the lights on”.

Summary

With my design leadership, we invented and built in levers that enabled the community to grow and achieve their goals to improve their writing and develop quality content for the Amazon Kindle bookstore.

I also enabled the team to dig deeper and uncover the customers' true needs, which averted a costly error regarding the roadmap for inline commenting, the site's most core functionality.

Amazon.com

Kindle First

A highly successful promotional program and marketing tool for Amazon Publishing on the digital store for Amazon.com, Kindle Fire, and eInk.

ROLE

When I started this concept was defined in designs that offered customers early access to books to ensure reviews and a search ranking ahead of the release. While the business value was clear, there were questions around whether customers would understand the details of the discount that applied to their selection of only one out of four titles that were offered for a limited time each month.

I was brought in to build a prototype for the web experience, which identified a number of content and usability issues which would have interfered with customer's understanding and use of the promotion. These were corrected, then I created wireframes and designed comps for the eInk experience shown here.

Self Promotion

A self-promotional concept imagining how the magic of Disneyland could be brought onto the Apple Watch.

ROLE

This was an independent exploration that I did on my own for fun during the excitement when wearable technology was new and unknown. I generated the concepts, sketched wireframes, and designed the comps.

WIREFRAMES

These sketches were created on paper in two passes, first in pencil and then in ink. The approach taken here was quite different than that demonstrated in my other projects, especially Investing Research, Author Pages, and Write On. In those projects a large number of very rough sketches were used to develop concepts while managing and eliminating ambiguity in collaboration with my team. However, for this project I was working alone and was racing to capture a vision. I include this here to show my range and demonstrate that while following an iterative creative process is important, there are circumstances where it's appropriate to quickly proceed into synthesis.

This also is a good example of an important principle I always strive to follow of starting with content first, visualizing concepts in their earliest form with copywriting that makes the ideas and intent of the design as clear as possible. I revised the writing and designs in each pass as I went from pencil, to ink, and then to pixels.

CONCEPTS & DESIGNS

In my research for this project I'd learned about the MagicBand; Disney's custom wearable tech that tracks guests' locations at Disney World. The designs below assume a future where these bands work in combination with your iPhone and Apple Watch to:

Give you a personal greeting when you arrive
Provide reminders to help you track a custom plan
Get guidance to destinations within the parks
View and compare wait times
Phone for assistance
Find your family members on a local map
Get notified when an extreme wait time will be alleviated with character visits

This is an example of the Working Backwards process, an approach used at Amazon, which starts at a very high-level by envisioning an ideal experience from the customers' perspective. What is actually being invented here is a business model, which touches on technology with front-end and backend systems as well as manual processes and systems. This method makes it possible to rapidly evaluate the value proposition of such a model very early on and with minimal investment and risk.

Start-up

A web-based service for sending money overseas from a mobile phone or on a desktop.

ROLE

As the Designer at a small startup, I was responsible for conceptualizing and building the user interface.

I collaborated with the team to define the product and rapidly visualized it in wireframes, produced and iteratively improved design comps, and provided functional client-side HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Self Promotion

A self-promotional business concept for a Tumblr client that would incentivize bloggers to promote Nordstrom products.

ROLE

I came up with the concept, designed the interface for web and mobile, developed the iOS native prototype, and presented the work while interviewing for a potential role in the Nordstrom Innovation Lab.

This was developed in XCode 4 as a first-time exploration of Objective-C and Storyboards in InterfaceBuilder.

Microsoft

Dotastic

A social to-do app that combines game mechanics with social pressure to get things done.

ROLE

As a UX Designer and Client-side Developer on a small incubation team at Microsoft Research, I was responsible for adapting Dotastic to the Windows Phone design language as well as implementing all of the native code in XAML and C#.

I was a member of an agile team, participated in daily scrum meetings, owned the experience, closed out bugs, and shipped to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Innate Media

Crux

An easy check-in app for Facebook on the Windows Phone.

ROLE

As the sole creator on this independent project, I was responsible for the concept, design, development, and quality control.

This was the most sophisticated of 3 apps that I independently released to the Windows Phone Marketplace, leveraging the devices camera and location services as well as the Facebook Graph API.

Microsoft

Xbox 360

The operating system UI for Microsoft's second generation game console.

ROLE

As a prototyper supporting usability studies, I produced interactive game-pad driven interfaces using Adobe Flash that simulated the UX for the dashboard, in-game messaging, marketplace, video chat, and the in-store KIOSK.

I also participated in heuristic reviews, quality control, and provided UX recommendations.

HTC

TouchFlow

The software on HTC's flagship line of smart phones.

ROLE

On a small team of consultants, I developed an Adobe Flash based platform for rapidly prototyping. I built prototypes used in concept demonstrations and usability studies.

I also worked on-site with the client helping them to leverage the platform, and supported development of the device UI and product quality control in HTC's Mode9 and Lua.

Photo by Lili Kovac on Unsplash

No matter your job or role in life, sometimes you’ll need to get others to do what you want.

To simplify things a bit, you have two ways of doing this:

Force them to do it
Have them want to do it

Simply telling people what you need them to do may seem like the straightforward approach, but this is the Chinese finger trap of human relationships. No one wants to be told what to do. Most people resent it and may exert many times the amount of energy rejecting the idea than it would’ve taken them to honor your request.

In large companies, you often see people appearing to comply with requests they are actively seeking to ignore.

So unless you have a great deal of power, #1 isn’t a great option. Even when you have such power, the idea that you can force people to do what you want them to do can be an illusion. Making people comply with a request can be a pale shadow of bringing out that same person’s best work.

But going in the opposite direction can work magic. Let’s start with an example even an eight-year-old can understand:

My daughter hated getting ready to go to school in the morning; her plan was always to stay in her pajamas and watch TV. Simply telling her what needed to be done provoked an outright refusal.

But when I told her, “You’re the boss of getting ready,” a magical change occurred. I gave her a timer and told her that it was up to her to have everything she needed ready when it was time to go out the door. As soon as she was ready, she could watch TV for as much time as she had left. After that she began coming to me and saying, “Dad, it’s time to go!”

Things are much different with co-workers, of course. You don’t have the advantage of being able to ration TV time or — when all else fails — to tuck them under an arm and carry them where they need to go. But a subtle variation of this technique can be every bit as effective.

For example, in my design work, one challenge I’ve had is introducing researchers to the idea of conducting a particular kind of study they hadn’t used before. When I first brought this up, they immediately began explaining all the reasons it wouldn’t work and made every effort to de-prioritize the work.

Later, when starting a similar project, I took a more empowering approach. I said, “You’re in charge of this. Let’s do it your way,” and I asked how they would go about learning what we needed to know. They came back with an approach that covered part of the need, and with some collaboration we came up with essentially the technique I’d previously mentioned. Only now the researcher felt ownership over the work and was eager to carry it out.

The next time you have a clear picture of what needs to be done and who needs to do it, try finding a way to empower the person who needs to act. Once people feel respected and empowered, they are much more likely to listen to your suggestions.

One more thing: don’t be surprised when people come up with an even better way to move forward than the one you had in mind. A huge part of empowering others is to be open to the possibility that they can develop original ideas and solutions.

Photo by Pawan Sharma on Unsplash

Like it or not, people judge your ability and ideas on the energy you project. Even Superman gets ignored when he puts on the mild demeanor of Clark Kent. Like Superman, having a commanding presence is something you can control.

This is counter-intuitive, but it’s an emotion that is self-reinforcing. So if you aren’t feeling great about yourself, particularly at a moment when you need to be on, try these tips.

1. Smile

Don’t strain, just lightly turn up the corners of your mouth and beam gladness from your eyes. You’ll feel things brighten as the feedback loop works between your face and your brain. See, you’re fine. Everything’s fine. It must be — just look at your face.

2. Relax

Imagine your body filling up with liquid confidence. Like in those guided meditations, it may be a glowing thick syrup. Confident people are typically relaxed and free of any sudden or erratic movement. You should feel stronger as it fills your thighs, chest, and biceps. It’s pure strength.

When it reaches the top of your scalp, picture a steady flame over your head. Let it center you and pull you upright.

3. Focus

Being well prepared in the first place is the best source of confidence. If you do your homework and you know your stuff, it will show. When interviewing or presenting, having questions or talking points memorized will work wonders. Also, try envisioning the moment ahead of time and see yourself achieving a successful outcome.

4. Recover

Okay, so you might do all this and still something unexpected comes up that throws you off your game. They ask that one question, or you realize you didn’t account for something. Or your nervous. That’s fine — you’re fine. Don’t let it ruffle your countenance.

Square your shoulders and place your feet firmly on the ground. If your hands are shaking at all, keep them in your lap and don’t bring them into view. Take time to gather your thoughts before speaking and be deliberate. Listen more and say less in this situation.

5. Flow

Alright, so everything is way off script. The demo isn’t working or it turns out no one actually needs what your selling. Just go with what is happening. It’s fine, you’re totally fine. The whole experience was only a push-up anyway. Smile and nod. Try asking questions and getting others talking. Things can’t go wrong when you let go of expectations and have no attachments. You are water, flowing down — unstoppable.

6. Listen to confidence boosting music

Alright, so everything is way off script. The demo isn’t working or it turns out no one actually needs what your selling. Just go with what is happening. It’s fine, you’re totally fine. The whole experience was only a push-up anyway. Smile and nod. Try asking questions and getting others talking. Things can’t go wrong when you let go of expectations and have no attachments. You are water, flowing down — unstoppable.

Photo by Israel Palacio on Unsplash

In improv comedy, actors always say, “yes, and…” to whatever the others toss out. In other words, they build on the talent and creativity around them.

For example, if your improv partner says, “This snowstorm is so blinding I can’t see anything,” you should accept that a blinding snowstorm surrounds you and demonstrate what your experience is being virtually blind. But don’t say, “Actually, the visibility isn’t that bad.”

This simple principle leads to incredible interactions and enables players to face down the risk of making stuff up in front of a live audience and somehow produce great work night after night.

Earlier in my career, I was fortunate to work for August de los Reyes in the Windows Innovation Group at Microsoft. He is now head of design at Pinterest.

August was brilliant at cultivating an improv mindset among his team. He was always open and additive, never negative.

For example, August gave all his designers notebooks, and told us each to sign ours. He asked that we produce as many ideas as possible, and to document them all so we could patent them. But the message he was really sending was that each of our ideas were immensely valuable.

He would periodically go through our work and curate it to find the gems. By building on our efforts — never criticizing or being negative — he got the best from each of us.

In contrast, I’ve watched an executive sit in a room as 30 ideas are presented, and to simply respond, “I’m very disappointed, you have wasted two weeks.”

What does a team do with that sort of feedback? There is nothing to build upon. There is nothing constructive for others to do.

You don’t have to love an idea in its entirety to say, “Yes, and…”

You could say, “Yes, I like that you drew a picture of each concept, and maybe if you added more detail to each image we could make faster progress.” In this way, you can build on a concept even if you aren’t that positive about the concept itself.

If you are unable to find anything positive to say, the odds are that:

You may not have yet learned how to bring out talent in other people
You have such a bad team that nothing you can do will make a difference

In truth, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. I’ve almost never seen the second statement be true. Great leaders can produce extraordinary results even from ordinary people. One way they do this is by building on the people around them, rather than tearing down those people.

Eric Lippke, now VP of Engineering Services at Disney Technology Solutions & Services, long ago hired me to do a series of animations. At one point, he reacted to one of my creations by gently saying,”Maybe not this one,” then redirected me to another option.

In retrospect, it was obvious I had created something that was inappropriate for a corporate setting and that Eric had plenty of reasons to be much harsher with me (it was 1997, and I was very young). But I’m assuming he knew I had both good intentions and the ability to grow, so he pushed me towards the positive instead of highlighting my obvious misstep.

When a leader says, “Yes, and…” he or she is modeling the type of behavior that others will follow. Members of high performing teams build on each others’ contributions. In contrast, teams under siege tear each other down.

Bring out the best in others. Build on the positive.

Capital One

NEXT GEN DECISION MAKING DESIGN

Modernized investing research functionality and user flow for optimal user experience on both web and mobile platforms based on user testing and Design Thinking workshops.

PROJECT OUTPUT

COLLABORATED WITH

MY ROLE

THE STORY

The Customer Problem

The Process & Solution

The Result

Summary

Amazon.com

DIGITAL AUTHOR PRESENCE BREAK THROUGH

Redesigned the platform’s author pages to not just increase sales, but to be a meaningful end user experience by iterating and relentlessly pursuing a successful UX.

PROJECT OUTPUT

COLLABORATED WITH

MY ROLE

THE STORY

The Customer Problem

The Process & Solution

The Result

Summary

Amazon.com

UX DELIVERS COMMUNITY GROWTH

Increased user activation and engagement on publishing-focused site for authors by advocating for user experience needs.

PROJECT OUTPUT

COLLABORATED WITH

MY ROLE

THE STORY

The Customer Problem

The Process & Solution

The Result

Summary

Amazon.com

Kindle First

A highly successful promotional program and marketing tool for Amazon Publishing on the digital store for Amazon.com, Kindle Fire, and eInk.

ROLE

Self Promotion

A self-promotional concept imagining how the magic of Disneyland could be brought onto the Apple Watch.

ROLE

WIREFRAMES

CONCEPTS & DESIGNS

Start-up

A web-based service for sending money overseas from a mobile phone or on a desktop.

ROLE

Self Promotion

A self-promotional business concept for a Tumblr client that would incentivize bloggers to promote Nordstrom products.

ROLE

Microsoft

Dotastic

A social to-do app that combines game mechanics with social pressure to get things done.

ROLE

Innate Media

Crux

An easy check-in app for Facebook on the Windows Phone.

ROLE

Microsoft

Xbox 360

The operating system UI for Microsoft's second generation game console.

ROLE

HTC

TouchFlow

The software on HTC's flagship line of smart phones.

ROLE

Give People the Freedom to Do What You Want

6 Ways to Boost Your Confidence

1. Smile

2. Relax

3. Focus

4. Recover

5. Flow

6. Listen to confidence boosting music

Use This Simple Improv Technique to Bring Out Talent in Others

Inspiring teams to innovate and build massive value using customer insights

CREATIVE PROCESS

KEY PROJECTS

Capital One