Bright Ideas for Better UX

It was a thrill to be a part of a completely new, consumer-facing program and web property with such an iconic organization. Unique Lodges of the World is a National Geographic curated collection of world-class accommodations where sustainability is at the core of their mission and the guest experience is exceptionally rich and meaningful.

Objectives:

• Design an experience which celebrated the global nature of the Lodges inventory
• Plan for the future of the program by establishing a browsing experience utilizing both location and themes/activities as wayfinding
• Create a UI structure for Lodge pages which allowed content administrators flexibility when generating content for individual Lodges
• Establish a logical reservation workflow which met the business requirements of their pre-existing booking process

Since this is a new venture for National Geographic, there was much to resolve regarding the booking process and exactly where the site exists in the canon of their current online travel experiences.

Ultimately, the project was able to be free of their older, non-responsive template constraints and we were able to design a brand new experience from the ground up while influencing larger, systemic design changes for National Geographic Travel.

My Contributions:

• Led the requirements gathering process and directed the UX phase
• Generated outline for lodge content and planned for on-going governance
• Developed user flows and site architecture
• Designed wireframes in collaboration with design

The Nike Running team maintains a hands-on relationship with independently owned shoe retailers with a staff of young people criss-crossing the country known as the Pacers. Because of their road-warrior work schedules, Pacers needed a centralized system for capturing and fulfilling their sample shoe orders, soliciting test runner feedback and educating their retailers on upcoming products.

Working directly with the Nike team and their fulfillment vendor, I designed a web-based application which achieved the following:

• Pacers order sample shoes for stores in their jurisdiction
• Pacers could use the responsive experience as an in-person product education tool
• Retail employees could login to share their product feedback
• Pacers could track store activity and reward their participation

Within 6 months of the system’s release, a Texas retailer declared Nike Running’s Pacer team went from “worst to first.” Can’t get much better than that.

My Contributions:

• Worked directly with Pacer team leader to define requirements
• Defined business processes with 3rd party fulfillment partner to ensure seamless shoe inventory numbers and ordering process
• Conducted user research with Pacer team members to improve the shoe ordering process and store management
• Developed workflows & wireframes to sketch out the UX, inform design comps and collaboration with development