Always working on progress
About Me
All about my education, career, process, skillset, and contributions to the UX community.
How I Got here
As with many practitioners in UX, I came from an entirely different field.
My First Career
I was freelance writing and in my master’s program for teaching when I found UX. My focus was on technology in the classroom and globalization, thinking I would teach English here and abroad.
When I graduated, I decided to focus on technology to make it easy for all users, and not just those in the classroom.
Education
Master’s in Teaching
21st Century Skills (technology and globalization)
Study abroad: Universidade Federal do Parana, Brazil
Bachelor of Arts
Mass Communication and Social Issues
Professional Writing Minor
Professional Development
Nielsen Norman Group
DesignOps: Scaling UX Design and User Research
UX Management Specialty
Design Tradeoffs and UX Decision Frameworks
UX Management Specialty
LinkedIn Learning
Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills
How I Do Things
I’ve integrated this general flow in agile, lean, and waterfall environments (including dual-tracking jira boards to view process and progress).
Discover
Understand goals and needs of stakeholders, customers, audiences, and users.
De-risk
Collect data on how people interact with the information or systems for full picture.
Design
Create and iterate on solutions to understand the best outcome for all those involved.
Determine
Analyze which solution is best within the business and technology constraints.
Deliver
Provide deliverables needed for partners to ensure they will be successful.
My Skillset
After 15 years in the field, many as a contractor and consultant, I’ve honed skills in many areas – and realize there’s always more to learn.
I’m a T-shaped designer with deep knowledge in strategy (connecting dots), innovation (finding new opportunities), and information architecture (organizing information) – all of which are heavy in research.
I’ve also built design systems – and branded startups and small businesses – however it’s the creative problem-solving that really gets me excited about the work.
The messier the problem, the happier I am.
- Strategy / Innovation
- Information Architecture
- UX Research
- Service Design
- Visual Design
Speaking Engagements
Local design organizations have asked me to speak about multiple aspects of UX and website design.
Data-Driven Storytelling (Tuscarawas Arts Partnership, 2020)
UX Framework (Interaction Design Association, 2019)
Be Prepared: Less Stress and More Success for Digital Products (Columbus Web Group 2017)
What Your Website Needs (Business of Art, 2018)
Recommendations
These people risked their reputation on LinkedIn to vouch for me.
“Morgan knows her stuff and is a master of the UX craft. Her understanding has helped to influence and evolve the design principals we previously operated under; while ushering in a user first way of thinking on projects. ”
“Morgan’s attention to detail, ability to hit deadlines and engaging personality make her a delight to have on any project… Her input and focus on user experience were integral to project success. On these projects, she skillfully balanced an optimal user experience with the technical and business cost of implementation.”
“Morgan is a UX Wizard… I can count on Morgan to take my requirements or even just a quick one liner, and come back with a strategic, thoughtful and exceptional user experience. Her designs are intuitive and she has a strong eye for what our users need.”