Oh, hiiiiiiiiii!
I’m sparks (they/them).
Lovely to meet you!
What’s new?
📚 Reading:
Wonderstruck by Helen de Cruz
Experience Design | A Participatory Manifesto by Abraham Burickson
My Trade is Mystery by Carl Phillips
The Gift by Lewis Hyde
Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds by Margaret Kerrison
🔎 Learning: About behavioral healthcare access in the state of WA, how cool nueston are, the art of diagramming and all things solarpunk!
🎨 Creating: A delicious body of research on designing with wonder in immersive experiences to potentiate collective change
🏰 Building: alt-yellow - a creative la-bor-a-tory that evokes wonder to create change (also maybeeeee a four-day immersive climate adventure series encased in narrative…)
I’m the Founder and Creative Director of alt-yellow, the Head of Experiences at Creative Quests, and a proud Emerging Talent member of the World Experience Organization. I’m also over the moon to be training with ever-inspiring Odyssey Works in 2024.
👀 Looking for a design researcher, UX strategist, service designer or creative director? Scroll down to learn more about my experience and how we might work together.
👯♂️ And I’m always up for meeting new humans and collaborating on interesting projects, so if that’s your jam, let’s connect!
Also, describing yourself is hard.
So I asked some friends, clients and collaborators to help me out.
Let’s Work Together.
As a design researcher and UX strategist, I partner with organizations to help create, evaluate and improve experiences for humans. I've been conducting people research, facilitating workshops and designing experiences in the big tech, government, nonprofit and education sectors for the past decade. I have led generative and evaluative research initiatives for a variety of projects from small startups to Fortune 500 companies, both on my own and alongside teams of brilliant humans.
Past Clients:
Focus + Expertise:
+ Experience Design
+ Creative Direction
+ UX Strategy
+ Design Thinking
+ Ideation
+ Qualitative Research
+ Service Design
+ Facilitation
+ Community Building
Hire Me.
Design Research + UX Strategy
Hire me for:
Generative Research: What problem might we solve? (interviews, focus groups, field studies, affinity mapping, diary studies, card sorting, surveys)
Evaluative Research: How well is our solution working? (interviews, usability tests, A/B testing, journey mapping)
Insight Synthesis: What does this data mean and what should we do with it? (decks, readouts, research reports, journey maps, personas/archetypes, client presentations)
UX Strategy: What do our consumers need and how might we design an experience that serves them? (ideation activities, heuristic evaluations, creative direction, prototyping, wireframes, information architecture)
Workshop Design + Facilitation: How do we bring everyone to the table and get them excited about what we’re building? (virtual or in-person, for teams, leadership, stakeholders, potential or existing customers)
Project Management: How do we stay on track and ensure the work gets done? (client management, project coordination, agile methodology/sprints)
Immersive Experience Design
Hire my experience design studio for:
Interactive pop-up installations
Awe-inspiring events / parties / gatherings
Playful business conferences
Inventive window displays
Unexpected company offsites
Unforgettable retail experiences
Boundary-pushing marketing campaigns
Connected virtual meetups
Imaginative escape rooms / lobby spaces / playgrounds
Multi-faceted social experiments
👉 More at: alt-yellow.com
The Art of Question Asking
Through my work as a qualitative researcher and service designer, I’ve mastered the art of question asking. Asking good questions has allowed me to evaluate existing products / experiences, improve broken systems and imagine better futures.
A sampling of projects I’ve delivered.
Evaluating Existing Products / Experiences
Analyzed behavioral trends to inform consumer experience for a multinational technology company
Redesigned a reproductive health app to empower users to take control of their fertility
Tested a new smart home device security system for a multinational cybersecurity company
Discovered how sustainable packaging design effects consumer purchasing decisions
Improving Broken Systems
Improved the accessibility of the hiring process for the State of California
Increased access to global education through the redesign of a web app for a nonprofit media organization
Simplified the process for reporting behavioral healthcare complaints for the State of Colorado
Helped make the process for applying to federal funding opportunities more equitable
Designed a web app to encourage employees at the world’s largest athletic apparel company to take time off
Imagining New Futures
Contributed to a cross-functional research report on designing for the future of the workplace
Crafted a vision for the next generation of K-12 education
Developed new feature concepts for the largest genealogy company in the world
Imagined election experiences that provide value across political lines for a commercial broadcast television network
Explored the future of email for a global internet communications, commerce and media company
Examined financial behavior to inform new account features for a leading global financial institution
Envisioned new products for a travel management company in New Zealand
Established design research operations for a trans-led tech nonprofit increasing resource access for the LGBTQIA+ community
Due to NDAs, I am unable to share work details on my site, but happy to send over a redacted deck or speak to any of the above on a call.
Testimonials
“Complete professionalism mixed with a down to earth, human approach.”
“I loved your creative energy, your humor, and your thorough attention to detail. You’re thoughtful, fun, creative, and flexible. Total slam dunk.”
“You’re a rock star. You can switch between minutia and big picture so easily. You jump in and GSD. And you’re delightful to work with - human, fun, authentic, candid.”
“Clearly understood the broad vision for the project and went over and above to support, inspire and build on that with us in a super short amount of time. Over and above. Real creative / strategic talent which is hard to find.”