Kathryn Whitfield

I create digital experiences that are aesthetically pleasing and interactive, but never at the expense of being easy to use and purposeful.

I've been involved in all aspects of web, application, and product design for decades now (including mobile apps), even before the term "User Experience" or "Product Designer" was coined. Because I can do web development as well it often comes in handy. For example, when I'm designing wireframes/mockups (UX) if there are budget constraints, I know not to make mock-ups with the extra bells and whistles (or to make the bells and whistles possible though CSS) because it would take developers that much longer ($$$) to code it out.

In my career I have worked with small business owners to VPs of banks to CEOs of large companies, to managing and delegating to Jr. Designers, and every type of client in between. I've also worked in a wide variety of environments - from Fortune 500 corporations to small ad agencies/start ups - where the expectation was to wear different hats - and (again) everything in between. I pride myself on being able to communicate with a diverse group of people, while understanding that their needs, expectations, and technical backgrounds are going to be different, all while being flexible. I can work independently while also collaborating with members of a team.

Let's get a quick brag out the way, my proudest professional accomplishment to date:
I was credited to helping save the Bojangles account when I worked for Xenial. The person who had been responsible for testing went on vacation for a month, so they asked me to step in and help. Right away I noticed how the user flow was clumsy and tested in such a way to break the app instead of trying to pass user test cases. I came up creating with user personas, a concept that hadn't been practiced before. I printed out screens and had our team physically walk through the ordering flow to find the gaps of where we needed to redesign the screens, another concept that hadn't been implemented before. Unknown to me, before I came on the project Bojangles was thinking of pulling out on us designing and developing their app. I received feedback from the Project Manager that because of my work, they felt more confident in staying with us.