FAQs

What do I find most energizing about my role as a Product Designer

What truly energizes me as a Product Designer is the thrill of problem-solving. There's nothing quite like taking an initial product idea or brainstorming new features with the clear aim of addressing a specific challenge for our target audience. It's incredibly rewarding to craft solutions that not only meet users’ needs but also resonate deeply with them. The joy of creating products that customers love and cherish fuels my passion and drives my creativity every day.

What recent accomplishment are you most proud of?

Recently, one of my proudest achievements was developing a new Underwriting Dashboard specifically designed for Mulligan Funding's underwriting team. The dashboard plays a crucial role in streamlining the evaluation process for business loan applicants by analyzing bank statement data. Its implementation significantly enhanced funding volume by optimizing efficiency. One of the key design decisions I made was to provide all the necessary data onto a single page, eliminating the need for users to navigate through endless tree menus. Additionally, the design strategy also helped reduce development scope and essentially making the build efficient and fast.

What do I value most in a team?

A collaborative team that is focused on deeply understanding and empathizing with users. Communication, integrity, and transparency are all very important to creating and nurturing a team. Product success is dependent on this.

Most important aspect of a product designer.

It is essential that product designers gain user insights from usability testing and research. It's the only way to identify product opportunities. Having empathy for users and utilizing UX methodologies for testing and research is key to successful product design.

What advice do I have for an aspiring UX designer?

My advice for aspiring UX designers is twofold: never stop learning and stay humble. In the fast-paced world of technology, it's crucial to stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in UX design. Embrace a hands-on approach to learning, as practical experience is invaluable and leaves a lasting impact. Additionally, don't hesitate to ask for help. It's common to feel isolated or experience imposter syndrome, but remember that everyone faces similar emotions at some point. Seeking guidance and support from others is a sign of strength and a pathway to growth.

Most important aspect of User Research.

For any product or service to succeed, you need to know what your users want as early as possible in your design process. The first step and core of the design thinking process is to empathize with your users. User research is one of the best ways to do that. Research helps build a story and essentially creating a strategy for communicating the product need(s). Gaining observations from the real people using your product is one of the best methods of testing, rather than just indirectly analyzing data about them.

Biggest obstacles in product design

It’s important to ask where UX is positioned in a company. If UX is new to the company then UX maturity takes time to build and evangelize. This is not necessarily an obstacle, but an opportunity to build the desired UX process. UX maturity takes time and commitment.

Which skills and experiences have best served you in your career?

I started off with a visual design background and gradually started learning about User Experience which really fascinated me. While working at Intuit, I gained valuable experience in user testing and research. Intuit uses best in class research methodologies and also the latest technologies. The skills I gained from working alongside professionals in that field helped pave the way for me to grow my UX experience. I enjoy the research aspects and user testing as those methods really help paint a picture of the customer journey and pain points.

What are you looking for in a particular company?

Ultimately, I want to work with people who genuinely care about the products/services that they work on. I value communication, integrity, and transparency…also a good sense of humor goes a long way. I love to learn and also pay it forward.

Do you have any sample designs that you built with material design?

At Axos (previously Bofi Federal Bank), I used my practical knowledge to build a responsive hackathon website using Bootstrap components. While it’s not perfect, it was fun to gain the practical knowledge.
Sample here (from 2015): hackathon website using bootstrap.

Tell me about your experience related to building components in Figma for use in design systems.

I've worked in various roles where building components in Figma (and other tools) was critical, especially in environments where design systems were either underdeveloped or nonexistent. For example, at Axos Bank, the UX team was relatively new, and there were no established UI standards—designs varied significantly across the board. Given limited resources and competing priorities, I took the initial initiative to establish consistency by building foundational components that could form the basis of a design system.

My first step was a comprehensive audit of the existing styles, assessing each for consistency and usability. Since Axos was also required to become ADA compliant (or face possible lawsuits), I ran every component through various compliance checks to ensure accessibility standards were met. At that time, the company used Sketch and Invision, so I built the components in Sketch and transitioned them to Invision DSM (Design System Manager).

This experience taught me the importance of setting a solid, scalable foundation for design systems, especially in environments with resource constraints. By focusing on accessible, reusable components, I ensured that Axos could start to work towards a cohesive design language that aligned with both UX goals and ADA requirements.

How do you typically learn about and integrate Figma’s new capabilities into the Figma design workflow?

The best way I learn about new features is to attend Figma’s CONFIG conference. Config gives me the first view into any new capabilities Figma has to offer. There are times when new features doesn’t always fit into my workflow, but I will typically experiment with the features in a separate file and determine where it could be utilized in future work. Equally relevant is finding YouTube channels that offer in-depth tutorials on Figma features. Channels dedicated to Figma often cover detailed tips, tricks, and new updates, making it easier to stay current with the latest tools and improve design efficiency. These resources can provide practical insights that might not come up in daily work, helping to refine skills and discover new ways to enhance the design process.

How do you ensure you maintain design consistency with the existing library when building new Figma components?

First, it is essential to take an audit of current components. While following good design principles, such as an 8pt grid, consistent spacing and padding, and use of auto layout, all of which can be set as variables in Figma.  I also rely on Auto Layout to keep components responsive and ensure padding stays consistent. Also, it’s essential to have regular team reviews to spot any inconsistencies early. No one is perfect, so gathering as much feedback as possible is essential. Regular feedback sessions, whether daily or weekly, help ensure everything stays aligned with established design styles or effectively integrates new styles as needed.

Can you describe a time when you had to consider multiple use cases to form a reusable pattern? What was the outcome?

Designing with scalability in mind is essential, and I always advise designers (and communicate to POs/PMs) that we must always “build to scale.” A great example of this was a recent project where I was tasked with creating a reusable card component for Mulligan Funding’s customer portal. This component would be used across multiple sections of the application, displaying various types of information, from transaction histories to promotional offers.

To create a pattern that could handle these diverse use cases, I analyzed each instance where a card would be needed, considering different layouts, content densities, interaction states, and accessibility requirements. My goal was to design a flexible component that could adapt seamlessly across all scenarios without sacrificing visual or functional consistency. This foresight allowed me to build to scale and incorporate optional elements—such as icons, action buttons, and text variations—that could easily be toggled on or off in Figma.

The outcome was a scalable card component that became part of the portal’s design system. It saved considerable design and development time and ensured consistency across the user experience. Scalable patterns help meet evolving product needs with minimal rework.

Could you describe your strategy for communicating UX requirements and specifications for components and reusable patterns to cross-disciplinary stakeholders (designers, engineers, QA, etc.)?

Strategy always starts with documentation and ongoing communication. I start by ensuring that every component or pattern is documented, especially if there isn’t already a design system in place. This often means conducting an audit of existing components to identify inconsistencies or gaps.

Effective documentation includes specific details on component structure, such as shape, color, functionality, and interaction states, as well as guidance on use cases—clearly defining “do’s and don’ts.” It is also important for components to be as interactive as possible, allowing stakeholders, engineers, and QA to see and understand how each component behaves. At BioRad, our choice for the documentation was Zero Height which made it accessible to many stakeholders and engineers.

Additionally, I document the design decisions behind each component to explain the “why” and “how,” which helps foster alignment across teams. Having this sort of paper trail is beneficial to reducing confusion. Review sessions with cross-functional teams ensure that everyone is on the same page and can ask questions, share insights, or address challenges early. This strategy has been effective in maintaining alignment and ensuring that our design solutions are both scalable and technically feasible across disciplines.

What do I like to do for fun?

Spending time with my family is one of my greatest joys. I have two kids, and my son, born later in my life, keeps me on my toes with his boundless energy! My oldest child is already 27 and is currently focused on her career. I truly cherish being a mom, whether we're enjoying sunny days at the park, taking our dogs for walks, painting rocks together, or battling it out on Xbox.

I also have a passion for learning, so you’ll often find me watching documentaries or listening to audiobooks. When I travel, I love to eat spicy food and uncover the stories behind historical sites. Every experience is an opportunity to learn and create lasting memories with my family.