Changing up the Local beauty Marketplace

ROLE

User Researcher
Design Studio Facilitator
UX Strategist

Tools

Sketch
Invision

Involvement

At Vanitee, I was responsible for a large variety of projects.

This included a strategic level user research project to validate outdated personas and build customer journey maps and service design blueprints for our user base, conceptualisation of potential work to develop innovative solutions in the f&b space, and facilitating internal design studio workshops.

I also established UX processes through vertical and horizontal collaboration with other stakeholders in order to implement previously nonexistent procedures. This was done with the goal of improving communication and resolving design debt to reduce sprint times and improve work flow efficiency.

My responsibilities could be understood through three key areas of work.

As a UX researcher and designer, I planned and executed a series of research work that ranged from discovery projects to understand more generic user needs in untapped markets and more strategic work that focused on feature-specific usability testing. To improve and prepare the platform for its next iteration, I also conducted a content audit on the site in order to evaluate the product’s existing feature strategy to map against gaps in user needs and competitive benchmarking within the industry.

As a lead, I sought to implement design ops in order to clear design debt. This was done while managing staff needs, timelines and deliverables to achieve department goals, and included the introduction of design system methodology, retrospective sessions, version control and writing design documentation. I also played the role of a mentor by providing guidance to junior researchers and developing a coherent learning plan for the department's staff. This included writing a plan for individual career advancement within the company, personal learning objectives and creating a series of lunch-and-learn sessions to help new designers adapt to their new work environment.

As a product manager, a responsibility that I shared with others in the company, I frequently engaged in roundtable meetings and design workshops with other departments in order to balance expectations and set product vision. I also presented research and design to stakeholders, and prepared requirements and user stories to bridge my department to others. In some instances, my work also encompassed that were not traditionally UX, including preparing business plans by collaborating with other department heads to set company vision.