For almost a decade now I have worked on several roles focused on shaping the look, feel and behavior of digital products and services (interaction designer, UX designer, product designer, even front-end developer at some point). I have worked closely with developers, engineers, marketers and other designers, on a variety of freelance and corporate projects, small and large, as part of the same team or as an external collaborator.
I am experienced in overseeing all phases of the design process, from discovery and idea conceptualization, journeys, sketches and user flows, up to high-fidelity designs and interactive prototypes, producing the right design artifact for each phase. I can help create a design infrastructure that scales and infuse design thinking principles and methodologies into the team workflow.
The development of a UX strategy starts with user research and the bringing of useful insights to the surface of team discussions. As UX practitioners, we need to strive for more than a cool interface, we need to look beyond aesthetics, we need to dig deeper and involve the human perspective in all phases of the decision making process to help balance user needs and business goals. We want to make sure that decisions are strategic, in the sense that they are based on facts and reality rather our own assumptions about what users (say they) want.
My experience shows that a shared process, vision and methodology is essential for a frictionless, efficient collaboration among the members of a team. I thrive in roles where I can be proactive and take on the responsibility for breaking down communication silos, bringing people of diverse backgrounds together to co-create the optimum solution.
- designing and delivering co-create workshops
- leading a small team of entry/junior level professionals
- providing UX design mentoring as a volunteer
- teaching UX design and HCI to undergraduate students
During office hours you will find me working on all sorts of designs, studying something new, preparing and facilitating design conversations and reviews, translating UX glossary to plain English or Greek for non-designer folks and acting as the end users’ advocate in all cases.
Other times I am busy running miles, sketching, reading my books and discovering my next favorite podcast.