UX Design & RESEARCh Strategy
HI, I’M Natalia!
I investigate your business problems and design the solutions.
I’m a Product Designer specialized in Research and Development who believes that designing without a strategy is just a fast way to build the wrong thing.
FEATURED WORK
Experience Design & Strategy • Generative Research
From assumptions to #1 in the U.S: Transforming the internship experience
How a 6-week research sprint debunked HR myths and placed the program at the top of the U.S. energy industry.
Experience Design & Strategy • Generative ResearcH • Trauma-informed design
Leveraging design research and strategy in the fight against sex trafficking
How a multi-layered design strategy transformed a disengaged educational program and built a global community to unify the global fight against sex trafficking demand.
UX Research • Product Design • Accessibility-focused UX (WCAG)
Improving doctor-patient communication for seniors
Empowering patients to plan, prepare, and organize medical conversations by helping them prepare for medical visits.
Want to see more projects? I have a bunch of them! However, I only show a few selected projects here to respect client privacy and keep the focus on impact.
If you want to see more examples of how I solve complex problems, just reach out. I’m always happy to share more of my work and chat about how I can help your team ship with confidence.
Here are some extra projects to give you a broader look at my work. These are shorter snapshots of other problems I’ve solved over the years.
Landing Page Redesign
I redesigned a landing page for Bedside Chats to reach a tough audience of 80-year-olds with almost no tech experience. I led the research and created a Content Priority Pyramid to align the team and stop everyone from guessing about the content.
- I ran weekly syncs with engineers in an agile format to make sure every design choice was actually buildable.
- The project was fully developed and handed off successfully to the engineering team.
Dashboard CREATION
Product Designer & Researcher @ Wexner Center
I led a research project to help doctors make better clinical decisions using patient data. I improved a co-design toolkit and interviewed eight physicians to uncover their actual needs.
- Turned research data into a prototype to test assumptions early.
- Used low-fidelity testing to validate ideas without wasting development budget.
- Mapped the doctor’s decision-making cycle to guide the project’s long-term strategy.
The final report now served as the primary roadmap for the team’s future design goals.
WEBSITE REDESIGN
Product Designer & Researcher @ BRASA
A student organization at The Ohio State University needed a central hub to support Brazilians living abroad. Their existing resources were scattered, and they lacked a clear digital identity and a structured way to guide students through complex bureaucratic processes.
- Defined the branding and mapped user workflows to ensure students could find critical resources without friction.
- Developed the full website on WordPress with a focus on SEO to increase organic reach.
- Created the initial content strategy, including step-by-step guides for driver’s licenses and passport renewals to solve immediate user pain points.
ProcessES SNIPPETS
Here is more of how I work with users and stakeholders to solve real problems. These are shorter snapshots of the creative processes I’ve led over the years.
Dashboard Co-design Session
A toolkit for a dashboard co-design session with power users.
Value Proposition Canvas
Synthesizing market research conducted through dozens of short interviews.
Neighborhood Identity Study
Using a sandbox to co-design a neighborhood with users to identify opportunities for improvement.
Love/Hate Letters
Users participated in a Love/Hate letters session to provide feedback on a software that was to be redesigned.
Prioritization Grid
Users and stakeholders prioritized issues during a Design Thinking workshop for a tool migraiton.
User Interview Toolkit
Students’ feelings about different class formats during the pandemic were explored through evocative images.
Customer Journey Map
A customer journey map for a prepaid program service showing a persona, scenario, feelings, research insights, and opportunities.
Brainstorming Workshop
To attract new talent, we ran a “Game of Life” workshop with HR to redesign the company’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Usability Issue Prioritization
Synthesizing, clustering, and prioritizing product usability issues.
Concept Testing
Design concept development and testing with final users, specifically physicians.
User Journey Mapping
Creating a visual representation of a user’s journey to collect feedback on a prepaid service. This mapping helped identify positive and negative experiences, opportunities for improvement, and key points of contact with the company’s website, SMS, or call center.
Co-synthesizing Research Workshop
I organized a synthesis workshop with my design team to expedite the creation of a final report for a high-priority project that demanded rapid delivery.
Let’s TALK STRATEGY!
Nothing great is ever build alone, so why not make the next big thing together?
Feel free to reach out to me personally via sending a message to say hello.