User Research and Redesign of a Tool for Local Broadband Planning

To culminate my master’s degree, I completed a capstone project in conjunction with the State of Washington and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. My colleague and I redesigned a piece of software that is used to gather feedback about broadband internet access in underserved communities (often in rural areas). The software is called the BCAT, which stands for Broadband Connectivity Assessment Tool.

For the project, we interviewed participants, edited all of the participant-facing text and graphics, revised the user flows and information structure of the tool, and redesigned the visual interface. Finally, we wrote a report and presented our recommendations to the project stakeholders. Click here to read the full report, or for faster reading, check out some of the user stories or an example of the new visual interface.

In the summer of 2017, I worked as an intern for the City of Seattle Open Data Program. The work was supported by a grant to promote open data literacy, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). My specific project involved evaluating the use of the metadata standards used by open data programs across the country. I wrote a final report for the project, entitled A Policy Analysis of Civic Metadata Standards and Implications for the City of Seattle Open Data Program. The full report is available on GitHub. If you'd like to view the easier-to-read press release, you can do so on the City of Seattle's website.

OPEN DATA LITERACY: A Policy AnalYsIs for the city of Seattle

RFP for a UX project

For a graduate-level UX class that I took in the winter of 2017, we were tasked with creating a response to an RFP for a high-end food business called Foodie Fanatic. My team and I created a pitch deck which includes samples of initial design work we did using OptimalSort, Slickplan, and Balsamiq.

Exploratory Site Design foR HaCk Oregon

In the spring and summer of 2016, I volunteered with Hack Oregon, a nonprofit which promotes civic open data. I worked on an exploratory design project to help the organization take a comprehensive look at the styling and UX of both its main website and the standalone websites that the organization uses for various projects.