Hello, I'm Janel – a Product (UX/UI) Designer in Toronto. I aim to create design that makes a difference —to propel brands with soul and substance who are passionate about what they do. My work is rooted in research, iteration, and collaboration.
Right now I'm learning new research and facilitation techniques as a Side x Side mentee.
UX | UI | user research | design | prototype
The Good Ones
The good ones academy started as a group of artists collaborating to bring hair workshops to beauty professionals looking to level up their skills. After having great success they wanted to create an online educational platform, I set out to solve this design challenge using the 5 Planes of UX Methodology.
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UX | UI | user research | design | prototype
Easy Rider
I was tasked to come up with an app idea that helps public transit and the people using the service. I wanted to address the need for interactive traveling on public transit, something like WAZE for public transit. The goal is to empower users to get the most up to date information about transit from a reliable source, themselves.
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UX | UI | user research | design
Kindred Academy
I was asked to define a wicked problem and deliver a solution using research, divergence & transformation, and convergence. I chose to focus my project on the impact of healthy emotional development in kids. I see a real need for more reliable resources for families when it comes to self-love and acceptance.
view case studyDefining the process is key!
I think it's important to be flexible when defining process, I tackle each design challenge unique to the project needs. I use empathy, preparedness, research, collaboration, and feedback as my secret weapons.
This is how I typically approach UX design challenges:
Define the challenges
Gain an empathetic understanding of the goals, aspirations, and intentions for the product at large by engaging with users and stakeholders to understand their experiences.
Research & Validate
Conduct both quantitative and qualitative research with user interviews, surveys, industry research, and competitive analysis and use that information to build user personas and journeys. This way we can make informed design decisions once the sketching begins.
Sketch competing solutions
Using all the data from earlier steps (including research, personas, sitemap, and user flows) it's time to design multiple solutions to the site architecture, content structure, user flows, and interactions.
Vote & Storyboard
Now that we have multiple sketches to choose from we need to facilitate a structured critique with a discussion and weighted voting to select the best solutions. We then take the winning sketches and ideas and string them together into a storyboard.
Prototype & Test
Now, we take our storyboards and create active prototypes, giving us the opportunity to showcase product features and animations for user testing. The test phase is critical to the process, as it allows us to observe user behaviour in real time, and analyse insights for better functionality and usability.
Evaluate & Iterate
Once the test phase has been completed and insights collected, necessary iterations can be implemented (and re-tested) and the next phase of the design life cycle can begin.
get in touch.
Feel free to reach out for collaborations or just a friendly hello
thejanellucia@gmail.com