I craft digital experiences that bring people together.
Blog
Lockhart: a reminder of deeply ingrained cultural eating behaviors
I recently took a bike trip to Lockhart to experience the Texas barbeque culture. I was amazed at how ritualistic and communal the barbeque experience was. All the ingredients from the pickles to the bread were carefully chosen to reflect the long-standing Texan barbeque tradition.
The experience reminded me of the immense challenge my co-founder, Jonathan, and I have when launching Feast for Days. Food habits are deeply embedded which requires a certain level of empathy and understanding on our parts as we encourage people to change their eating habits through Feast for Days.
Reflections on the second Feast for Days test
The good news is that we survived our second service design test. However, we still have many logistical issues to work out. First, our supervisor chose a different grocery store and went over our grocery budget. Secondly, half of our participants arrived late and were very confused for the first part of the session. Thirdly, some ingredients such as the rice took much longer than expected to cook which added to the overall session time
Despite these logistical issues the overall the session was a success. Everyone had an enjoyable time and were very vocal of how they appreciated the social component of the service. Jonathan and I are now brainstorming how we can make future cooking groups more permanent and market them more akin to something like a book club.
Sunni Brown's Sketchcamp at SXSW
During SXSW I was able to volunteer at Sunni's sketch camp. Everyone who attended was excited to be given the opportunity to draw and build their ideas. It was an interesting reminder of how little we use these tools to solve daily problems despite their immense value.
About
I am a user experience designer, software engineer, and design researcher from Edmonton, Canada. I am passionate about creating platforms that encourage people to accomplish prosocial goals. I am the co-founder of Feast for Days, a collaborative cooking service. I am currently a student at the Austin Center for Design.
Interaction Design Skills
I am experienced with creating uses cases, writing scenarios, storyboarding, wireframing, and developing interactive prototypes in HTML5 and JavaScript. I am able to craft design solutions for both web and mobile.
Design Research Skills
I am competent in acquiring, synthesizing, and presenting research data. I am able to conduct multiple research studies from initial hypothesis drafting to final presentation of findings. I am experienced with contextual inquiries, participatory interviews, affinity diagramming, concept mapping, usability studies, and heuristic evaluations.
Software Development Skills
I am capable of planning, coding, debugging, and maintaining software for desktop, web, and mobile. I am adaptable to a wide variety of languages and development environments. I am skilled at building and maintaining databases. I am comfortable with Windows, Unix, and OS X environments.