Hi, I'm Holly.
I use she/her pronouns.
I believe that good UX Design is inherently sustainable, accessible and equitable; its beauty lies in its universality. I strive to design products that enhance their users’ wellbeing.
I am currently making UX magic at Bounteous x Accolite.
My approach to UX Design is colored by my twin passions for art and creative writing. My skills as a visual and verbal storyteller allow me to more fully articulate the needs of my fellow human beings, and to more vividly envision solutions. These creative practices have been with me since childhood. In pursuing them, I have cultivated a lifelong habit of paying close attention to the world around me.
I fell in love with web design while pursuing a career in retail. I have over a decade of experience in the fine jewelry sector, working with independently owned boutiques. I started on the sales floor, but it didn't take long for me to notice that the majority of these small businesses lacked a web presence, so I taught myself the fundamentals of e-commerce. I went on to establish and manage digital identities for several shops and designers.
In doing so, I discovered a passion for building beautiful and intuitive virtual environments, which led me to my current path. As a UX Designer, I draw on the unique skill set I developed in my previous career: a particular knack for sensing the needs of my fellow humans, and a deep understanding of the elements that make an online experience feel as welcoming as a physical one.
I was born in London but have lived in Los Angeles most of my life. When I'm not researching, designing, doodling or scribbling, you can find me exploring the world and hunting down vegan snacks with my partner, Josh. I love good books, bad puns, and long walks on the beach with my muppet mutt, Charley.
My Process
UX Design, by its very nature, is a fluid and nonlinear process, and no two projects ever follow quite the same trajectory. Ultimately, the humans I design for are my North Star, and whatever route keeps them in sharpest focus is always the best path forward.
That being said, I do find it helpful to carry a compass with me on the journey. I believe that flexibility is key to the UX process, and I also believe that constraints can sow fertile ground for new ideas. Applying structures and methods to my process helps me capture and crystallize insights along the way.
empathize
I have always been a lover of stories. I may often be the quietest person in the room, but it's because I'm listening intently to what everyone else has to say, absorbing each detail like a sponge. This quality makes me a natural interviewer, and my respondents will often end up talking for much longer than they intended to.
I prefer to be fully present and engaged when interviewing; to this end, I will often ask for permission to record my subjects so I don't interrupt the flow of conversation with note-taking. I aim to create an environment that feels as natural as a chat over coffee with a friend, because the more comfortable a subject is, the more authentic their insights are.
define
This is the part of the process when I feel most like an amateur sleuth – poring over clues and sifting through the information gathered from interviews and surveys, waiting for those "aha" moments to arise. And they always do, fluttering up from affinity maps like day-glo Post-It butterflies.
During this phase, I use a variety of tools to synthesize the insights I've collected from users: affinity maps helps me find patterns, journey maps help me understand what is and isn't working, and personas help me zero in on the key problems users are having. Much of this phase is also devoted to researching the product and the landscape it inhabits: conducting competitive and comparative analyses, heuristic analyses, and deep dives into the subject matter at hand.
ideate
As much as I love design software, nothing beats a pen and paper for brainstorming. I like the freedom this analog medium gives me to scribble ideas as they come, cross out the not-so-good ones, and circle the promising ones. I use a mix of list writing and visual note taking methods to get my ideas down.
When it's time to start designing layouts, I often find it helpful to sketch potential screens on separate pieces of paper so I can rearrange their order. It may not always be pretty, but it's very effective. I also love doodling in Procreate on my iPad. When I feel stuck, a little walk with my dog never fails to unstick me.
prototype
I'm a huge Figma nerd. I find it to be the most intuitive of the design programs I've used, and I'm always discovering new methods of bringing my ideas to life within its confines. This is where my meticulous attention to detail really comes into play. I love an organized design file, and derive a neatnik's sense of satisfaction from seeing all my components tucked into their own little nests.
That being said, I also recognize the importance of knowing when to button things up. There's no sense in making a beautifully organized, pixel perfect prototype if it's full of bugs. First, you have to test, re-test, and test again.
test
I think it's important to get feedback in every stage of the design process, and just as important to know what fidelity to present in order to get the most accurate results. I try to test my designs as early as possible, so that I can catch mistakes when it's easier to fix them, and access new insights when it's easier to implement them. I use low fidelity greyscale screens to keep early usability tests focused on higher level concerns, so that the tester doesn't get distracted by color or imagery. That being said, I try to add copy as early as possible, as content gives crucial context (I'm not a huge fan of Lorem Ipsum ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
When conducting usability tests, I take a similar approach to the one I take when interviewing, but in addition to listening intently I look closely. I encourage testers to vocalize their thought process as much as possible, so that I can contextualize their actions.
The approach I take to UX Design is sometimes as linear as what I've described above. More often than not, it resembles a Figma noodle soup of overlapping, intersecting actions. The project's constraints often dictate the shape the process will take. One thing remains a constant, though, and that's the human story.