Hi! My name is Melinda, and I am a principal product designer.

My specialty is defining the look and experience of a product from imperfect and rapidly changing information. I can design the full stack from primary user research all the way to final design.

I start with a product hypothesis - and find out if research confirms it.

At CBS Interactive, I conducted interviews and field studies with editors to see if writing and accessing articles was difficult. The pain point turned out to be finding and uploading images.

Primary user research for new internal CMS tool - CBS Sports, CBS News, CBS Interactive, CNET.

I build a case for resources and backlog space.

Pictured is a high-level process map between two key personas - one who flies drones to inspect equipment and another who prioritizes problems to inspect. Product priorities and outcomes became more focused.
User journey map for data analytics tool, client BP - Kespry

I workshop, whiteboard, and wireframe to save time

It’s not always pretty, but lo-fi is the campfire around which I can tell fundamental stories.

Above - Initial thumbnail sketch for a new iOS app - Viator/Trip Advisor; A polished wireframe for a timesheet desktop app - CBS Interactive

OTA upgrade feature prototype - Turing Video

I create prototypes to facilitate decision-making

I can bring stakeholders, engineers, and accessibility experts to the table as early and often as possible.

I test, survey, and follow metrics.

I conduct research myself; and also partner with researchers for moderated and unmoderated surveys, interviews, and UX tasks.

I partner with my design system team.

Design systems are where scaling happens. I also contribute to the backlog where possible.

I add visual delights when needed.

My focus remains on the interface experience, but a few visual delights can round out the process nicely.

Internal CMS tool, front-end illustration and design- CBS Interactive

Design and illustration for company-wide pdfs distributed for CMS release - CBS Interactive

I’m an easy part of any team.

(Say team members, stake-holders and developers)

“THANK YOU. Your leadership is incredibly valued.”

- Erika Kindlund - Managing Director of Experience Design - JP Morgan

“Your work has really leveled up the design and UX of our solution.”

- Neal Corbett - Executive Director of Interaction Design - JP Morgan

“Melinda is able to see both the forest and the trees, and as a result often does much of the required project management herself. She communicates well with creative, business, and engineering types alike, and is a lot of fun to work with.”

- Margaret - Marketing editor - CBS Interactive