Process and Tools
Flipping between big picture strategy and logistical details of execution is one of my greatest strengths. I need to know the why, and I love to figure out the how.
Here are a few examples of internal tools that I have built to make our jobs easier, our work more consistent, and everything more efficient.
Grey-box Wireframing Kit / Asset Library
In order to speed up the process of laying out content strategies, I worked with one of our designers to build a UI toolkit comprised of a library of complex components with variables and properties. This helps maintain consistency between projects and reduces the need for visual design expertise—which is important considering all of the content strategists have a writing background and no formal design training.
Design-matched Wireframing Kit
For some partners, grey-box wireframes are not enough. They want to see exactly how their pages will look before doing CMS content entry. To meet this market need, we provide the option of building Figma asset libraries that match the partner’s live website. This allows us to provide content strategy and copywriting deliverables in a way that very closely resembles their actual website.
Remote Design Sprint Framework
The sudden shift to remote work in 2020 and the geographic diversity of our growing team, forced the need for improved online collaboration. Looking to replicate the traditional whiteboard and sticky note approach, my goal was to design an inclusive framework that didn’t require technical training or additional software licensing requirements for sprint participants.
Resource Theory Board
We needed a quick way to visualize creative capacity and test theories for project assignments without disrupting “official” project management workflows. I built a Figjam board that is shared between me and the project managers. It’s complete with custom stickies and name tags that allow us to quickly rough in project timelines to see where bottlenecks may occur.
Custom Annotation Library
Consistency isn’t just visually satisfying, it’s also efficient. It reduces unnecessary thinking about how something has to be done every time you go to do it. I built a shared library of common annotation tools that works in both Figma and Figjam. This allows seamless copy and paste between the two file types and allows non-licensed users to contribute to our shared documents in a visually identical way.
SmartSheet Templates
SmartSheet is one of our team’s favorite tools. We use it to tag, sort, and manage a high volume of content. We’ve built a variety of template types and toolkits for internal and partner use. Our sitemapping template is connected to Netlify to dynamically build interactive sitemaps.
We also created a collection of Google Sheets that dynamically populate our Figma files.
Creative Team Development & Management
< View some of the ways I support my team