Experience index
A broader view of the products, domains, and capabilities I’ve worked across over 20 years.
The case studies show a handful of projects in depth. This index shows the broader range behind them, from product areas and domains to research methods and UX capabilities.
Product areas & feature work
Across consumer, B2B, and internal platforms, I’ve designed and delivered features that support complex decision-making, operational workflows, and systems that evolve over time.
Highlights
Platform migrations
Helped move live products to new platforms without breaking revenue-critical flows.
Complex configuration
Simplified variants and rule-driven states.
Internal enablement
Turned individual know-how into usable systems.
Collaboration workflows
Designed shared-context systems for teams.
Account, identity & access
- Authentication and sign-in flows
- Role-based access and permissions
- Admin and configuration experiences
- Error handling, validation, and recovery states
Complex workflows & decision flows
- Multi-step task flows and wizards
- Configuration and setup experiences
- Rules-driven and conditional interfaces
- Edge-case and exception handling
Enterprise collaboration & visualization
- 3D model review, annotation, and contextual collaboration
- Asynchronous feedback tied to specific geometry and model states
- Role-based sharing, supplier access, and intellectual-property protection
- Engineering collaboration for users without CAD tools
Data-heavy & operational interfaces
- Dashboards and reporting tools
- Admin panels and internal systems
- Content and data management workflows
- Monitoring, review, and approval flows
Commerce & transactional experiences
- Product detail and comparison flows
- Cart, checkout, and post-purchase flows
- Substitutions, refunds, and order modifications
- Promotions, offers, and incentives
Learning, assessment & registration experiences
- Student registration, onboarding, and account journeys
- Assessment administration and district coordinator workflows
- Cross-product learner experiences across 37+ ACT systems
- Educator, administrator, and student-facing platform experiences
Discovery, navigation & findability
- Search and filtering systems
- Browse and category structures
- Information architecture and taxonomy design
- Onboarding and orientation experiences
Knowledge & enablement systems
- Internal knowledge bases and support tools
- Sales enablement platforms
- Documentation and instructional content
- Self-service help and guidance flows
Domains & product contexts
- Enterprise SaaS
- B2B SaaS and secure enterprise collaboration
- Internal tools and operational systems
- Consumer-facing products
- FinTech
- Ecommerce
- EdTech (Pearson and ACT, 2006–2018)
- Content and publishing platforms
- Early-stage and scaling products
“Derek is a true professional that brings so much to the table – much more than just great designs.”
Core capabilities
UX & product leadership
- UX team leadership, hiring, coaching, and performance management
- Design mentorship, structured critique, and career development
- Product strategy, stakeholder alignment, and executive communication
- Research-informed roadmap prioritization
- DesignOps, design standards, budgets, and vendor partnerships
- Organizational change and design practice maturity
- Workflow modernization and process improvement
- Decision-making under constraint
Interaction design & systems thinking
- Interaction design for complex workflows
- Information architecture
- Enterprise UX
- Workflow rules and interaction state modeling
- Design systems and pattern libraries
- WCAG and Section 508 audits, screen-reader testing, and code-level remediation guidance
- Error-state and edge-case design
- Design documentation and standards
UI design & design engineering
- Typography, visual hierarchy, spacing, and responsive layouts
- Hands-on production HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React UI styling
- Reusable components, patterns, and scalable design systems
- Interactive Figma prototypes, responsive behavior, and motion
- Direct design-to-engineering implementation and pull requests
AI-enhanced design practice
- AI-assisted product discovery, research synthesis, and opportunity framing
- Agent-assisted prototyping and design-to-code workflows
- AI model evaluation, design critique, and output quality review
- AI-enhanced content operations and workflow automation
- Human-centered validation and judgment in AI-assisted design decisions
Research & discovery
- Discovery research
- User interviews and contextual inquiry
- Usability testing (moderated and unmoderated)
- Journey mapping
- Persona development
- Research synthesis, opportunity framing, and roadmap input
- Market and competitive analysis
- Surveys and mixed-methods research
- Card sorting, tree testing and information validation
Data, analytics & experimentation
- Data-informed design
- GA4 analysis
- A/B testing and experimentation
- Funnel and conversion analysis
- Evidence-based design critique and quality reviews
- Hypothesis validation
- Ongoing usability evaluation
Cross-functional collaboration
- Product partnership and alignment
- Engineering collaboration
- Front-end collaboration
- Agile and triad-based workflows
- Stakeholder alignment
- Research alignment
- Marketing and go-to-market collaboration
- Sales enablement support
Tools & platforms
- Design & prototyping: Figma, FigJam, Miro
- Research & analytics: GA4, LogRocket, Quantum Metric, PostHog
- Product & collaboration: Jira, Confluence, Aha!, Notion
- UX research: UserTesting, Optimal Workshop
- CMS, CRM & commerce: Webflow, Contentful, Sanity, HubSpot, Shopify, Brandfolder
- Front-end implementation: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React (production styling and pull requests)
- AI & agent workflows: ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Design, Cursor, MCP-connected Figma and Webflow
- Prototyping & publishing: v0, Stitch, Figma Make, Vite, Vercel, Email on Acid
Credentials
- MBA, Management & Organizations — University of Iowa
- B.A., Management Information Systems (Computer Science emphasis) — University of Northern Iowa
- Nielsen Norman Group UX Certificate — UX Management Specialty
- Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) · Certified User Experience Analyst (CXA)