Hi there!

I’m Veronica (“V”)

I am passionate about leading UX research, design strategy, and concept development to tackle complex challenges and uncover new opportunities, specializing in early-stage discovery, holistic design, and emerging technologies.

A black and white digital portrait of myself

UX Research • Design Strategy • Innovation • UX/UI • Product Design

My Mission Statement:

To live each day with curiosity, compassion, integrity, and inclusivity, inspiring growth, collaborating with others, advocating for good, and creating positive change.

My Approach:

I aim to bring HCD and Design Thinking into the business and work collaboratively as an integrated team to solve problems, explore opportunities, and bring solutions to market that are desirable, viable and feasible. By giving HCD a seat at the table, we can help:

  • Inform business strategy

  • Inform product roadmaps

  • Inform where to place bets

  • Meet business goals

  • Meet customer needs

  • De-risk projects

My UX Research approach combines multiple methods to understand not just what customers do, but why and how they think about the problem. I use both generative and evaluative research: exploratory work in early discovery to uncover user needs and mental models, then rigorous testing of designs and prototypes to measure usability and performance. Within that, I mix qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative work like interviews, observation, and usability testing captures the descriptive, subjective "why" and "how." Quantitative methods such as surveys, metrics, and analytics measure things like "how much" and "how many." I also distinguish between what people say they do and what they actually do, because those two things often diverge, especially in regulated or high-stakes contexts. That gap between stated and actual behavior is where some of the most interesting findings live. I embed accessibility and inclusive research from the problem stage forward, ensuring diverse perspectives shape both how I frame questions and how I evaluate solutions.

My Process:

Below is an enhanced version of the Double Diamond process I have found to be highly effective within a large organization. This approach can also be tailored to accommodate business and project requirements as needed.

My Principles:

Research/data-driven

Simple

Relatable

Accessible

Holistic

Innovative & Forward-thinking

Enterprise Experience:

Enterprise Integration

By integrating design into business ways of working I have helped to build enterprise-wide HCD maturity, break down silos, and transform the organization into an agile, innovative, and customer-first institution.

Core team composition diagram

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Design Practice Development

Working on a global innovation team meant I moved fast and pivoted often. I helped to re-design our organizational structure, as well as our HCD and Innovation frameworks, processes, and workflows to adapt to the changing needs of the business.

Pillar strategy diagram

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Global Innovation Team org charts

A series of three versions of org charts I worked on for the Global Innovation team

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Transformation

Expertise:

Global Innovation Team Transformation

I co-led our team through multiple re-orgs and transformations such as:

  • Product design —> Design strategy and service design

  • Technology specialties —> Business priorities

  • Reimagining existing services —> Exploring new opportunities

  • Siloed teams —> Cross-functional team collaboration

My Vision for the Future of Design:

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Image generated using ChatGPT

I envision a future where design is deeply embedded in organizational culture, strengthened by advanced design expertise, and driven by innovative mindsets. I see the strategic integration of emerging technologies and a disciplined approach to defining and measuring success.

I believe this infrastructure will enable the business to make informed, data-driven decisions that:

  • Mitigate risks

  • Elevate customer experiences

  • Drive sustainable growth

  • Foster innovation

  • Position us to proactively tackle future challenges while staying ahead of evolving trends

Building a design-driven culture through:

  • Ensuring design has a seat at the table at the leadership level and throughout the product and service development lifecycle

  • Cultivating organizational awareness of design’s value and the strategic role it can play

  • Leveraging research and data to deeply understand the customer, their needs, and their pain points

  • Establishing integrated, cross-functional teams to share knowledge, inspire collaboration, and embed customer empathy

  • Acting quickly with rapid prototyping and iteration based on data and customer feedback

  • Holistic design

  • Systems thinking

  • Accessibility

  • Personalization

  • Leveraging AI in design

Expanding design knowledge to:

  • Ensure it’s done in a responsible, thoughtful, ethical, and scalable way

  • Set business-specific guidelines and processes for new technology based on business values and policies

  • Ready teams through change management and employee training

Integrating emerging technology:

  • Outlining specific and measurable goals

  • Defining metrics aligned with project goals

  • Embedding digital tracking

  • Gathering user feedback

  • Regular monitoring and reporting

Defining and measuring success: