From 2013–2016, I was a full-time Communications leader at LMN Architects in Seattle, leading multiple storytelling campaigns that directly led to widespread national and international media attention as well as new clients. As part of this work I developed multi-media and data-driven content on the firm's values of sustainable and inclusive design, culminating in winning the National Architecture Award in 2016.
The project I am proudest of is creating the firm's first user research program. This marked the start of my UX career, and contributed directly to the firm becoming a national player in a new business sector.
Unique for the architecture industry, the UX study I developed explores personas, interaction patterns, and usability in a built space. Insights from interviews, survey responses, and on-site observation helped us to define user needs and compare them against organizational goals embedded in the architectural design.
We used evidence to show that the design had generated successfully affordances for increased social connectivity, leading to casual interactions and diverse encounters.
But there were still opportunities to differentiate user types and better serve the building's 'super users' — full-time MBA students spending an average of 9 hours per day on site working and building future career relationships.
These included more dedicated spaces for not just networking and collaboration but also social activity and down time throughout the day.
