Katie Johnson

CAREER SUMMARY:

I’m a UX Designer focusing on building technology that enables online/offline interaction. I enjoy creating new ways for people to form connections. I do this through culture design facilitation, user experience design, and product leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• User centered design (UCD) from beginning of development cycle and for existing products launching in new markets.
• 4+ years successful experience with clients and in house teams in several industries.
• Tools: CSS, HTML5, Balsamiq, Lucidchart, Sketch, Keynote, Adobe Photoshop

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:

UX Designer, Accela, Inc. 8/2013 – 4/2015
• Accela helps connect government and citizens through productivity and citizen engagement tools.
• As the founding member of a 10-person design team, I lead the team in adopting best practices.
• My contribution includes being the design lead on a productivity tablet application for building inspectors and a citizen engagement app called Civic Voice.

UX Designer/Project Manager, Planetary Thinking, LLC 9/2012 – present
• Planetary Thinking is a company led by Alex Steffen that’s developing a planetary design theory, producing digital and in-person products for audiences and clients.
• As part of a two-person team, I translated the vision into a cohesive brand experience.
• My contribution includes designing a subscription e-commerce model, defining product offerings for potential clients, UX for the website and branding.

UX Designer, Couchsurfing, Inc. 9/2012
• Couchsurfing is the world’s largest travel network of 5.5 million users worldwide that provide accommodations in 207 countries.
• For this project, I worked with Couchsurfing’s CEO to create an experience for a non-technical audience during an industry conference keynote demonstrating the product.
• Results of this collaboration included raising the profile of Couchsurfing in its industry and building connections between 450 conference attendees.

UX/Product Designer and Cofounder, The Hikery 11/2011-8/2012
• The Hikery is a way to strike a better balance between urban living and getting time outdoors by using a social platform for joining and creating hike experiences.
• The product generalizes the online/offline process of going hiking, facilitates the interactions involved and helps people build meaningful, new relationships as a result.
• After designing flows, user stories, personas, scenarios and use cases, prototyping UIs, I successfully soft-launched a prototype in Summer 2012 with a team of two engineers.

Special Ops, Skillshare, Inc. 7/2011-10/2011
• Skillshare is a New York-based startup creating an online marketplace for offline classes.
• As one of two people tasked with the San Francisco marketplace launch, I designed the online/offline Skillshare experience with brand-aligned teachers, venues and class topics.
• I was happy that our work created 4x results over other markets and I was selected to join the NYC team to determine best practices for designing successful online/offline classes.

User Research, Airbnb, Inc. 2/2011-4/2011
• Airbnb is an online marketplace for travel accommodations in 192 countries.
• Being tasked with how to improve the host and guest experience, I worked with the founders and the product team to research within and between the largest 15 markets.
• I applied quantitative and qualitative research techniques to determine the success of key features and guide product development.

Special Projects Analyst, 3Degrees, Inc. 3/2010-10/2010
• 3Degrees is the largest renewable energy commodities trading desk on the west coast.
• Working across several departments, my role involved creating initiatives to improve client experience and build out the company’s online presence.
• I successfully created scenarios and wireframes for the website redesign and the renewable energy certificate (REC) e-commerce product that resulted in a new online revenue source.

Advocate, Mills College 5/2008-5/2009
• Mills College is a small, liberal arts college of 1000 undergrads in the Oakland hills.
• As a student, I identified the need for improved access to public transportation and guided the college and transit agency stakeholders towards a solution using online testimonials.
• After creating a consensus among stakeholders, 5,500+ students have enjoyed universal access to public transit and over $6.1M in savings in transit services (more on the process).

COMMUNITY:
• Advisor, Imagine H2O imagineh2o.org 7/2009-3/2010
• Advisor, New Leaders Council, newleaderscouncil.org 7/2009-3/2010

EDUCATION:
• Be Technical, 6-week Ruby course taught at Pivotal Lab 10/2011-11/2011
• B.A. in Environmental Science, Mills College 9/2005-5/2009
• DC Semester, Economics, Georgetown University 1/2007-5/2007

HONORS:

Mills Class of 2009, Recipient Outstanding Senior Award for ‘excellence in scholarship and service.'


CONFERENCES:
• Open Source Bridge, Open Source Will Save the World 2012
• Share SF, Community Design for the Sharing Economy 2011

CULTURAL EXPERIENCE:

UK, Netherlands, Washington, DC, Thailand