I'm Michael Olson, a driven multidisciplinary UX Researcher.

I have a MA in HCI and a BA in Cognitive Science from SUNY Oswego.
I bake bread, climb mountains, & code too much.

Discover

Discover

Define

Define

Develop

Develop

Deliver

Deliver

  • Cultural research
  • Identify stakeholders with influence
  • Identify expert stakeholders
  • Identify meta users
  • Record assumptions of UX team
  • Stakeholder Interviews
  • Map out business goals, value proposition, audience, pain points, process, project specifics and overarching marketing messaging.
  • Observe users in environment if possible.
  • Identify UX trends and best practices regarding product.
  • Competitor analysis.
  • Heuristic analysis of existing product and competitors.
  • Refine and clarify stakeholder interviews into goals and constraints.
  • Refine stakeholder interviews into needs and wants.
  • Identify themes in stakeholder interviews.
  • Define personas if needed.
  • Identify core usage scenarios.
  • Create user journeys to explore the use space and immerse ourselves in the perspective of the user.
  • Map out objects, actions and attributes needed to convey their options to the user.
  • Refine objects, actions and attributes for maximum overlap between objects and actions and minimal redundant attributes.
  • Develop structure and hierarchy of information within product.
  • Brainstorming and testing with stakeholders for feedback on structure and concepts.
  • Gather ideas and brainstorm design directions.
  • Low fidelity sketches to help visualize design options.
  • Test sketches with stakeholders.
  • Brainstorm with stakeholders for feedback.
  • Wireframes of the most promising sketches.
  • Evaluate wireframes based on how well they support goals and constraints.
  • Perform user testing to gauge metrics related to KPIs
  • Perform user testing for stakeholder feedback on design, layout, structure and user expectations.
  • Repeat testing until KPIs are met and no major issues are identified by stakeholders.
  • Create prototypes.
  • Define final theme, specs and guidelines required for implementation.
  • Meet with design team, technical experts and business manager for feedback on final decisions.
  • Finalize example user story.
  • Finalize high fidelity deliverables.

This is the define paragraph.

This is the Develop Paragraph.

This is the Deliver Paragraph.

Explore my design process:

Define

  • Refine and clarify stakeholder interviews into goals and constraints.
  • Refine stakeholder interviews into needs and wants.
  • Identify themes in stakeholder interviews.
  • Define personas if needed.
  • Identify core usage scenarios.
  • Create user journeys to explore the use space and immerse ourselves in the perspective of the user.
  • Map out objects, actions and attributes needed to convey their options to the user.
  • Refine objects, actions and attributes for maximum overlap between objects and actions and minimal redundant attributes.
  • Develop structure and hierarchy of information within product.
  • Brainstorming and testing with stakeholders for feedback on structure and concepts.

Develop

  • Gather ideas and brainstorm design directions.
  • Low fidelity sketches to help visualize design options.
  • Test sketches with stakeholders.
  • Brainstorm with stakeholders for feedback.
  • Wireframes of the most promising sketches.
  • Evaluate wireframes based on how well they support goals and constraints.
  • Perform user testing to gauge metrics related to KPIs
  • Perform user testing for stakeholder feedback on design, layout, structure and user expectations.
  • Repeat testing until KPIs are met and no major issues are identified by stakeholders.
  • Create prototypes.

Deliver

  • Define final theme, specs and guidelines required for implementation.
  • Meet with design team, technical experts and business manager for feedback on final decisions.
  • Finalize example user story.
  • Finalize high fidelity deliverables.

Some of my work:

Ross Mills Rebrand
UX Design and Research
AR Live Captions
Product Design, Product Development (C#)
IBM Internship
Product Design Intern

Got a project?
Let's talk.

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