Katie Mendoza

UI Designer • UX Designer • User Researcher • Sunnyvale, CA, US

Top Earner

User Research

UI/UX Design

UX Strategy

Quality Assurance

UX Writing

Blog Writing

Community Management

Problem Solving

Product Strategy

Copywriting

Emails

Discord

Secondary Research

Figma

Design Systems

Design Thinking

User-Centered Design

Usability Testing

User Interface Design

User Flows

Community Building

Competitive Analysis

Qualitative Research

Research

Adobe Creative Suite

Quantitative Analytics

Survey Creation

Wireframing

Design Research

Storyboarding

Journey Mapping

Available for hire fromNegotiable

Full-Time Roles

Contracts

Experienced UX Researcher & Strategist

✨ Hi, I’m Katie, a UX Specialist with an educational background in Psychology. I'm looking for roles in UX Research, Design, and Content Strategy. 📚 I have recently completed my Master's degree in UX Design from Maryland Institute College of Art. I have studied UX Research, Design, Prototyping, and Human Factors in graduate-level classes. 📝 I have held multiple remote freelance roles in UX Research, Design, and Writing over the last 3 years with excellent endorsements from clients. I provide consistently above and beyond deliverables. I am experienced in the nuances of managing multiple clients in remote freelance roles. 📅 Let's connect if you're looking for support in Product Design, Research, or Content Strategy!

Projects

UX Research & Design

Hashimotive is a healthcare app I crafted during my 16-week thesis project at MICA, inspired by my personal experience with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Recognizing the need for a tailored, holistic approach to managing the condition, I aimed to design an app that offered not just medication reminders and symptom tracking but also access to individualized health content. My vision was an application that did more than merely assist with condition management; it was to empower users, granting them a renewed sense of agency over their health. In this spotlight, I'll delve into my design journey, from the initial user research, through wireframing and prototyping, to the final product. Emphasizing user-centric design, I'll share insights into how consistent user feedback was integral to shaping Hashimotive, ensuring it truly met user needs and desires.See More

UX Research & Design Cryptocurrency Website

Conducted UX Research and UX Design over the course of 16 weeks as part of UX Design Master's program.

User Research & UX Product Management Healthcare App

Created a product management plan and conducted user research for a healthcare application as part of UX Design Master's degree.

Founder & President of UX/UI Association at SJSU

🌿 I actively seek leadership opportunities. I founded the UX/UI Association at SJSU- a community that has grew to 450 + members within 2 years.See More

Medium Article - Cryptocurrency & UX

An article I wrote evaluating the Cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken, from the lens of human factors psychology and user interface guidelines. See More

Work History

UX Designer

Oso (Contract through Pangea.app)Feb 2023 - Present • 1 yr 8 mos• Led all UX Research & Design initiatives as first UX hire in an authorization as a service company • Developed comprehensive user research learning plans, orchestrated user research script creation, interview scheduling, and conducted interviews and user tests with 28 users across 5 sprints • Analyzed qualitative & quantitative feedback, consolidated insights, identified key takeaways, and curated a comprehensive database of feedback • Leveraged Openreplay and Mixpanel for data analysis, identifying actionable improvement opportunities • Established UX Research repository, encompassing user tests, research plans, feedback, data databases, UX Design artifacts, and implemented a systematic tagging system • Created design system in Figma, including UI Inventory, designing reusable components, standardizing typography, color usage, icons, hierarchies, and paginations, and proposed adjustments based on UX design best practices • Spearheaded projects aimed at enhancing core product areas, leveraging user research data. Led collaborative brainstorming and sketching sessions with engineers, translating findings into Figma designs for refined user experiences.

UX Writer

Slick (Contract through Pangea.app) Jun 2022 - Present • 2 yrs 4 mos• Worked closely with leadership to define content requirements and strategy that best achieve business goals for product design startup. • Applied market research to understand emerging trends and evaluate competitive marketplace. • Wrote and edited content for website, presentations, speeches, and sales outreach sequences • Performed user research testing to validate VP content with target user personas. • Wrote content for blog posts on UX and Market Research, utilizing understanding of best practices for copywriting.

QA Tester

Busker (Contract through Pangea.app) Jul 2022 - Sep 2022 • 3 mos• Led testing and feedback process of mobile and web designs, referencing Figma and live site. • Documented 200+ front end and functional bugs. • Tested the platform across multiple web browsers on desktop and mobile. • Suggested improvements for design based on UX best practices. • Analyzed documentation to assign priority level.

UX/UI Design

Kingside Development (Contract through Pangea.app)Mar 2022 - Jul 2022 • 5 mos• Research, investigate, and evaluate user requirements for clients in healthcare, professional services, and legal fields. • Created content inventory templates and audit practices, managed content strategy for client websites. • Designed sitemaps, wireframes, low-fidelity mockups, and high-fidelity prototypes in Figma Create customer journey maps and customer personas. • Design websites in Webflow and managed CMS, utilizing Relume.

UX Research

JisellApr 2022 - Jul 2022 • 4 mos• Led product team of 3 in user research for new product launch of Augmented Reality mobile app. • Created user research plan, detailing research objectives, process, and user interview script. • Led outreach to recruit target users for interviews. • Held user interviews using remote and local methods. • Analyzed user interview findings and created a report detailing high level insights, themes, and impact for design • Conducted heuristic evaluation of mobile app, making recommendations based on UX best practices.

UX Research & Strategy

NuWorkAug 2021 - Dec 2021 • 5 mos• Led team of 3 in UX Research for e-commerce web redesign and cryptocurrency product design. • Developed survey design, interview scripts, and outreach copywrite for recruiting and interviewing users. • Collaborate with Developers and Designers to develop agency tools & business projections. • Educate team on Design Thinking and User Research methods. • Develop UX Strategy with client stakeholder and design team by analyzing competitive research, conducting user interviews, and assessing business objectives.

UX/UI Design

ParkStash (Internship)Apr 2021 - Sep 2021 • 6 mos• Established research and design strategies for next quarter • Performed competitive analysis • Created a low fidelity wireframe of new website based on expected user needs using Excalidraw • Developed a high fidelity mockup of new website using Adobe XD • Designed logos and illustrations for website using Adobe Illustrator

UX Research

EZBlueprint (Academic)Jan 2020 - May 2020 • 5 mos• Evaluated software based on User Interface principles and Human Factors Psychology. • Conducted and presented competitive analysis findings. • Conducted usability testing resulting in user feedback analysis. • Identified user personas, user's key needs, wants, frustrations, and envisioned in an affinity map. • Finalized report with specific recommendations for improving accessibility, usability, and aesthetic of software. • Presented feedback to CEO.

UX Research Lead

Braven (Academic)Jan 2019 - Jun 2019 • 6 mos• Managed a team of 7 in user research of current mental healthcare resources. • Utilized Design Thinking process to Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test solution. • Conducted and led Empathetic Interviews with 20 users on mental health resources. • Analyzed user data to develop a unique solution to current usability problems. • Presented solution to a room of 300+ stakeholders in a competitive environment. • Awarded first place for UX solution in a competition between 20 other groups.

UX Researcher

DaVita Kidney CareNov 2023 - Present • 11 mosQualitative UX Researcher

Reviews

Exceeds ExpectationsRecommended by clients 6 times.

Top EarnerHas earned $10k+ on Pangea.

Katie has received Kudos for:

Teamwork (2)

Problem Solving (1)

Reliability (1)

Independence (3)

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"Katie exceeded my expectations!"

Dustin H.Kingside Development

"Katie is highly skilled UX researcher and UX writer. She continuously exceeds our expectations and shows top level of responsibility and work ethic. She always does more than required and is able to work independently if provided all necessary materials. "

Temo G.Slick

"Great job turning our webinar transcript into a clean copy!"

Marc A.Elion Health

Education

Maryland Institute College of Art

Graduate Degree, UX DesignSep 2021 - Jan 2023

San Jose State University

Bachelor's Degree, Psychology2018 - May 2021

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