Hello. I'm Caroline. I'm a UX and Product Design leader based in New Zealand.
Great design has the power to brighten people’s lives, and as a seasoned design leader who has spent over a decade in UX leadership roles for large global companies, I am driven to help teams achieve design excellence. My expertise lies in maturing design teams and practices. I really love what I do!
Bringing a wealth of design leadership expertise, including managing a remote, globally distributed teams of designers, alongside extensive hands-on user-centred design and consultancy experience, I guide designers towards creating meaningful, user-centred solutions. I have a genuine interest in the personal growth of those that I mentor, cultivating a coaching culture rooted in inclusion, empathy, and authenticity, all while valuing creative freedom and autonomy.
I help design teams elevate their creative potential and impact within organisations, through:
Compassionate Leadership
Through Compassionate Leadership, I prioritise understanding each team member as an individual, acknowledging their unique strengths and challenges. I believe in actively supporting their growth and success, including providing constructive feedback to promote open and honest communication. This approach builds our collective resilience and cultivates a culture where everyone feels valued and motivated.
User-Centred Design
I lead teams in a user-centred design approach, emphasising deep empathy for users and guiding the creation of intuitive, accessible, and engaging experiences. By fostering continuous user feedback and iterative design, I ensure our final products exceed expectations, bringing delight and value to the lives of our users.
Design Thinking
I lead teams with a design thinking approach, emphasising curiosity, creative ideation, experimentation, and collaborative problem-solving. Together, we build a shared understanding through empathy-driven objectivity, enabling us to tackle complex challenges in a way that benefits both the audience and the business goals.
I'm an expert at my craft and always learning
I have over 11 years of experience managing user experience and product design teams and maturing UX operations for global software companies. Before that, I held roles as a senior designer and consultant. My expertise spans across the user-centred design and Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) spectrums, and I have worked across numerous industries (enterprise practice management software, fintech, airlines, banking, public sector, universities, retail) all the way from strategy, remote globally distributed team leadership, to the final designs. I am interested in how AI may shape UX processes and experiences in the future. I specialise in:
Enterprise Design
With over nine years dedicated to leading a UX practice focused on Enterprise Practice Management Software, I've honed a deep understanding of integrating UX within the broader Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). My expertise lies in facilitating effective collaboration among product managers, business analysts, and development teams, and I'm adept at navigating the complex demands of data-heavy enterprises. Whether it’s creating intricate grids with full functionality or guiding the design for diverse enterprise tools such as time and expenses capture, billing and financial systems, document management, through to dashboards and reporting, I know how to untangle intricate requirements into user-friendly, elegant designs that prioritise usability.
Design Operations and Leadership
With 12 years in leading design operations, I know how to tailor my approach to the growth stage, size, & UX maturity level of the company. My speciality lies in nurturing high-performance teams adept at delivering complex designs that harmonise with both business objectives and user needs. My leadership style weaves in user-centred practices methods to ensure our designs are not only valuable but also thoroughly validated. I prioritise streamlining and enhancing operational processes, focusing on the delicate balance between reusability and innovation in our design approach. This encompasses refining our methods in design systems and user validation. Simultaneously, I focus on optimising people-centric aspects, such as hiring and onboarding processes, to build a cohesive and skilled team. My approach is about empowering designers, fostering their development and happiness, and removing barriers, rather than micromanaging. I believe in nurturing autonomous creativity within a structured framework, ensuring project success and team well-being.
Design Strategy
With more than 15 years leading, designing, and consulting on user experience and product design strategies, I've played a pivotal role in steering projects that enhanced user engagement and aligned with business goals. My design thinking mindset fuels collaborative efforts to clarify business and design goals, enabling me to lead teams effectively in shaping project success. My strategies have led to successful product launches and notable improvements in user experience, evidenced by task completion rates and satisfaction scores in user testing. Specialising in transforming complex design challenges into practical, actionable strategies, I consistently achieve outcomes that meet or exceed project expectations. My approach cultivates a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, positively impacting the teams and projects I've managed.
Leadership & Design Operations
-
Team Management
-
Hiring & Team Development
-
Mentoring & Coaching
-
Project Oversight
-
Resource Allocation
-
Design Tools
-
Workflow & Process Design Optimisation
-
Documentation
- Quality Assurance
-
Cross-functional Collaboration
-
Change Management
-
Culture Building
Design Strategy
-
User-Centred Design
-
Design Thinking
-
Enterprise Software Design
-
Multi-channel Design
-
Creative Direction
-
Usability
-
Accessibility
Research
-
User Testing
-
Customer Journey Maps
-
Personas and Scenarios
-
Information Architecture
-
Qualitative Studies
-
Quantitative Studies
Design
-
Conceptual Design
-
Interaction Design
-
Visual Design
-
Styleguides & Design Guidelines