Aaron Shepard
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
San Diego, CA, United States
Toptal member since January 9, 2019
As a designer with 20+ years of experience, Aaron has consistently created value and produced measurable results in UX and product design. He reduced costs by $70 million at Anthem.ai, increased adoption by 600% at Deloitte, and enhanced productivity at Caterpillar. Aaron tackles complex challenges by taking a holistic approach that involves collaborating with stakeholders, aligning design with business strategy, and effectively identifying user needs to enhance the overall customer experience.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Product Design and Strategy Consultant
Freelance
- Acted as a product design and strategy consultant, I served as a design leader, helping organizations discover and solve complex problems. Focused on value creation and capture, synthesizing design with business strategy to amplify the customer experience.
- Created and built data-driven dashboards for Deloitte to enable B2B marketing professionals to inform, manage, and optimize their marketing activations and campaigns. Through research, UX, and strategy increased usage and adoption by 600%.
- Acted as the product design lead at Anthem.ai, building an AI-driven insight optimization tool and a comparative treatment efficacy system that reduced care costs by 70 million annually and helped clinicians improve patient health outcomes.
- Facilitated research, UI, and design sprints at Caterpillar for product databases within the innovation division of Caterpillar to reduce waste and man-hours while improving efficiencies and productivity on a global scale.
- Worked as the product design lead at Compass for authorization, authentication, and role-based access control (RBAC) permissions concepts, including diagramming and modeling, implicit and explicit sharing, and an interactive educational tool.
Senior UX Designer
Walmart Labs
- Led design for continuous integration, functional and performance testing portal in collaboration with engineering team.
- Designed customer experience strategies and presentations for suite of performance based developer tools.
Product Designer
Becton Dickinson
- Created information architecture for tablet-based healthcare app, including user flows, wireframes, high and low fidelity prototypes, guided journey map and personas supported by qualitative research interviews.
- Led first user task and functionality test, compiled a better understanding of user behaviors, determined if the product met expectations and validated proposed features.
Associate Design Director, Product Marketing
Renovate America
- Established an authentic, consumer-focused brand and identity for Renovate America, a $1 billion financing company providing businesses and homeowners with financial support for energy efficiency programs and projects.
- Selected to spearhead digital platform re-launch from concept to completion, improving customer eligibility process, reducing bounce rate, and increasing leads by 44%.
- Developed a design system and designed and tested user flows, wireframes, and prototypes based on research.
- Managed a team of 12 and an external agency, providing guidance to ensure compliance with brand standards and meeting strict deadlines.
Art Director, Digital Design
Beachbody
- Defined and executed design strategy and art direction for the launch of the digital streaming platform, Beachbody On Demand, generating a significant portion of Beachbody's $1+ billion annual revenue.
- Directed digital art strategy and visual design for multichannel initiatives, including display advertising, social media, affiliate marketing, Amazon marketplace, and broadcast media campaigns across a portfolio of 30+ brands.
- Managed a team of designers, mentoring them to enhance their skill levels and boost their confidence when working with stakeholders.
Creative Director, Principal
Mineral
- Designed award-winning integrated digital solutions, multi-channel marketing initiatives for Fortune 500 and eCommerce clients at a full-service creative agency.
- Leveraged extensive professional network to expand client list, enabling company to become profitable for the first time in eight years and achieve record revenue.
- Acted as principal, refined brand identity, restructured pricing model, and set long-term business objectives that boosted value and competitiveness.
- Cultivated a sterling reputation among clients for delivering work that exceeded expectations, resulting in high-volume referrals from renowned companies across tech, entertainment, auto, and energy industries.
- Worked with various clients, including Toyota, GE, Disney, Gibson, Fender, and Interactions Magazine.
Creative Lead, Web Analyst
ValueClick
- Increased conversions, development of an eCommerce ecosystem through building, delivering and managing creative initiatives, user experiences, promotions and all aspects of site re-design.
- Obtained critical insights, measured customer lifecycles, focusing on reach, acquisition, conversion, retention, and A/B test analysis.
- Decreased annual marketing spend by 600,000, and managed 11 eCommerce properties with annual sales of $28 million.
Director of Advertising
One America Wireless
- Integrated advertising strategy, insights, and creative development to deliver successful advertising programs aligning with brand and marketing initiatives.
Freelance Art Director
Vita Innovations
- Provided art direction at multi-disciplinary design firm serving clients across auto, tech, hospitality, and marketing industries with clients including Ford Motor Company and Squaw Valley Ski Resorts.
Multimedia Designer
Digital Business Products
- Created interactive CD-ROM marketing and sales tools, advertising campaigns, and branded design solutions for HomeStore.com, Realtor.com, Coldwell Banker, 21st Century, Prudential, and RE/MAX.
Web Designer
Digital Imagination
- Developed user interface designs for small to large-scale projects; clients included: Universal Studios, Proctor & Gamble, Morey Body Boards, and Mayfair Capital Group.
Art Director
DotTV Productions
- Delivered innovative and engaging media concepts for clients including Bissell Cleaning Appliances and Coleman Outdoor Products.
Education
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Design with an emphasis in Graphic Design, Marketing, and Economics
San Diego State University - San Diego, California
Certifications
Design Strategy: Design Thinking for Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship
University of Sydney
Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
MIT
Web Development and Design
Learning Tree University
Skills
Tools
Adobe CC, Figma, Zeplin, InVision, InVision Studio, Sketch, Excel 2016, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Diagrams, Litmus, Jira, Confluence, Trello, Google Analytics, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Analytics, Flash, Lookback, Zoom, Miro
Platforms
iOS, Mobile, Web, MacOS, Apple, Omniture, Dovetail
Industry Expertise
Information Technology, Marketing, Pharmaceuticals, Fitness, Sports
Languages
HTML, CSS
Other
Design Leadership, User Testing, Qualitative Research, UX Design, UI Design, Product Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Enterprise SaaS, Empathy, User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Design Systems, Visual Design, User Flows, Digital Strategy, SaaS, User-centered Design (UCD), B2B, Design Strategy, Pixel Perfect, Responsive Web Apps, Interactive Prototypes, Complex Application User Interfaces (UI), Software as a Service (SaaS), SaaS Design, Journey Mapping, Marketing Tools, UX Research, Usability, Quantitative Research, User Empathy, B2C, Mobile Apps, Mobile App Design, eCommerce, Stakeholder Engagement, Communication, Stakeholder Management, Web App Design, Web Applications, iOS App Design, Leadership, Responsive Web Design (RWD), User Journeys, Mobile UX, Customer Journeys, Complex Web Systems, User Workflows, Web App UX, Web App UI, Data Visualization, Dashboards, User Interviews, Interaction Design (IxD), User Stories, Storytelling, Analytics, A/B Testing, Multivariate Testing, UX Pattern Design, Brand Positioning, Information Architecture (IA), User Psychology, Market Research & Analysis, Human-centered Design (HCD), User Profiles, Jobs, Branding, PowerPoint Design, Email Marketing, Performance Marketing, Dashboard Design, Mobile UI Design, Mobile UX Design, DataViz, Workshops, UI Guidelines, Google Drive, Ethnio, Fintech, Residential Real Estate, Testimonial Videos, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Style Guides, Task Analysis, Personas, Mobile Design, Display Advertising, Brand Guidelines, Photography, Videos, Nutrition & Supplements, User Needs, Solar, Environment, Interviews, Forms, Art Direction, Management, Landing Page Design, Landing Page Optimization, Team Leadership, Entrepreneurship, UX Strategy, Complex Problem Solving, Web Design, Web UI Design, Total Addressable Market (TAM), Research, Startups, Problem Statements, Market Segmentation, Demographic Data, Psychographics, User Personas, Customer Experience, Value Proposition, Customer Acquisition, Financial Projection, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web UX, Planning, Analysis, Product Strategy, Concept Modeling, High-fidelity Prototypes, Low-fidelity Prototypes, User Validation, User Validation Testing, Web App Testing, Data Synthesis
Experience
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