Karen Remsen, Designer in Chicago, IL, United States
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Karen Remsen

Verified Expert  in Design

Designer

Location
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal Member Since
February 3, 2016

Karen has five years of experience in UX, Product Research, and Design. She has worked both as the sole designer on a small startup team and a key teammate at a large corporation. Previously, Karen worked for five years at a small branding and marketing agency.

Portfolio

Work Experience

Product Designer & Researcher

2019 - 2020
Paylocity
  • Designed multiple new features and feature enhancements used by hundreds of thousands of users.
  • Owned the entire design process including, discovery, research, user flows, wireframing, mocks, and testing for the Scheduling workspace inside the HCM suite.
  • Collaborated closely with product managers, product owners, engineers, and stakeholders.
Technologies: Confluence, Jira, InVision, Sketch

Product Designer & Researcher

2017 - 2018
Wonderschool
  • Owned the product design at a SaaS startup focusing on helping people start and manage in-home preschool and child care programs.
  • Conducted deep research into understanding user needs.
  • Designed the user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes to rapidly iterate solutions.
  • Developed and maintained the brand style and design system.
  • Collaborated closely with engineers to implement solutions.
  • Designed a marketing website and the accompanying materials.
Technologies: CSS, HTML, Adobe Photoshop, InVision, Sketch

Product Designer

2016 - 2016
Daybear (acquired by Wonderschool)
  • Owned the product design at a SaaS startup focusing on helping people start and manage in-home daycares.
  • Researched user and market needs.
  • Designed user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes to rapidly iterate solutions.
  • Developed and maintained brand style and UI asset library.
  • Collaborated closely with engineers to implement solutions.
  • Designed marketing website and materials.
Technologies: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Sketch

Freelance Senior Designer

2015 - 2016
Freelance Work
  • Reorganized and wireframed a content-heavy 50 plus page site for an international IT consulting firm.
  • Designed multiple responsive templates for a band merchandise management and printing company.
  • Designed responsive templates for live events including Anheuser-Busch's New Year's Eve party, a motion picture premiere, and an SXSW breakfast meetup.
  • Defined the user experience and user interface for an iOS app that helps cocktail enthusiasts discover new bars and drinks.
  • Communicated in a timely, effective manner with all clients.
  • Helped to lead clients through digital projects from the beginning to end, including analyzing challenges and users' goals, brainstorming/ideating, creating wireframes and user flows, generating multiple design approaches, photo selection and editing, refining based on client's feedback, and preparing files for production.
Technologies: CSS, HTML, InVision, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

Designer | Senior Designer

2010 - 2015
Torque Digital
  • Art-directed numerous projects across many industries, including commercial real estate, business services, consumer goods, non-profits, professional organizations, and healthcare.
  • Led many projects from first meeting through production while championing the quality of the studio's design work.
  • Guided a team of two designers and mentored a few interns.
  • Communicated solutions, design reasoning, and best practices with clients.
  • Juggled multiple projects under tight deadlines and budgets.
Technologies: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
2005 - 2009

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Urbana-Champaign, IL (USA)

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