Nick Bennett
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Oswego, IL, United States
Toptal member since May 4, 2020
Now providing consulting in product design and UX, Nick has over 16 years of experience conceptualizing and crafting digital products. He has worked in a variety of different industries including eCommerce, SaaS, DaaS, consumer banking, direct sales, and B2B. Competent in designing enterprise software, he is also proficient in desktop, mobile, and native application product design.
Portfolio
My Kitchen
Consultant’s Corner
Design System Development
Mental Model Mapping and Research on Jobs To Be Done
Work Experience
UX Manager
Pampered Chef
- Inspected research, user flows, wireframes, designs, journey maps, and execution metrics of team using my own UX depth and delivery experience to assess risks and continuously raise the bar across all UX dimensions.
- Evolved Pampered Chef's design thinking to solve business, product, and user problems.
- Provided thought leadership for the organization while mentoring the UX team and across teams in UX approaches.
- Supported multiple agile scrum teams to achieve business goals through custom software development.
- Handled design operations, including calendars, design tools, and resource allocation to ensure timelines and business objectives are met.
UX Architect
Pampered Chef
- Optimized information architecture and UX to promote usability while accommodating technical and business constraints.
- Partnered with business teams to understand desired product outcomes.
- Established understanding of how users interacted with different Pampered Chef platforms to influence and guide design decisions.
- Used my solid grasp of user research, information architecture, interaction design, and content strategy to clearly communicate to teams and stakeholders about projects in progress.
- Developed wireframes, prototypes, and user research and testing.
UI/UX Designer
PeopleFinders
- Developed UX for websites and company products, while working cooperatively with developers and business stakeholders.
- Conducted market research and competitor analysis to inform A/B testing strategies.
- Worked collaboratively with Engineering, DBAs, and project managers to establish my approach to research and design.
- Provided direction and support for offshore development of iOS and Android apps.
- Developed wireframes, prototypes, and front-end code for products spanning the entirety of company websites and applications.
Senior Multimedia Designer
SAFE Credit Union
- Ideated and implemented enterprise-and division-level branding, marketing, and communication programs and projects across multimedia channels.
- Conducted design thinking workshops to capture customer insights and propose enhanced and optimized mortgage and auto loan application flows.
- Analyzed current content and communication channels to identify user pain points and propose creative solutions.
- Led design and research on a new cloud-based digital asset management, content customization, and sales enablement tool by partnering with an outside vendor.
- As a member of the core team, contributed to the redesign of both native and web banking applications through card sorting, persona development, and feature prioritization.
Web Designer
Lumens.com
- Designed components of an eCommerce store while conducting research on design practices, identifying problems, and providing intuitive responses.
- Provided support for both eCommerce and performance marketing departments through continuous monitoring of site performance, brand attainment, and customer needs.
- Designed, developed, and scheduled deployment for site content and email campaigns.
- Provided UI/UX designs for a major company rebrand.
- Designed and developed UI/UX with cross-functional teams for a major commerce cloud platform migration.
Owner, Creative Director, Designer, Front-end Developer
Bennett Creative Media
- Provided startups, businesses, and non-profits with design and development services to help them achieve success.
- Performed market/UX research, strategy, branding, identity design, product design, print design, creative direction, advertising, consulting, and more.
- Designed and developed UI/UX for custom WordPress websites.
- Provided website maintenance and content management services.
Graphic/Web Designer
Backscratcher's Salon Systems, Inc.
- Maintained product inventory and site updates for the company website.
- Worked collaboratively with the marketing manager to design, build, and launch omnichannel sale campaigns.
- Provided direction and design for catalog, direct mail, and package designs.
- Provided creative for online store promotions.
- Designed, developed, and launched email campaigns for the digital marketing department.
Senior Graphic Designer
Orion Outdoor Media
- Created transit and billboard advertisements for small, medium-sized, and Fortune 500 clients from initial concept through final production.
- Maintained customer relations, artwork, and advertising archives, as well as scheduling of installs and run dates.
- Worked cooperatively with printers and other vendors on services detrimental to the design operations and installation of campaigns.
- Provided file preparation and support for large format printing.
- Designed company branding and marketing materials.
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree in Web Design and Interactive Media
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA
Associate of Science Degree in Graphic Design
The Art Institute of California - San Francisco - San Francisco, CA
Certifications
UX Certificate - Specialty in UX Management
Nielsen Norman Group
Advanced Design Thinking Certificate
IDEO U
Foundations in Design Thinking
IDEO U
Skills
Tools
Sketch 4, InVision App, OmniGraffle, Jira, Lookback, Treejack, Slack, Asana, Google Analytics, Sketch, InVision, Zeroheight, Zeplin, Adobe Photoshop, GitHub, Silverpop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Premiere Pro
Platforms
Windows, iOS, Android, MacOS, Dovetail, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Demandware, WordPress, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Contentful
Languages
HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Other
UI Design, UX Design, Rapid Prototyping, Product Design, Design Sprints, Information Architecture (IA), Wireframing, Design Thinking, Heuristic Evaluation, User Research, Data Visualization, Overflow, User Interviews, Optimal Workshop, Card Sorting, Tree Testing, Abstracts, Marketing Communications (MarCom), Object-oriented UX (OOUX), SAP Hybris, SaaS, Interaction Design (IxD), Market Research, Project Management, Apple Pay, Facebook Login, eCommerce, Jobs to be Done (JTBD), Mental Model, Qualitative Research, Design Systems, UI Components, Pattern Design, Version Control, Token Design, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, MVC Frameworks, Bootstrap, Sass, Desktop as a Service (DaaS), Front-end Development
Experience
- UX Design - 16 years
- Product Design - 9 years
- Information Architecture (IA) - 6 years
- Design Thinking - 6 years
- OmniGraffle - 2 years
- User Research - 2 years
Tools
- OmniGraffle
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