Shannon Bator, Designer in Boston, MA, United States
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Shannon Bator

Verified Expert  in Design

UX Researcher and Designer

Boston, MA, United States

Toptal member since November 16, 2021

Bio

A user researcher with over 20 years of experience, Shannon helps clients solve a variety of problems by answering questions about their users and their needs. She uses various research methods, including interviews, surveys, and usability testing, to collect meaningful and thoughtful feedback from users. Shannon then shares the results in an easily digestible and actionable way.

Portfolio

Work Experience

Founder and User Researcher

2009 - PRESENT
Bator Research
  • Conducted online user interviews to help clients rapidly test ideas with real customers and give actionable findings.
  • Assisted teams with all aspects of user research (interviews, usability testing, personas, user journeys, and design workshops) to better understand the voice of their customer and build products and services with real input from real people.
  • Assisted teams with problems such as conversions: Our users aren't converting. Why? Mobile: We are launching a mobile app. Does our design make sense? Onboarding: We need to improve our onboarding flow. What should we do?
Technologies: User Research, B2B Design, A/B Testing, Affinity Diagrams, Competitor Analysis, Customer Journeys, Dating Apps, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Design Research, Design Thinking, Early-stage Startups, E-commerce Website Design, E-commerce UX Design, Focus Groups, Google Drive Development, Heuristic Analysis, K-12 Education, Heuristic Review, Mobile App Design, Mobile App Design, Mobile UI Design, Mobile UX Design, UX Design, Qualitative Research, Quantitative User Research, Quantitative Analysis, Research, SaaS Design, Testing, Remote User Testing, Graphic Design, UI Design, Quantitative Research, Design Strategy, Tablets & Smartphones, Usability, Usability Testing, User Experience Strategy, UX Design, UX Design, UX Design, User Journeys, UX Design, User Surveys, User Testing, UX Design, UX Research, UX Review, UX Strategy, Web Research, UX Design, Watch Industry, Web Design, Web UI, Web Design, Web Design, Workshops, Zoom Development

Co-founder

2014 - 2021
Engaging Users
  • Co-founded a user experience design consulting service specializing in startups and new product development.
  • Led the user research side of the agency, conducting user interviews, usability testing, personas, user scenarios, and journeys to help inform and prioritize product development.
  • Conducted online user interviews in collaboration with clients to help them rapidly test their ideas with real customers and give them actionable findings.
Technologies: User Research

Mentor

2014 - 2015
Techstars
  • Mentored Techstars teams in all aspects of user research to help them include the voice of the customer in their product development process.
  • Created and taught workshops on how to do user research and how to implement user research in the product development process.
  • Synthesized user research findings using tools such as affinity diagraming so teams could make informed design decisions from their research.
Technologies: Usability Testing, UX Design, Heuristic Review, User Research, User Journeys, Affinity Diagrams, UX Design

Director, Design and User Experience

2010 - 2014
Backupify
  • Directed user experience, usability, and design for all Backupify applications.
  • Established a user-centered product development process.
  • Designed intuitive, user-centered applications to improve the workflow of our target audience.
Technologies: User Research, Usability Testing, Heuristic Analysis, User Journeys

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Design

2010 - 2014
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
  • Lectured design thinking and collaborative design to develop students' understanding of a user-centered design process.
  • Taught skills including personas, prototyping, creative thinking, contextual interviews, task analysis, and usability testing through structured activities and product design.
  • Served as professor of the courses: User-Oriented Collaborative Design, Human Factors and Information Design, and Mobile Application Development.
Technologies: Design Thinking, Mobile App Design, User Research, Heuristic Review, Usability Testing, UX Design, User Journeys, UI Design

User Experience Designer

2008 - 2009
Microsoft
  • Directed and implemented user-centered design methodologies (task analysis, usability testing, personas/profiles, and contextual interviews) into an agile development process.
  • Developed new mobile and web products using design thinking methodologies.
  • Designed in an agile and development process to deliver applications in two-to-four week cycles.
Technologies: Usability Testing, User Research, Heuristic Review, UX Design
2001 - 2003

Master of Science Degree in Human Factors and Information Design

Bentley University - Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

1994 - 1999

Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design

Northeastern University - Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Tools

Zoom Development, Affinity Diagrams, Figma

Platforms

Web Design, Mobile App Design

Industry Expertise

Insurance App Design

Other

User Research, Usability Testing, Heuristic Review, User Journeys, UX Design, Google Drive Development, UX Design, UX Design, Design Thinking, Heuristic Analysis, Remote User Testing, Focus Groups, Usability, Workshops, UX Research, Web Design, UX Review, Web Research, UX Design, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Quantitative User Research, User Surveys, Design Strategy, SaaS Design, Early-stage Startups, B2B Design, Design Research, Competitor Analysis, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Customer Journeys, User Experience Strategy, Research, UX Design, UX Strategy, UX Design, E-commerce UX Design, User Testing, Quantitative Analysis, Customer Research, CX Design, Customer Insights, Ideation, UX Design, Usability Heuristics, UX Design, Design Strategy, Market Research Analyst, Innovation, Innovation Strategy, Research Synthesis, Product Discovery, Concept Testing, Tablets & Smartphones, User Retention, UX Design, Analytics Development, UI Design, Mobile App Design, UI Design, UX Design, Survey Consulting, Graphic Design, E-commerce Website Design, A/B Testing, Mobile UI Design, Mobile UX Design, Web Design, Web UI, Dating Apps, K-12 Education, Testing, Watch Industry, AI Design, Data Analysis

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