Publication
The Definitive Guide to Building Apps for Kids
https://www.toptal.com/designers/interactive/guide-to-apps-for-children
Tanya is currently unavailable
Tanya Junell
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Austin, TX, United States
Toptal member since February 1, 2016
Bio
Tanya is a human-centered director of product management with over 12 years of product strategy, team management, and UX leadership experience. From process improvement to design sprint facilitation, she will help take a product team to the next level of efficiency, empowerment, and efficacy.
Experience
- Agile UX - 12 years
- Human-centered Design (HCD) - 12 years
- Leadership - 10 years
- Design Thinking - 10 years
- Agile Product Management - 10 years
- Product Management - 5 years
Portfolio
Strawbees Connect
AppsMobile UXiPhoneAndroidProduct StrategyProduct Management
Bub App
UX StrategyProduct DesignAndroid
Work Experience
Director of Product Management
2019 - PRESENT
Blue Label Labs
- Implemented a human-centered process for strategy, discovery, and design.
- Facilitated Google Venture design sprints to accelerate learnings and inform mobile application MVPs.
- Created interaction design (IxD), product requirement documentation, and specification templates for increased efficiency and clarity of information transfer between product and development.
- Effectively and efficiently collaborated on product planning with engineering leads, off-shore development teams, and client stakeholders.
- Defined the North Star product vision for multiple client Android and iOS applications.
Technologies: Asana, Jira, Miro, InVision, Sketch
UI Visual Designer
2006 - PRESENT
Freelance Work
- Developed brand strategies, style guides, marketing materials, and interface design systems.
- Created illustrations for marketing, branding, and product initiatives.
- Offered design and design strategy consulting services to clients lacking in-house creative design resources.
- Provided logo design, style guide creation and expansion, and print and interactive design services on short-term and long-term projects.
- Kept up to date with current and upcoming design trends and technology.
Technologies: InVision, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite
Head of Product
2016 - 2018
Creatubbles
- Advocated for and enabled a human-centered approach to product planning efforts.
- Spearheaded a revised value proposition and identified viable markets and opportunities to focus on via data analysis, competitive research, and ethnographic user studies.
- Designed successful partner white-label applications that leveraged the core business applications and could be executed with minimal customization and extra development time.
- Established a user-centric design thinking process into the company culture that had a cross-departmental reach and positively impacted engagement metrics and user satisfaction.
- Introduced a need for leadership to be aware of competitive markets and to learn from successful, innovative companies that leveraged user co-creation and a specialized understanding of user mental models and behaviors.
- Gained a deep experience of identifying user and business problems, proposing solutions amongst a dynamic cross-disciplinary team of experts, and prioritizing development and feedback loops for continuous refinement.
Technologies: Sketch 3, Principle, InVision
Senior Designer
2011 - 2015
MTV Networks
- Created user interfaces and visual design for select niche networks at Nickelodeon Digital including Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nick, and NickMom.
- Found opportunities to elevate select brands, both new and established, via current design thinking and technology.
- Collaborated daily with art directors, content producers, and product managers to produce ideas, design, and deliver beautiful and sound design solutions while working in a remote capacity.
- Created visual design for interfaces for mobile, tablet, and web applications that captured and enhanced the Nickelodeon family of brands.
- Delivered comprehensive and effective marketing product and strategy that supports on-air counterpart initiatives.
Technologies: Adobe Creative Suite
Creative Director
2009 - 2011
SchoolNet, Inc.
- Ensured interdepartmental adhesion to branding guidelines during product development, marketing initiatives, and internal client design projects.
- Developed creative design strategies in concert with company stakeholders in order to increase product sales and conversion.
- Devised creative design and UI guidelines that brought legacy product in-line with current design thinking.
- Actively advocated for UX-based design thinking across all product development.
- Increased collaborative communication between all internal clients: creative and technology.
Technologies: Adobe Creative Suite
UX Visual Designer
2006 - 2009
SchoolNet, Inc.
- Worked with UX designers, information architects, and the copy team to develop interfaces for SchoolNet product suite.
- Created data visualization visual treatments and guidelines for data-rich dashboards.
- Created a new style guide to inform product development.
- Underwent Agile training and attended design conferences.
- Involved in performing UX testing, developing and hosting internal UX design workshops, and low and high fidelity prototyping.
Technologies: Balsamiq, Adobe Creative Suite
Sole Proprietor
2002 - 2006
Honeybee
- Provided web, print, and illustration design services on a case by case contract basis.
- Provided business and event branding services.
- Led art direction on a contract basis.
- Worked with Flash animation and web design (HTML and CSS).
- Hired and managed vendors.
Technologies: Flash, Adobe Creative Suite
Other Experience
Education
2000 - 2002
Completed Courses (Certificates) in Graphic Design, 3D Max, Flash, and Freehand
Ottawa School of Art - Ottawa, Canada
1996 - 2000
Bachelor of Arts Degree Cum Laude in Philosophy
University of Ottawa - Ottawa, Canada
Certifications
AUGUST 2019 - PRESENT
Design Sprint Master
The Design Sprint School
Skills
Tools
InVision, Sketch, Principle, Balsamiq, Sketch 3, Miro, Asana, Jira, Adobe Creative Suite, Flash
Platforms
MacOS, Android
Other
Product Management, Leadership, Human-centered Design (HCD), UX Design, Design Thinking, Communication, Lean UX, Agile UX, Human-computer Interaction (HCI), Visual Design, Agile Product Management, Visual Identity, PowerPoint Design, Creative Direction, UI Design, Apps, Mobile UX, iPhone, Product Strategy, UX Strategy, Product Design, Machine Learning
Collaboration That Works
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