Product Design
User Experience / User Interface
I have close to a decade of experience in creating easy-to-use and stylish web and mobile products. I specializes in site architecture, UI design and UX, as well as project management. I stay up to date with the latest design trends and takes a comprehensive approach to designing and launching new projects with a focus on how it will be used in your future marketing. My aim is to deliver innovative products that exceed your expectations and create a seamless user experience for your customers.
Here is an overview of some of the interface and experience solutions I have designed, and then I oversaw development on over the years. I have experience designing for the full spectrum of formats. From web, mobile, tablet, large format, and display, I have designed for just about every possible product type. Have a look, I would love to answer any questions you might have after your review.
Design examples & Case Study
Here are some of the digital products I have designed. I have experience in: Wireframing, prototypes, copywriting, typography, content creation, optimization, file management, project management & QA.
YouHook
360 design
v1.1 Completed July 2023
What is YouHook?
YouHook is a peer to peer rental platform that crowdsources the Items for rent. The concept of YouHook is meant to allow users to upload items they have around the house and create a safe way to interface with other users they have never met before. Whether you're a passive user who wants to rent your stuff taking up space, or a rental business looking for more customers, YouHook can help.
Some key features that facilitate this goal are:
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KYC onboarding that allows the company to identify the users in case of a theft, or a predicament where authorities would need to get involved.
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Double confirmations on all rentals and returns to make sure both parties agree that the transactions went correctly and the item changed hands.
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Messaging forward interactions allow users to communicate quickly and efficiently to better facilitate the process.
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Detailed reporting to best understand issues as they arise.
The design of the site was built so that all of the site functions operate from three web pages: the landing page, an item summary, and a dashboard. the Ui was designed so that all features branch out from the core pages for a neat and simple experience.
The sequences that control the site operations are all designed in a modular tile based system that operates on top of the site page so that users don't need to navigate through 10 pages to complete a task.
YouHook
IrvineMike42
Member since 2022
Irvine, CA
Verified Profile
Personal fitness coach based in sunny Santa Monica, CA. I have a massive collection of exercise equipment in my home gym, which is also available to rent. If you don’t see something you are looking for, let me know and I can probably find it!
Rental Score
4.9
Communication
4.9
Reliability
4.9
Item Condition
4.9
Michael Walker
62 Married
Personal Trainer
Irvine, CA
Most used
Bio
Mike is a personal trainer living in Irvine CA, who makes the two hour commute to Santa Monica, CA to work. Mike has been reasonably successful in his career and is getting close to retirement and ready to stop making the commute. Mike has amassed a large amount of equipment that he uses less and less as he gets older. He hopes to make some passive income by renting out the equipment.
Goals
• Mike is interested in creating a side business by renting out his equipment.
• Mike is ready to stop commuting to work every day.
• Mike wants to keep the equipment instead of selling it.
Motivators
Relaxed pace of life
Passive income
Retirement activity
Technology
Internet
Software
Mobile Apps
Pain Points
• Mike is competent enough to operate most websites and apps confidently, but lacks a strong understanding of configurations and settings.
• Needs his son's help to use many features on common platforms.
• Mike wants more space in his house.
Renter & Provider
YouHook was built with a robust rating system so you know who you're working with
In addition to the KYC verification system. YouHook features a rating system so that the user can see how another user stacks up before they decide to work with them. After each rental is compete the renter and provider enter a four step review sequence that gives a detailed overview of the experience.
The YouHook platform is built with trust and safety in mind. Once the review has been completed, other users can see how it went and decide whether they want to trust a user with their items, or if another user can be trusted to rent to.
Every user has a public rental history and renter score. After they complete their first rental to another user, a provider section becomes available to them that contains a dashboard to mange their rental process.
the Prototype
KYC onboarding
YouHook incorporates Plaid KYC software to verify each user's profile. Once the user is confirmed by thier ID, mobile, and email, the product owners have all of the information needed to track down problematic users and hold them accountable. the KYC makes sure that all users are verified.
The rental sequence
The rental process was designed to give both the renter and provider multiple points of contact and transparency. There are three separate ways to initiate messaging during the process and multiple automations to expedite the rental by directing each user to important information to review.
Search & Autofill
The item management process features the ability to search for similar items and autofill the item data to expedite the upload process. The site features a database recall system that keeps track of all of the description copy and provides a quick recall so that users don't have to repeatedly write copy for items.
Custom designed icons & navigation
All of the icons used in the YouHook platform were custom designed for a branded navigation experience
To provide users with a fun, safe and unique peer to peer platform, template icons aren't going to cut it. Each icon was built in Illustrator in order to maintain brand cohesion and look. This ensures that all line segments maintain the same width and the design style increases immersion in the experience.
Our Mission
With a lifetime of experience in livestock, Hairy Heifer was founded To provide Mini Highland enthusiasts with the Healthiest, Best Tempered, and Healthiest Mini Highland Pets Around.
The market for Miniature Highland Cattle is booming! People are loving these hairy companions. Mini Highlands are not only adorable, but they are gentle and sweet tempered pets. The industry has really taken off since 2020. My client has been in the cattle industry for years with a lifetime of experience. He was looking for a site that would facilitate his business and meet the industry standards.
Building Hairy Heifer
Goals
Hairy Heifer was designed for a cattle ranch in southern Texas. The first iteration of the site featured a custom auction platform, an education and care guide, and a roster of all the cows and bulls on the ranch. after launch the client found a new auction platform that featured additional marketing perks that he wanted incorporated into the site.
the v2 of Hairy Heifer smoothed out the ui, added parallax frames to increase the presence of the wide open feeling by adding more open sky and cloud imagery. The ICP in the mini highland market are primarily women so the redesign featured a more minimalist approach to the design that closer resembled magazine layout.
Hairy Heifer Cattle Co. Brand
The Hairy Heifer branding was delivered with the v1 of the site. The redesign featured an increase in the neutral color palette based on a mock up flier the client had made on his phone. The client was happy with the expansion of his idea and how it tied into the branding from the previous iteration.
TIGERCIDE
360 Design
v2.1 Completed February 2023
Tigercide is a Darkwave band based in Los Angeles and has been a client of mine since 2017. I have had the pleasure of taking on an art director role with the group through several album releases. When they needed to update their site for an upcoming vinyl release, I was tapped to help design a stripped down highly custom website in order to facilitate sales and create a sharepoint for streaming content.
Browser Player
The site was custom built with two main features: Custom media player & Custom store and checkout. The media player features all of the track, artist, and album data in one place with a planned update to incorperate video in v2.2
Mobile Media Player
The mobile player was designed to resemble the industry standard YouTube player. V2.2 will feature updates that incorporate smartcast and airplay features along with the video player function. As most users are accustomed to mobile streaming, the compact display on the mobile player was prototyped, tested, and revised several times before the final.
Custom Icons
As I was already involved in the creative process for the album art, I was able to utilize my vectors in designing custom navigation icons to feature each album in the media player. This allowed for an immersive experience for the user.
The player itself featured custom function buttons made to match the overall site branding, and tie everything together.
Key Art & Product display
When the group was ready to add products to the store, I laid out and optimized all of the files.
Merch
Tigercide Brand
The TIGERCIDE branding has been evolved over several iterations. It's based on the cover art for 'the Remedy EP' released in 2019. The cover art is collage designed by Franco Juarez a Los Angeles based artist. I utilized the design elements and vectored and illustrated iconagraphy to be used in marketing collateral, merch, outreach, and internal branding.
New Remedies
360 Design
Digital Approach v2 July 2020
Web v2.1 February 2021
Dailee Holdings created a franchise retail offering in the CBD space. When the pandemic happened, they needed a point of sale that fit with the covid restrictions. The solution was to develop a contact free digital approach. This product went through two iterations on a rushed timeline. The first version launched featured a catalog, education section, and promotions list. Once the v1 was live the decision was made to incorporate two new methods of directing the user to products, a compliance overview, and a get involvedd section that promoted sales of the top level franchise offering with a contact form. In the V2 the Dailee website was incorporated into the user flow of the kiosk.
Unfortunately, the pandemic ended Dailee Holdings operations and the site is now offline. The kiosk was a very unique experience for my career. I had never built a standalone product up to this point, and I appreciated the experience.
Digital Approach
The content was organized into five main pages that area accessed from the home screen. The v2 build also incorporated a video upload that would que videos to play while the product was sleeping at a location.
The v2 added more paths to access the product catalog by including a pre-sleep sequence that presented the user with options for discounts, and a item promotion preview scrolling on the home page. This helped direct users to products the company wanted to sell urgently or had surplus on hand.
the v2 also included a contact form to help push the sale of franchises to interested parties as well as collect emails for marketing outreach.
New Remedies CBD & you
Cannabidiol or CBD is a non-psychotropic cannabinoid compound. CBD has come a long way since the first cannabinoid receptor was discovered in 1988. Technology advances, experience, and clinical trials, allowed researchers to uncover an entirely unknown signaling system between the CB1 and CB2 receptors in our bodies that coordinate to receptors found in Cannabis compounds later named “endocannabinoids”.
The endocannabinoid system plays a crucial role in regulating a broad range of physiological
processes that affect our everyday experience – mood, energy level, intestinal fortitude, immune activity, blood pressure, bone density, glucose metabolism, pain receptors, stress, hunger, and more are impacted by the endocannabinoid system.
CBD infused products are a new focal point to consumers concerned with alternative health, and wellness. CBD has officially been decriminalized, and fully legalized in the United States via the 2018 Farm Bill. Since then, the FDA has begun taking the benefits of CBD into serious consideration. CBD is now federally recognized as a commodity, and the transition into an FDA approved ingredient is underway. The New Remedies movement is rooted in product, and Cannabinoid education. Combating misinformation is key to a sustainable business.
The Endocannabinoid System
In 1940 Roger Adams, a chemist and Harvard graduate, was successful in extracting CBD from the Cannabis sativa plant. However he was unaware of what he had accomplished. It wasn’t until several years later that he realized that he had isolated a previously undiscovered compound, and research on the benefits of CBD first began.
Fast Forward to 1988 when a government-funded study at the St. Louis University School of Medicine led by Allyn Howlett and William Devane determined that the mammalian brain has receptor sites that respond to compounds like CBD. The receptors, named cannabinoid receptors part of the endocannabinoid system, turned out to be the most abundant type of neurotransmitter receptor in the entire human brain.
Human CB1 & CB2 Receptors
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CB1 Receptors are located in the brain and nervous system, and can appear in tissues as well.
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CB1 cannabinoid receptors are located in the brain’s behavioral pathways. Some of the neurological pathways that CB1 receptors have been located relate to: movement, sensory learning, analgesia, anxiety, and appetite related behaviors.
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Research has only scratched the surface on the functions of the CB1 receptors and the role they play in the human body. As more research becomes available, we will likely see more products developed with FDA oversight that have a beneficial effect on the human body.
CB1 System
CB1 is directly tied into the nervous system , and has been discovered as one of the most abundant receptors.
CB2 System
- CB2 Receptors are located in the peripheral organs, specifically in the organs associated with the immune system.
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The volume of research regarding the CB2 receptors has increased in recent years providing us with an optimistic outlook for future potential within the CBD industry.
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There are several groups actively researching the CB2 receptors that are conducting clinical trials to outline influence, and treatment.
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CB2 Receptors have been connected with the function of all known immune cell types to date.
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Studies have been conducted regarding the CB2 receptors role in addiction, tolerance, and reward seeking behavior. Researchers feel this will have a positive outcome in future methods of addiction, rehabilitation, and treatment.
Together this system of nerves, tissue, and organs is defined as the Endocannabinoid System.
The Endocannabinoid System
There are eight major non-intoxicating endocannabinoid precursors that determine howthe body reacts to cannabinoid stimuli.
Cannabidiolic Acid
Non-psychoactive cannabinoid and the acidic precursor to CBD. CBDA can be found in the live or raw form of cannabis, particularly in the hemp plant and strains bred to cultivate higher CBD levels. CBDA converts to CBD through decarboxylation, which occurs when cannabis is
exposed to heat or sunlight.
Cannabigerolic Acid
Non-intoxicating cannabinoid that is the precursor for THC, CBD, and several other common cannabinoids. CBGA is produced in the plant’s trichomes and triggers targeted plant cell necrosis for natural leaf pruning to allow the plant to maximize energy directed toward the flower.
Cannabichromenenic Acid
CBCA has the same origins as both THC and CBD in that they all stem from CBGA. Cannabis plants produce CBGA, the precursor to three major cannabinoids: THCA, CBDA, and CBCA. The specific plant enzymes directs the breakdown product into one of the three lines. For CBC, it converts from CBGA into CBCA, and then finally to CBC after exposure to heat or ultraviolet light.
Tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid
Non-psychoactive acidic cannabinoid found in Cannabis, THCA is known as a 'raw' cannabinoid because the compound naturally occurs on the plant. Not until the plant is dried and heated through decarboxylation is the acid form of this molecule converted to the 'active' THC compound.
