Hello! I’m Kristin.
I am a human-centered researcher and strategist experienced in grounding the design and development—of products, services, experiences & processes—in user needs, business needs, and the context in which they exist.
I am fascinated by the relationships we have with one another as humans and with the environments we live, work, and explore in.
With over 10 years of experience, I have supported executives, product leaders, design teams, fellow researchers, and more at small, local non-profits, Fortune 500 companies, and everything in-between.
I have managed and mentored individual contributors and teams through specific project challenges, organizational change, goal achievement, and long-term career development.
Outside of work you’re likely to find me whipping up something in the kitchen, digging in my garden, exploring the city, or catching some fresh air on a hike.
Approach
I bring an empathic, creativite, iterative, and strategic mindset to my work…
Understanding current state.
Going deep and wide to get it all on the table.
What is known?
What is unknown?
What can be observed or learned?
Generative research
(about users, processes, the organization)
Mapping (experiences, processes, workflows, and more)
Product walkthrough/use
Market analysis
Competitive analysis
Trend analysis
What?
Identifying implications.
What does this all mean?
Are there patterns? What is surprising?
What’s possible?
How should decisions be made?
Analysis & synthesis (identifying patterns, tensions, design criteria & principles, and decision-making criteria)
User needs identification (personas and user stories)
Idea generation & design (of concepts, features, value propositions, opportunity areas)
Concept & usability testing (testing design criteria and evaluating ideas)
So what?
Defining a course of action.
How good is this idea or direction?
What makes sense?
Who is responsible?
What to do now, next, and later?
Validation research (applying design criteria)
Choosing directions (apply decision-making criteria)
Design & development
Roadmapping
Strategic planning
Business planning & strategy
Now what?
Contextual inquiry with users and stakeholders
In-depth interviews with end users, internal stakeholders, and external subject matter experts.
Observational research
Workflow mapping
Experience mapping
Process mapping
Stakeholder mapping
Industry & market research
Competitive research, auditing the offering, features, experience (stated and actual), assessing marketing tactics and brand presence, conducting SWOT analyses.
Trend research
Surveys via Google Forms Survey Monkey, Qualtrics
…employing mixed methods & tools:
Concept testing
Usability testing
Thematic analysis conducted reflectively / manually, affinity diagramming, leveraging software / AI
Defining user needs & writing user stories
Persona building & storyboarding
Defining design and decision-criteria
Validation research
Workshop design & facilitation fostering participant inclusivity, and involving warm-up & empathy building activities, guided brainstorms, alignment exercises, group evaluation (gut check response capture, dot voting), reframing & reflection exercises, and documentation & synthesis
Visual design with PowerPoint, Miro, Mural, Canva, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator
Report development & delivery of findings, recommendations
Value proposition design
Business model design
Strategy & roadmap development for products, portfolios, & businesses
Industry experience
My professional career started in consumer packaged goods, but my consulting experience gave my the opportunity to support B2B, B2C, B2B2C, D2C people, products, organizations across many industries:
Healthcare, Medical device & MedTech ✦
Diagnostics
Pharmaceutical
Non-profit
Food service & retail ✦✦
Manufacturing
Commercial building materials, lighting, & storage
MarketingTech
FinTech
Consumer packaged goods
Some of my true, hands-on experiences:
✦ When I still thought I might be a doctor when I grew up, I worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant in a nursing home where I provided compassion and care to short- and long-term residents as I supported them in enrichment activities, activities of daily living, and end-of-life care.
✦✦ In 2024 I chased down a dream of mine to work in a bakery! Laune Bread welcomed me to their small but mighty team where I got to know a loyal community of customers, learned about bakery operations & local sourcing strategies, and supported process improvements for order fulfillment and tracking.
