Eco Guru

An Environmental App

Teamed up with Ibrahim Altweim at Depaul University

Over the last few decades, our environment has been becoming increasingly exposed to a number of threats and problems. In this project, we investigated some of these issues and brought a technical solution for people who would like to alter their habits to learn how to adapt more eco-friendly lifestyle. We evaluated few environmental applications, interviewed potential users who have grown concerns about the Earth-harming impact of their lifestyles and shadowed them while they used one of the competitor applications. By asking them to rank environmental issues based on their severity, we discovered that global warming, overpopulation, and pollution were some of the most common issues on the top of the list. We also found that public’s consumerism and lack of motivation is playing a significant role in contributing to these issues.

Based on most common application features requested by our interviewees we constructed an affinity diagram, where we listed all features ranked from least to most preferable by the group we interviewed. We also listed main issues that hinder the well-being of our environment.

In order to best raise awareness among people, educate them on concerns around environmental well-being and motivate them to take action, we came up with an interactive application we named “Ecoguru”.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Illustrator, Proto.io, Mural, Survey Monkey

Goggle

An App For Middle School Girls With Interest In STEM Subjects

Teamed up with Jennifer Tanaka and Nilesh Vadhavkar at Depaul University

Our goal was to build a social space for middle school girls with focus in fields related to STEM to increase their awareness of the impact of STEM and generate their interest in STEM through creative collaboration and networking.

Research

Using Digital Divas as a starting point, our team asked: How can we use social interaction design principles and patterns to make learning STEM subjects fun for girls in the target group of 11 to 13 years old? For the research phase, we received literature, researched apps, and interviewed two middle-school girls to understand the problem space.

Brainstorming

Each team member produced low-fidelity prototypes, starting with sketches and ending with wireframes. We met frequently to discuss our ideas, compare sketches, and refine the concept for a mobile app. In development, we found several inspirational examples from existing systems, which would later inform our design.

Execution

Finalizing our sketches proved to be the most difficult part of this project. Each member contributed good ideas, but we had to agree on which features to include in the final deisgn. We arrived at a solution, divided the work by discrete areas of the application, and continued to collaborate as we produced the final functional prototype.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Mockplus

MyezH2O

A portal to track status of bottle filling stations.

Elkay filtered ezH2O bottle filling stations reduce lead and other harmful contaminants, delivering clean water and sustainable design. It provides a rapid fill of drinking water to quench thirst and minimize plastic bottle waste in the environment.

MyezH2O is an online portal that allows users to track their bottle filling stations, view unit diagnostics and filter status, manage media and graphics content, and manage their account. The app is ideal for businesses who use bottle fillig stations across large establishments such as gyms, schools, and airports to track number of bottles saved as well as receiving reminders when a filter needs to be changed to keep the water clean and filtered.

This is meant to be a solution to make environmentally friendly way to stay hydrated easy to come by, saving environmental resources and money!

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Figma

Eco Spotter - Watch and Mobile App

An Environmental App

Upon my visit to Kenya and the Masai Mara Safari, this concept came to my mind. While we were driving through the safari looking for the big five, I thought it would be nice to have a wildlife tracker that would also be educational about the sighted species' role in the balance of their ecosystem. There was a guy working as a wildlife tracker, who was busy switching between several vehicles full of tourists, so I figured having an app that would notify us if we are on the right path to find a lion or cheetah would come in handy.

It would not be accessible without the internet, but I thought it was a neat concept for other parks besides Masai Mara Safari in Kenya. Spotting a species would engage the user to become more aware and appreciative of the wildlife in some of these ecosystems. An example would be the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where the hikers are taking the trail across the mountain terrain without a guide or are engaging in the Appalachian Trail six-month challenge, wanting to connect and learn more about nature and biodiversity.

Eventually this would serve as an educational tool to teach them about the importance of each species and more facts like their habitat, life, population, risk of an extinction, how to move aorund not to disturbe them, and their importance to the environment. The wearable would vibrate if there was a location of spotting a particular species.

This concept is in the prototyping phase and still being refined before I conduct user testing. Please contact me if you would like to take a look at the prototype and participate in user testing! Thank you!

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Sketch, Invision, Survey Monkey

Apprie

Empowering individuals with personalized healthcare.

I worked with participants in 2021 humanitarian hackathon to design a tool with a scientific approach in combining sensory information and metrics from the user with available medical knowledge to make accurate diagnostics and decisions about personalised treatments and adjustments. It is to provide information through networking and research as well as data they can track to save money and time when dealing with unique conditions where symptoms may be overlaping to cause a couple of different medical conditions and give access to more types of treatments and options to choose from.

The tool is also a networking and collaboration space for doctors that patients can manage by tracking their symptoms, lifestyle, and treatments with doctors who have the appropriate expertise. In addition, there will be connections and groups to patients wih similar symptoms to share knowledge and tips.

One important purpose of this idea is to provide educational material and trasparency to the patient, so they are well aware of their condition and stay educated on treatments, lifestyles as well as groups and resources they need to take best care of themselves with a good support system and make informed decisions when it comes to their health.

The prototype is still being worked on, please contact me if you would like to participate in usability testing. Thank you!

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Figma

Elkay Landing Pages and Websites

Collaboration With Internal Stakeholders at Elkay Manufacturing

Responsibilities:

Management of UX/UI and visual design for Elkay's large scale, data-driven plumbing and cabinetry web properties and employee portal IT homepage.
Management of sketching/ideation workshops.
Rapid prototyping and user testing of unstructured and structured content pieces.
Development of CSS3/HTML5 style guide for Elkay's web properties.
Front-end web development and responsive design best practices for unstructured content.
Collaboration with product managers, marketing, business analysts and web development teams from communication efforts of business and functional requirements to design and execution of the final product.
Development and incorporation of more user facing design process, meeting end users to conduct interviews and usability testing.
Planning and executiong of design workshops including ecosystem mapping, persona creation, journey mapping, and empathy mapping.
Design system creation within UXPin collaboration and prototyping tool.
Quality assurance and keeping track of the success of core KPIs through Google Analytics.
A/B testing, regression testing, five second testing, and card sorting.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Ilustrator, UXPin, Dreamweaver, CSS3/HTML5, IBM Websphere, Sharepoint, Whiteboard

MyElkay

An order inquiry online tool for Elkay's reps.

MyElkay is an online portal for order inquiry for any of Elkay's reps. It is one of the first projects at Elkay with which I have introduced the UXPin collaboration and prototyping tool to the team. It allowed me to easily share and get incremental feedback on multiple layout iterations. It was a fun project as I got to collaborate with development teams more than with regular projects at Elkay.

The challenge was to design a step by step process to search orders and view them with the help of a more robust search functionality and display of search results. Some of the main activities for the app's users to complete while using MyElkay were:

Look up the latest information on orders and download sales order acknowledgements.
Find and download invoices, past and present.
Manage users for individal and group accounts.

After the launch of the product, we handed out survey in which 91% of users were pleased with the redesign and considered the tool extremely user friendly.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, UXPin

Unity

An order entry and inquiry app.

MyElkay is an online portal for order entry and inquiry for any of Elkay's cabinetry reps. Reps look up the latest information on their orders and download sales order acknowledgements and manage users as you see fit for your individual account or group of accounts.

The main purpose of this project was to design an easily accessible technical solution to manage and change orders, check product specifications and styles, and create a user friendly system where they could not only search and manage orders, but to better organize products into feature groups of the rooms the products were designed for while placing an order.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, UXPin

Elkay Virtual Designer

A virtual designer for new homeowners.

Elkay Virtual Designer was a small virtual reality project for my part, but a fun fun one to be involved in. Elkay already had a desktop version of the designer, but wanted to add a mobile version. It is a tool for homeowners to browse between sink and faucet products and be able to picture them in several different kitchen settings as well their real life kitchen. The tool allows user to change backsplash, countertop, cabinets, kitchen style and of course sinks and faucets.

The tool also gives users information about the Elkay products and their specifications such as style and material as they view the aesthetics of the product within their kitchen settings, and apply filters to change the products viewed. Lastly the app offers inspiration gallery for the product users are viewing and interior design tips.

Tools Used:

Photoshop, UXPin

CADRE

CADRE application process, networking, training, and member portal for technical advisers.

The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers is a group of Rotarians who volunteer to use their professional skills and technical expertise in Rotary’s areas of focus. This design project consisted collaboration with Cadre members through user research methods and testing. The goal was to produce a layout that would be easier to follow, more user friendly and more personalized from the application user flow, to onboarding and project selection.

Another main purpose of this project was to strategize the ux process to become more inclusive by involving past volunteers to share experiences and share the best ways they would like to mentor future volunteers.

Tools Used:

Figma, Photoshop, Zoom, Illustrator, Whimsical

V2V App

An Informational App for International Volunteers

As I have volunteered internationally, I have come across situations where I've read and listened to complaints about the ethics of orphanage institutions in third world countries. I myself have questioned an orphanage I have volunteered at due to several stories that other volunteers shared with me about the deeply rooted system behind child trafficking and mistreatment of the children.

I thought of an idea that would make the communication between volunteers across the world easier in order to help them to get informed and aware of potential problems before they make the trip and invest their time and money into these institutions. Coming back and questioning whether my efforts harmed more than helped the children was not a good feeling and I hope this can be eliminated for other future volunteers.

When working for several nonprofits, I realized the onboarding process needs to be very thorough, interactive, and volunteers should meet with mentors to get prepared for some of the challenges they would be facing in settings such as refugee camps, where the they will face the not only the risk of running into situations, where spotting the signs of refugees being trafficked is crucial, but best ways to provide mental health services and educational material to prepare them to face the world with a healthy mind and problem solving skill set that will alow them to use their experience to effectively help others.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Sketch, Invision, Survey Monkey

Unchained

An add-on to track modern-day slavery.

An intuitive, easily accessible technical solution aiming to bring supply chain transparency to the consumers at a point of sale for both online and in-store shopping experiences to help raise awareness of the possible involvement of modern slavery and engage users to take action. The app gives information on the involvement of modern-day slavery for the specific product users are viewing and provides a list of more ethical alternatives along with ways to quickly make a difference.

Tools Used:

Adobe XD, Zeplin, Photoshop, Illustrator, lookback

Sertifi eSignatures

A signature and payment app interface.

Sertifi Signatures is a tool to execute agreements, easily capturing in-person eSignatures on mobile devices or tablets. eSignatures allows users to save time with templates offering required fields, auto reminders of expiration dates, shared document library, and collaboration between senders and signers.

I worked directly with product owners, development, content, marketing and executive teams on the implementation of new features to NextGen UI, defining a UX strategy and managing user-centered processes that included user research, ecosystem and user journey mapping, rapid prototyping, and usability testing.

Tools Used:

Adobe XD, Zeplin, Photoshop, Illustrator, lookback

EcoEd

An Eco Education Theme Park for Northerly Island

Growing up I have always spent majority of my time outdoors, and even though I did not always have an access to learn about different ecosystems around the world, the woods behind our house were full of adventures for girls scout or hikers. Later in life I had amazing experiences when visiting rainforest, mountain national parks, and Safaris, especially when I embarked on survival trips with some friends, bringing nothing but my rubber boots, machete and mosquito nets, trying to survive on whatever we caught in the river, fruits we found hanging from the trees, or vegan spaghetti we made by scraping the heart of the palm tree.

I wanted to bring some of those experiences to kids who are growing up in metro areas, using Chicago's Northerly Island as a location for an eco educational theme park with an application of virtual reality to educate visitors from elementary ed up to adults with an interest in conservation to experience various ecosystems and learn about survival methods among the biodiversity offered by those, like a quick virtual trip to the Amazon and/or Safari... and inspire them to learn more by getting involved in conservation projects designed to protect nature. This experience would serve as an education about environmental sciences, biodiversity, ancient survival methods of indigenous communities living in these ecosystems, and agriculture.

It is to teach youth to reconnect with nature and learn early survival methods of humanity to develop appreciation in an interactive way. When I visited Safaris and the Amazon, I felt a little bit like a paparazzi invading space of all of these species that have retained eco friendly lifestyle, and saw how important it is to realize that nature and biodiversity are crucial to our own survival.

In this virtual reality the users can select if they want to interact with the species as one of them to learn about species' communication habits, or as a human living amongs them, selecting time frame within the history of human evolution to teach survival.

Eventually I would like to add an experience for hackathons designed for middle school students with an interest in the fields of conservation and biotech.

This project is in discovery and ideation stage. Expect updates mid October.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, AutoCAD

Travel Whiz App

Traveler's App

I love traveling and with the limited vacation time I have available, I always try to find ways how to visit as many places for as little money and in as little time as possible. I always try to book flights that have a long layover in another interesting city, so I can try to venture out to see it. I also travel solo quite a bit and I find it to be a great opportunity to meet other fellow travelers and listen to their stories or spend more time to get to know the culture.

For those reasons I thought of an app that would serve as a networking opportunity with other travelers around the area as well as a check of the best places to see depending on one's location. This app would also notify the user of flights that have a long layover when traveling between two places and/or other means of transportation in between. The app can serve as a one stop for planning a customized trip for flights, site seeing, getting to know people as well as accommodation.

Tools Used:

Sketching Board, Photoshop, Sketch, Invision, Survey Monkey

FEASTIE

A group search engine using AI that delivers recommendations via SMS based on everyone's preferences.

The patent-pending technology and digital platform are built with an AI-based search and recommendation engine with fun voting and game-like actions that function within iOS and Android messaging applications.

The Feastie mobile app and messaging plugin is designed to recommend the best options for people (more than two) to interact in a fun and engaging way – all within the user’s text messaging application.

This project is in testing phase. If you would like to participate in usability testing to check it out and provide feedback, please let me know.