At IXL Learning, I led the creation of a shared design library and design system to support a rapidly growing set of products and brands. The challenge was maintaining consistency while enabling teams to move quickly across multiple surfaces and audiences.

To address this, I structured the system around atomic design principles, breaking complex UI elements into clearly defined, reusable components. This allowed the team to reason about changes at the smallest possible level, reducing unintended downstream impact and simplifying maintenance as the product evolved.

A concrete example of this approach was the IXL header. By decomposing it into atomic elements such as buttons, icons, and typographic units, we created a flexible structure that could adapt to different contexts without fragmenting the system. Consistent rules around color, spacing, and typography ensured visual cohesion across platforms and devices.

Before leaving IXL Learning, I led the design of a welcome email series for new Rosetta Stone customers entering a free trial.

This series functioned as the first product touchpoint after signup, so the focus was on clarity, pacing, and reducing early friction in the onboarding experience.

I approached the project as a system rather than a set of individual emails. I explored multiple layouts and content structures to define a repeatable framework that balanced guidance, motivation, and accessibility.

The goal was to introduce the product progressively, with clear hierarchy and consistent patterns that could scale across messages and user segments.

Through multiple iterations and feedback loops, we refined the series and arrived at the version you see above. The final design strikes a balance between aesthetics and functionality, combining an inviting visual layout with clear and concise messaging.

We focused on creating an inclusive experience that would cater to diverse user preferences and language levels, aligning with Rosetta Stone's commitment to personalized language learning.

Using Figma, I built modular components to test variations efficiently and keep the system cohesive as we iterated. These components allowed us to experiment with layout, content density, and motion (including selective use of GIFs) without fragmenting the overall structure. Accessibility and language inclusivity were considered throughout, given the range of learners entering the product.

I also owned the handoff to development, creating detailed documentation covering typography, color usage, spacing, and interaction behavior. This ensured consistent implementation and reduced back-and-forth during build, keeping the system aligned from design through delivery.

The final series established a clear, welcoming entry point into the product and set expectations for the learning journey ahead. More importantly, it left behind a reusable onboarding framework that balanced visual consistency with flexibility as the product evolved.

During my time at IXL Learning, I worked on the foundations for the redesign of Rosetta Stone following its acquisition.

My responsibility centered on restructuring the page hierarchy and user flow to clearly support the primary goal: getting users into a free trial.

To accomplish these goals, I worked through multiple structural and visual layout explorations to simplify the experience, clarify content priority, and reduce friction between landing and trial start.

The top of the page was intentionally focused on value proposition and trial entry, with supporting proof points and marketing content layered progressively as users scrolled.

The visual execution was handled collaboratively, while my focus remained on information architecture, interaction flow, and ensuring the system scaled cleanly across templates.

The final result preserved the Rosetta Stone brand while creating a clearer, more direct path into the product.

After Vocabulary.com was acquired by IXL Learning, I was responsible for leading the restructuring of the site’s landing page to better reflect how users actually engage with the product.

The existing landing page attempted to do too much above the fold at once. Core dictionary functionality was visually and structurally diluted by competing elements, including dense copy and secondary features that distracted from the primary use case.

My focus was on information architecture and content hierarchy, clarifying what Vocabulary.com is first, and how secondary learning tools should support that core experience.

I worked through multiple visual and structural explorations to simplify the top of the page, reduce cognitive load, and guide users more directly into word lookup and related educational features.

The experience was intentionally structured to emphasize the dictionary at the top, with supporting marketing content introduced progressively as users scrolled.

This approach clarified the primary purpose of the site while allowing secondary features to surface without competing for attention.

While a designer on my team handled the visual and graphic execution, I directed the overall structure, flow, and functional emphasis of the page.

The final result presented Vocabulary.com as a focused, approachable dictionary-first experience, with teaching tools integrated in a way that felt intentional rather than additive.

Skip's Flips came to me with a practical problem: their design process made it slow and expensive to explore variations, test ideas, and decide what to produce. They needed a way to experiment quickly without committing to inventory or production upfront.

I designed a lightweight graphic system in Figma that treated patterns, colors, and layouts as modular inputs rather than one-off designs. This allowed the team to swap components, preview results instantly, and generate a wide range of variations without rebuilding files each time. The system reduced friction in the design process and made exploration inexpensive.

Because the system produced consistent, production-ready visuals, Skip’s Flips was able to use it directly for market validation. Designs were tested through a pre-order flow, giving the team clear signals about demand before manufacturing. That data informed production decisions and removed guesswork from what to make and how much to produce.

The same system supported a print-on-demand workflow, allowing the company to align production closely with demand. By connecting design, testing, and production through a shared structure, the system helped minimize waste, reduce risk, and keep the business flexible as trends shifted.

During my time as the Founding Designer at Zeal, one of our main goals was to empower teachers and parents by providing them with valuable insights into their students' progress and identifying areas where additional support was needed. We put a strong emphasis on "Teaching With Data" and worked diligently to create effective data interfaces for teachers.

Our approach to designing the data interfaces for teachers at Zeal was heavily influenced by our commitment to enabling teachers to make informed decisions in real time. We understood the importance of creating user-friendly yet comprehensive tools that would allow teachers to easily access and understand the data.

To achieve this, we embarked on an iterative process, constantly seeking feedback from teachers and incorporating their input into our designs. By spending significant time in classrooms each week, we were able to quickly iterate and adapt our interfaces based on the needs and preferences of teachers.

The evolution of our data interfaces manifested in various forms, including class reports, data charts, and personalized suggestions for teachers. Our aim was to strike a balance between providing teachers with a quick overview of student progress and providing in-depth data that would facilitate data-driven decision-making.

We also focused on ensuring that the data interfaces were visually engaging and easy to interpret. We utilized intuitive visualizations, color coding, and other design elements to make the data visually appealing and digestible. The goal was to provide teachers with a glanceable interface that would equip them with the necessary insights to address specific learning gaps effectively.

Throughout this process, we worked closely with teachers to understand their workflow, pain points, and goals. Their invaluable feedback and collaboration allowed us to refine and improve our data interfaces over time.

Overall, at Zeal, we strived to create data interfaces that empowered teachers by providing them with actionable insights and facilitating data-driven instruction. Through constant iterative design, collaboration with teachers, and a commitment to making data accessible and understandable, we developed interfaces that supported teachers in their mission to offer the best possible education to their students.

At Zeal Learning as the Founding Designer, one of the significant features we developed was Zeal Play. Zeal Play revolutionized classroom learning by leveraging the use of tablets, phones, and classroom projectors. Zeal Play was an interactive learning game that provided students with tailored questions based on their individual skill level. 

Zeal Play was an interactive learning game that provided students with tailored questions based on their individual skill level. We ensured fairness and healthy competition among students by adjusting the difficulty of the questions according to their common core knowledge and performance. This approach allowed every student to participate actively and challenged them without overwhelming them.

To engage with Zeal Play, students simply needed to log in on their classroom laptops or tablets and hit the play button. By doing so, they could join the game and start accumulating points. We also implemented a leaderboard system, where students could see their progress and compete with their peers.

We also implemented a leaderboard system, where students could see their progress and compete with their peers.

Furthermore, Zeal Play offered a gamified element by allowing students to customize their avatars using the coins they earned through gameplay. 

This feature created a sense of ownership and personalization, increasing the students' motivation to participate and progress.

Overall, Zeal Play was a groundbreaking addition to classroom learning, providing an interactive and engaging learning experience while fostering healthy competition and personalized learning opportunities for students.

The user experience and user interface of Zeal evolved quite a bit over the years, as we constantly iterated with teachers, students, and parents over every bit of detail presented. We constantly engaged with teachers, students, and parents, seeking their feedback to refine every aspect of the platform. By actively spending time in classrooms each week, we gained valuable insights that guided our path forward and allowed us to conduct ongoing user testing.

One area we focused on was Student / Teacher Messaging. Recognizing the limitations of a one-to-many communication system, we collaborated closely with teachers and students to improve the effectiveness and ease of communication between them. Our aim was to create a seamless and efficient channel for teachers to interact with their students, and vice versa.

By enabling teachers to bundle lessons into test or quiz formats, we empowered them to ensure students had a solid understanding of the material before progressing further.

To enhance the teaching experience, we prioritized ideation, prototyping, and testing of various features. Some crucial areas of focus were around notifications, callouts, and smart suggestions to facilitate seamless communication and provide actionable insights for teachers. 

We aimed to provide teachers with efficient tools that required minimal effort, yet delivered impactful results through clear text and actionable tasks.

Additionally, we recognized the importance of data presentation for teachers, as they spent a significant amount of time analyzing student performance. We iterated on ways to present data effectively, highlighting knowledge gaps and providing teachers with valuable suggestions to improve student success.

I am proud of the iterative process we employed at Zeal, constantly seeking feedback and collaborating with teachers, students, and parents to create a user experience that met their needs. Through constant agile design iteration, we were able to refine and enhance the platform's features, ultimately making a positive impact on the teaching and learning process.

During the development of Zeal, we incorporated a powerful feature called Goal Setting. This feature was designed to empower teachers by enabling them to set specific skills as goals for their students. To ensure its usability and effectiveness, we conducted several rounds of prototyping and testing with teachers.

In the initial prototype, teachers could seamlessly select a subject and receive suggested skills to set as goals for their students. The goal-setting process was deliberately kept simple, allowing teachers to easily understand and implement it. This initial version received positive feedback from teachers, encouraging us to further enhance the feature.

Building upon the feedback received, we expanded the goal-setting functionality by introducing a search feature and a grid view. These additions provided teachers with a wider range of skills to choose from and simplified the selection process. 

Additionally, we implemented smart suggestion algorithms, which further optimized the feature by saving teachers valuable time when creating lesson plans tailored to each student's specific needs.

Overall, the Goal Setting feature in Zeal proved to be a valuable tool for teachers, enabling them to effectively track and improve their students' progress. Its intuitive interface, coupled with smart suggestions and streamlined selection options, made it an essential element in empowering teachers to deliver personalized education.

After having built and patented a new chat system for FarmVille, I was asked to bring those skills over to Zynga.com's main site, as we were building out a social networking site.