Don't feel offended if this isn't a true to form "case study". It isn't. I simply do not have access to the data to support my UX contributions. Anything I put up would be a half-truth at best.
But what I can share, truthfully and with genuine transparency, are my contributions to the team effort, my immersion into the company culture, and vignettes of final deliverables shipped to our clients.
BNY MELON
Financial Product Design • Publicis Sapient
Pershing X required a total data & design overhaul towards unifying their financial product ecosystem.
Through a collaborative multi-track effort, we partnered with the technology teams at Pershing X to deep dive into their product ecosystem with a focus on data architecture and branded design systems.
Tech stack migration, data refactorization, & design systems.
Here, I led product discovery sessions, UX and Data Architecture workshops, as well as design-system integrations leveraging React.js and Tailwind.
“Zack is one of the most talented, hard-working, and knowledgeable individuals I have had the pleasure of working with. He fosters communication not only between us
but also with the whole team, setting them up for success. He always gives his best and more. I truly enjoyed working with him, and I feel he should be recognized for his
tremendous effort and for being such a great team player."
“Zack has a deep connection to emotions, imagination, and sensitivity—the quintessential idealist. His greatest strength is his depth of sensitivity and empathy,
which allows him to give voice to human connections in a way that works with people on a profound level. Zack brings fresh perspective to things when I felt in a rut—a great person to work with.”
BNY Melon
The work wasn't sexy. It was smart
The work wasn't wow-worthy. The client wasn't expecting spectacle. They wanted smart, carefully considered actionable deliverables to propel them forward.
BNY Melon
We needed to understand the function before the form
Onus was on me to dive deep into BNYs product ecosystem, outlining functions and features {and shortfalls}, socializing my findings amongst the team, and moving the big machine forward.
BNY Melon
Our design system documentation was comprehensive, capable, and future-proofed
A modernized design system leveraging Tailwind CSS within a REACT environment that unified the product experience.
TikTok
Brand Activation {Contentful} • Code & Theory
TikTok for Business
"Razzle Dazzle"
2021 was the year that TikTok exploded onto the social media scene, taking the world by storm. TikTok desired to expand its B2B offerings through a marketing website / portal into their marketplace ecosystem.
This project covered end-to-end brand activation on a new platform {Contenful} with the goal of breaking into the space with B2B resources and a sprinking of 'razzle dazzle'.
TikTok for Business
"Competitive Analysis"
I led discovery and research phases, performing competitive analysis and content audits for TikTok and its mainstream competitors.
TikTok
To flow, you should know
What do you do when you're tasked with guiding a team through a complex and broad set of project requirements? I used this diagram to guide our roadmap, breaking complex objectives into digestable and achievable workflows.
Code & Theory
Suffice to say, while the project ultimately was delivered successfully, I'd nay say it was without its challenges. Internal resourcing hurdles left us short a few strategists and PMs. And so, onus befell me to lead research efforts, crafting taxonomy and content strategy {towards migrating content into Contentful}, and providing {UX} guidance to a team of visual designers .
GNC
{Shopify E-commerce} • Elva Design Group
"If the bar ain't bending, you're just pretending"
GNC asked Elva Design Group to redesign and replatform their online presence on the Shopify platform. GNC had just recovered from bankruptcy and as of 2024 exceeded $500m in revenue.
As the principal UX resource, I owned the discovery sessions, wireframing and feature prototyping, information architecture, taxonomy and content strategy, as well as consumer (re)engagement.'
#agencylife
{HUGE} • {ONE SIXTY OVER NINETY} • {WorkArea} • {Livearea} • {O3 World}
160OVER90
160over90 is a full-service advertising & branding agency.
At the time, we specialized in full-spectrum .EDU websites.
160OVER90
All Night Long
Frankly, designing for reknown universities served as my {informal higher education}, as I was not able to complete my own degree. Here, however, I had full autonomy over what I wished to learn and how far I would go to further my skills and savvy.
Many late nights were spent mapping the site architecture, creating "pixel-perfect" and fully responsive designs, and putting in the diligence to ensure team success.
160OVER90
#WeekendWarrior
Work to eat. Eat to live. Live to bike. Bike to work.
160OVER90
Be Like Water
As an interactive designer at 160/90, I was responsible for the full interactive experience for our .EDU websites. We worked in a waterfall workflow, but as the projects increased in quantity and size, it became clear we needed to incorporate agile methodologies into our workflows.
From Basic
Every project started with wireframing. Here is an example of my typical mid-fidelity wireframes.
To Blue-sky
.EDUs presented a unique challenge: We want to appeal to the prospective students {and parents} first and foremost through bold and invigorating design.
But, we also had to ensure ADA compliance, best-practice usability, and general accessibility.
Mobile-minded
Coming from a startup at the impetus of responsive web design, I strictly worked on mobile iterations first. This ran counter to typical stakeholder expectations who were hoping to see a bright and shiny desktop interface.
What this accomplished, was ensuring that all content from your desktop experience could be accessed intuitively through your mobile device. Seems simple, but this was not standard practice at the time.
O3 World
Digital Product {iOS, FinTech, E-commerce}
O3 World
Sprints. Drops. Lean UX
Wireframes at 160over90 fit the workflow at 160over90. Wireframing at O3 World was a different beast, which required throwing everything I thought I knew out of the window, and reverting to the basics.
O3 World
iOS. MVP. Agile.
Here, it was less about impressing our clients. Here, it was all about working with our clients. Without the pizazz of beautiful grayscale renders of your soon-to-be colored in homepage, we focused on asking the right questions and getting the right ‘feel’ with our clients.
O3 World
#teamvibes
We were agile in nature and scrum led; we had daily scrums and weekly sprint schedules. We dealt with client feedback organically, and responsively, as opposed to reactively.
O3 World
Developer-friendly
Look, I taught myself how to code, but I am by no means a developer. My strength is being informed while working in collaboration with other specialties.
O3 World
Always Stand-Up.
Sometimes Stand-Out.
Please pardon my focus face. Not to be mistaken for my game face.
SaaS E-commerce
Weblinc {Workarea}
A Philly-grown SaaS E-commerce platform. I don't actually have any work to show, but shown is Gidget, our enthusiastically attentive PM adjunct.
Post Pandemic
#WFH ⇔ #RTO
If you think we work less while at home, you're either mad,or earning to much to be part of our lived reality.
{Huge, Livearea, Code & Theory, Publicis Sapient}
What's in my head.
Head-first approach.
Headless {sans ego}
This has been a showing of my many contributions to the design zeitgeist.
Much of my work, as I hope you saw herein, is not design-related, but purposeful strategic thought leadership that moves businesses forward.
GET IN TOUCH
zack@reasonably.cc
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