Nicole Rodriguez

About Nicole Rodriguez

I\'m a designer with a love for semantic code. I make digital experiences accessible, inclusive, safe, and easy for anyone to use. My 25+ year career is triple-decker sandwich with layers of user experience design and research, front-end development, and interaction design. Curriculum creation and teaching are the homemade chips and deli pickle that make the whole thing great – side of the plate but way impactful. With expertise in evaluating and designing within complex systems, I\'ve delivered impactful digital experiences and services for clients in automotive, beauty and personal care, customer relationship management, federal government, global financial services, health care, higher education, medical technology, nonprofit, real estate services, and retail. Most recently I\'ve helped design a no-code tool that allows users to digitize PDF forms, and created an end-to-end consumer experience for Ford\'s first electric vehicle. I\'m currently testing out Cursor, Lovable, Rork, and other AI-powered tools for rapid prototyping and improving user flows. Always eager to exchange ideas, scrutinize, philosophize, or reflect on the complete absurdity/awe that it wasn\'t that long ago we couldn\'t have rounded corners without a painstakingly assembled HTML table and image slices.

Experience

1. Staff Designer, Service Design

   Ad Hoc LLC

   Mar 2022 — Present

   Working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to enable efficient delivery of critical services and benefits to Veterans and their families.I\'ve contributed to two initiatives: 1. Design System Forms Engine Team: Co-leading UX strategy and execution for a web-based tool that digitizes PDF forms at scale. I focus on simplifying complex systems and advocating for non-technical users to build trust and ease of use.Responsibilities- Integrate design systems, research, and accessibility standards into a cohesive user experience- Partner with PM, engineers, and designers to align design with roadmap priorities in an agile workflow- Deliver user flows, wireframes, and prototypes to guide implementation and usability- Conduct stakeholder syncs and facilitate design workshops to align on strategy and risk- Mentor fellow designers and lead cross-functional communication.Highlights- Launched a weekly UX sync with accessibility and VA forms teams- Established an end-of-week design-to-engineering review with PM and devs- Received strong performance feedback from the VA Product Owner and Contracting Officer Rep.2. Platform Service Design Team: Led service design initiatives to improve platform team experiences and processes through research and systems thinking.Responsibilities- Created and maintained design guides, templates, and service blueprints- Conducted mixed methods UX research- Developed and socialized service design process improvements across platform teams- Mentored designers and contributed to design practice leadership.Highlights- Co-authored A Guide to Digitizing VA Forms (https://depo-platform-documentation.scrollhelp.site/developer-docs/a-guide-to-digitizing-va-forms)- Created the VA Platform Service Design guide on journey maps and blueprints- Led research on the VA.gov Governance design review process to evaluate opportunities for improvement- Designed a Slack workflow guide to streamline user research insights.

Education

• Build Institute, Detroit

  Build Basics Grad, Cohort 73

  2018

• Schoolcraft College

  Associate of Applied Science

• College for Creative Studies

  Not yet completed, BFA