Blake Williford

About

With a robust educational background in Human-Computer Interaction and Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University, I am an expert in UI / UX design. As a freelance designer, I have over a decade of experience enhancing digital products for 50+ startups and established brands, including Adobe, Microsoft, and USAA. As a Senior UX/UI Designer at Polygence and ChalkCast (ed tech startups), I spearheaded rebranding efforts, new design systems, and world-class web app and native app designs. Currently open to part-time and full-time roles.

Experience

• Freelance Designer · Blake Williford Design04-01-2010

  Freelance UX design, UI design, UX research, graphic design, illustration, and branding services with 10+ years of experience working on projects for more than 50 clients ranging from startups to more established corporations. Generally assisting with all stages of the user experience design process from concepting and strategy to research, data-driven design, and front-end development. Greatly improved UI design and visual design for sustainability startup Ubuntoo and helped launch its initial website and web app in 2019 to 750+ key partners including major brands like CocaCola and Clorox. Designed brand and helped launch website for Titin, an innovative fitness apparel company that was featured on Shark Tank and received a $1 million investment from FUBU CEO Daymond John. Assisted various other startups in launching world-class websites and apps, designing better brand identities, and VC pitch decks that raised more than $7,000,000 in venture capital. Most recently leading UX and UI design (contract) for a stealth startup - a product that leverages AI to analyze front-end code and find inconsistencies, inefficiencies, and dead code to clean-up tech debt. I have worked with the founders and leadership to redesign the design system, produced concepts for VC pitch decks, and the product is currently being trialed by major brands like Indeed and SurveyMonkey.

• Lead Design Instructor · 2U02-01-2023 – 08-01-2023

  Taught a 6-month UX / UI design bootcamp of 40+ students. This bootcamp had classes 3 times a week and covered the entire design process from UX research to UX design, UI / visual design, and even front-end development and prototyping with code. The coding portion was my own curriculum developed from scratch. Additionally lectured at University of Toronto and George Washington University.

• Senior UX / UI Designer · Polygence03-01-2022 – 07-01-2023

  Led UX / UI design for this educational technology startup focused on providing mentorship and passion project experiences for high school students. Facilitated a rebranding and visual refresh of website, web app, and native app leading to a more consistent and cohesive brand identity and design system. Conducted interviews and usability testing with dozens of mentors and students providing a strong foundation for continued design work. Designed and facilitated numerous shipped features to create a world-class passion project experience for mentors and students, including tools for sharing resources, scheduling sessions, and a brand new native app (4.7 Rating on App Store). Mentored 2 mid-level designers on design best practices, more consistent design, responsive design, etc. Company has helped more than 2400 students from 44+ countries do passion projects and get in to top-tier universities.

• Senior UX Designer · ChalkCast04-01-2021 – 03-01-2022

  Led UX / UI design for this educational technology startup (virtual classroom tool). Rebranded company and collaborated with mid-level UX designer to produce a more consistent and cohesive style design system. Designed and built company's front-facing brochure site (https://www.chalkast.org) (HTML/CSS/JS). Conducted semi-structured interviews and usability tests with more than 30 teachers and students which led to key insights and better prioritization of features. Designed and prototyped numerous features for remote learning including a quiz tool, chalkboard, automated attendance, session history, etc.

• UX/UI Designer / Researcher / Prototyper · Texas A&M University - Sketch Recognition Lab08-01-2016 – 03-01-2021

  During and after completing my PhD I led design and research on three innovative educational applications that leverage sketching and AI. Led the design and development of Sketchtivity, an educational platform for teaching the fundamentals of design sketching. I have won awards for my game design and research related to this project and published at top HCI conferences including CHI and IUI. The software has been used by over 1000 students at 3 universities and 3 high schools. Led design for 'Mechanix', an educational platform for teaching free body diagrams by providing automated real-time feedback on sketches. The software has been used by over 1000 students at 5 universities and 3 high schools. Led the design and development of 'FossilSketch' an educational platform for learning about micropaleontology and identifying microorganisms. Designed and developed a PIXL (Mars 2020 Rover) XRF simulation interface for Aeolian Lab and was a co-author on a peer-reviewed paper.

Education

• Georgia Institute of TechnologyM.S., Human-Computer Interaction
• Texas A&M UniversityDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction)
• Georgia Institute of TechnologyB.S., Industrial Design
• Stanton College Preparatory SchoolHigh School, 6th Subject - Computer Science

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