Kristine Jiao

About

Im a product designer pivoting from a 3+ years career in consulting and project management. I possess a Master's in Interaction and UX Design, and a Bachelor's in Sustainable Design. With this background, I have a unique approach that combines analytical rigor with empathetic design. My experience in improving customer experiences in programs has developed my empathy for user problems and passion for solving real-world problems. My experience at Viridis Consulting leverages my skills in stakeholder engagement and project management to design customer protection processes and facilitate public workshops instrumental to shaping Illinois' energy resource policies. I excel in cross-team collaboration, harmonizing user research insights with technical demands to elevate user experiences, and driving community involvement. In my freelance UX role at Thinking Huts, I've collaborated with a team of designers to harness user feedback to enhance our donation platform, resulting in increased conversions. I'm passionate about user-centric design and committed to delivering solutions that not only meet but exceed the needs of our clients and stakeholders. I approach design with a passion for helping others and empathizing with users and their motivations. As a growth-oriented designer, I constantly find ways to build my knowledge and skills, including working on passion projects with others and finding inspiration from other designers in my community.

Experience

• UX/UI Designer · Freelance01-01-2024

  Freelance designer supporting the end-to-end designs for early-stage web and mobile apps, owning the entire process for MVPs, including user research through to high-fidelity prototypes and mockups in Figma. Conducting user research, interviews, and usability studies to refine user flows, iterating designs based on user feedback and data-driven insights. Partnering with founders, engineering, and product to balance user needs with technical feasibility, creating design wireframes and prototypes in Figma for current and future products on web and mobile platforms. Building design systems with scalable UI components to streamline development and maintain design consistency, utilizing concepts of front-end development (HTML, CSS) to ensure consistency and for efficient design handoffs. Defining branding and visual design assets, including logo, graphics, typography, and animations.

• Product Designer · Infilla10-01-2025 – 02-01-2026

  Redesigned the flagship Forum search experience by synthesizing insights from 10 AI-powered competitors, internal stakeholders, and user feedback, resulting in a validated concept direction for a net new, AI-optimized search experience; Conducted early research through user interviews and usability testing to define problems and validate solutions; Created flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity visuals rapidly iterating based on user feedback and stakeholder input from product, engineering, and domain experts; Presented solutions to cross-functional stakeholders, debating design rationale and incorporating diverse perspectives; Demonstrated high empathy for users (government workers skeptical of AI), striving to understand and empower them through intuitive design

• UX Designer · Thinking Huts02-01-2024

  > Collaborating with development team to implement website redesigns, achieving increased donation conversions and 40k donations in 3 months. > Created wireframes and mockups to communicate design concepts to the founder and iterated based on feedback. > Conducted usability tests and surveys to analyze user behavior regarding donation conversions and integrating user research findings into redesigns.

• Project Manager · Viridis Consulting LLC09-01-2022

  Solutions-oriented, creative, and synergetic project manager skilled in driving the development and execution of project plans, generating solutions, and optimizing results. Expertise includes: > Public Outreach & Engagement: Providing project management and technical support for a series of workshops to facilitate a forum for the public to provide input on the valuation of distributed energy resources in Illinois. Coordinating email outreach, website announcements, distribution of workshop materials, and summarizing stakeholder feedback. > Customer Experience Protection: Ability to quickly assess complex situations and provide solutions to each unique complaint case to successfully enforce program requirements and enhance customer experience. Acted on behalf of the Program Administrator to serve as a liaison between program actors and customers to resolve over 30 customer complaints in 3 months. > Program Strategy: Developed proposals and materials for updates to the program's Long Term Plan to improve customer protection in the program through competitive analysis and best practices research. > Program Operations: Working on the Illinois Power Authority's Illinois Shines Program, a state-administered incentive program supporting the development of new solar energy generation in Illinois. Responsible for program operations primarily focused on customer protection. > Quality Assurance / Quality Control: Collaborated on designing a standard operating procedure to discover and rectify a major infraction in program requirements by the program's approved vendors and designees that affect over 800 customers. Developing and implementing an audit process to audit the program vendors' compliance with program requirements regarding customer applications and signed disclosure forms to ensure the protection of customer experiences in the program.

• Operations Project Manager · Foresight Mental Health02-01-2022 – 09-01-2022

  Worked directly with the Director of Operations to identify issues and develop solutions, and optimize workflows to improve the team's ability to support providers and patients. Collaborated with cross-functional stakeholders to create and conduct trainings, develop new standard operating procedures, and support workflows impacted by company-wide transition to a new EHR platform. Designed improvements to the copay Collections Audit Process to recover over $5k missing payments. Executed roadmap for Return to Office plans for transition to in-person services for 34 offices.

• Partnerships Development Manager · Foresight Mental Health09-01-2021 – 02-01-2022

  Maintained long-term relationship with Kaiser Permanente NorCal, provided high-quality project management, and ensured Foresight's internal processes and procedures adhered to the contract requirements.

Education

• University of California, BerkeleyBachelor of Arts - BA, Sustainable Environmental Design
• Academy of Art UniversityMaster of Arts - MA, Interaction & UX Design

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