Building bridges between people and systems.

UX research, product design, and visual communications // Based in Austin, Texas

FEATURED CASE STUDIES

Planet Texas 2050, UT Austin

Civic Climate Platform

Translating 10 years of research and $10M into an accessible web library of tools and resources for Texas communities. Led research and design, conducted 36+ stakeholder interviews, delivering 50+ wireframes, IA, and content taxonomy enabling alignment and critical budget decisions.

#CivicTech #UXResearchAndDesign #Accessibility #Taxonomy

MediLinker, Dell Medical

Blockchain PHR App

Measuring consumer trust in a personal health records app via remote 1:1 usability testing with 9 participants. Identified critical trust barriers and usability issues that informed design recommendations for peer-reviewed published study on consumer adoption of decentralized health data systems.

#Healthcare #Blockchain #PrivacyAndSecurity #Trust

Duke Farms

Duke Farms Digital Guide App

Designing a mobile guide for 240,000 annual visitors of a nature preserve and sustainability research center. Averaged 14,000+ users. Reduced paper maps + staff fatigue. Raised bar for brand expression. Blueprint for their enterprise-scale solution in 2025 (Bloomberg Connects platform).

#Wayfinding #ShippedProduct #UXResearchAndDeisgn

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Experience

20 years of experience spanning tier-1 academia, creative agencies, startups, international nonprofits, big 4 global firm and consulting.

Goal

To improve information-based experiences in partnership with all stakeholders, especially marginalized or underserved populations.

Approach

Interdisciplinary, collaborative, equity-centered, and deeply methodical.

SUMMARIES OF OTHER WORK

EY Tax Lab

EY TaxGrid

Designing trusted interfaces for global cross-border tax processing. 500+ screens across 6 user views for a blockchain platform enabling secure withholding tax transactions, supporting a global demo with 12 organizations including HMRC, Citi, and JP Morgan. Entered commercial production in 2024.

#EnterpriseFinTech #Blockchain #ComplexSystem

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EY Tax Lab

EY Supply Network Risk Manager

Designing verifiable claims for ethical sourcing and ESG compliance. Prototyped interfaces for 7 user roles across 3 supplier tiers for a blockchain platform tracking forced labor risks, creating a unified design system that enabled a successful stakeholder demo.

#ESG #SupplyChain #Blockchain #Enterprise

Genome NYC

CMS for Billboard Hot 100 Game Data Analytics

Architecting a content management system under ambiguity. Transformed scattered requirements into 30+ wireframes for a custom CMS powering analytics, dashboards, and event management for a music competition app.

#EntertainmentTech #RequirementsGathering #InformationArchitecture

UT-City CoLab

Austin Climate Report

Making climate science accessible to the public. Led visual design and content editing for the City of Austin's climate report, translating complex data into clear visualizations—resulting in local news coverage and 3 UX hires for the lab.

#ClimateData #ScienceCommunication #DataViz #PublicSector

Human-AI Interaction, UT Austin

Emotion AI Interviews

Analyzing fairness concerns in AI-powered hiring. Conducted mixed-methods research with 9 mock interviews, designing custom data visualization reports to capture participant reactions—revealing concerns about bias and transparency in AI hiring systems.

#AIEthics #HumanFactors #DataViz #EmergingTech

AI Health Lab

ADHD App Study

Validating a product concept for underserved users. Led market research and product strategy for an NSF-funded AI-powered CBT app for women with ADHD, defining product direction and competitive positioning for early-stage validation.

#HealthTech #MarketResearch #EarlyStage

Want to collaborate?

Get in touch with me, we'll schedule a call.

Vanessa Sánchez