SXSW

Leaning into the deep side of the pool

Working at SXSW provided me with many opportunities to learn and expand my skill set. Starting as a freelance Drupal developer and then transitioning into a full-time UX designer and front end developer. The amazing team I worked with at SXSW trusted me to learn to manage nearly anything that was given to me. With them I built, wireframes, user stories, single page javascript apps, and the core info sites that were running on Word Press and Drupal.

Aside from managing projects, I also mentored jr. devs to take over tasks related to our PHP sites.

SXSW Music Film and Interactive (2016)

The Goals

I had been wanting to switch CMS's from Drupal to Word Press for a number of reasons. Chief among these is Word Press's Media system. It deftly handles all sorts of rich content in a way users find very intuitive. During this project I trained a JR Developer to work with myself and a contractor on the technical build out of this brand new site.

The Solution

It was a huge UX improvement for out content producers. Leveraging the Advanced Custom Fields plugin, we created a custom post builder, with configurable and sortable rows. This new interface improved productivity for the writers and provided them with rich media modules for better expression in content.

Tech Stack: PHP, GULP, SASS, JS

Framework: Word Press

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Check out their current site

Cart (2015)

The Goals

The team's goal was to improve the shopping cart's UX and aesthetic. I created wireframes, user interaction prototypes, and a new design to make badge purchasing quicker and easier. We also worked with an outside vender to conduct user testing sessions to help refine user interactions and UX decisions.

The Solution

We built a new system nearly from the ground up that completely re-configured how products were to be displayed and created. The changes made to the checkout process allowed users to easily review their items before purchasing.

Tech Stack: Ruby, HAML, SASS, JS

Framework: Ruby on Rails

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SXSW Music Film and Interactive (2015)

The Goals

Redesign the main marketing site for the 2014 season. SXSW redesigns the look every season but this time we decided to reduce the workload and merely re-build some simple interface elements, add new colors, update the branding, and re-work the drop down menus to be a bit more functional. This is also the first time I designed the site to be mobile first, as previous iterations were responsive after a separate agency had designed the desktop layout.

The Solution

We came up with a click to reveal drop down paradigm for our large menu and reduced content from previous years to allow for a more streamlined look and feel.

Tech Stack: PHP, HTML, SCSS, JS

Framework: Drupal

Check out the WAYBACK Snapshot

Check out their current site