Summary of Qualifications

• 17+ years of visual and digital design experience for world-class editorial and art brands. 
• Led award winning design and UX teams; Developed and streamlined workflow while cultivating strong relationships between departments.
• Portfolio includes original website design and art direction, responsive design for mobile and tablet, iPhone and iPad apps, advertising, branding and print material.
• Work that evolves a brand, increases usability and improves online response.
• Expert knowledge of graphic design, typography, user experience, information architecture, user interface patterns and industry trends.

Professional Experience

IBM  
Lead Designer //  New York, NY June 2018–Current
• Lead the design direction and strategy of internal services and products.
• Own and orchestrate design standardization in order to create a consistent ecosystem, improve product reliability and user confidence. Work cross-functionally to drive the effort to develop a centralized design system among internal products.
• Collaborate with stakeholders and leadership to decide feature roadmap; utilizing business goals, user needs and customer feedback.
• Ensure that standard design practices are incorporated into the team agreement and agile workflow. For example, design QA in “definition of done”, use of components and design systems, proper sizing and naming conventions.
• Make design decisions informed by business goals, user testing, customer feedback, surveys, metrics and development effort.
• Awards: Earned Peer Recognition Award and the United Teams award for contributions to the design community in actively sharing expertise and guidance.

ALICIA BROOKS DESIGN  
Digital Design Consultant //  New York, NY December 2016–June 2018
• Freelance web design, user experience design and corporate consultation.

TIME INC.
Digital Design Consultant //  New York, NY December 2016–September 2017
• Collaborate on large-scale responsive web redesign for Real Simple, Time, Food & Wine, Essence, Fortune, InStyle, MyRecipes, Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Travel + Leisure, Money, Health. 
• Create a living Design System that documents UX/UI decisions in order to provide a stable code base, secure web standards and deliver faster, cleaner pages.
• Communicate with Visual Designers, UX Designers, Product Managers, Developers and Editors in order to form design strategies that achieve user’s needs, business and advertising goals.
• Deliver visual design specifications, UX documentation and work with Front-End Developers on code for quality assurance.
• Develop a style guide for each of the brands to provide reference, ease communication for large teams and ensure a cohesive look and feel.
• Implement layouts with Atomic Design methodology to future-proof sites by promoting consistency and scalability. 

SOULCYCLE
Director of Design and User Experience //  New York, NY January 2016–October 2016
• Direct the conceptual, stylistic direction and user experience of the SoulCycle brand online.
• Deliver, review and critique the designs of a multi-skilled team to ensure effective and rich solutions with great interaction, visual styling, consistent and appropriate use of voice and tone.
• Some projects include: ecommerce redesign, SoulCycle booking app, registration flow for marketing campaigns and user facing data visualization of customer behavior.
• Develop an iterative workflow to promote collaboration, improve efficiency and improve products.

BON APPÉTIT MAGAZINE
Digital Art Director //  New York, NY February 2014–January 2016
• Define and lead the user experience and digital design direction of Bon Appétit.
• Responsible for bringing the Bon Appétit voice to life in redesign and ensuring brand consistency across all online communications.
• Build team, manage projects and define goals for Designers and external creative resources.
• Create and develop new products by assessing market competition, weighing strategic and business goals, performing user testing and evaluating analytics.
• Site awarded 2 silver SPDs as Best Redesign and Website of the Year for 2015.

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
Senior Interaction Designer  //  New York, NY 2011–February 2014
• Conceive and execute complete redesign of New York’s digital fashion destination, The Cut, expanding it to a fully responsive online fashion magazine. 
• Work with the Creative Director to develop the branding, visual tone, look and feel of The Cut, subsequently winning an SPD Gold Metal in Web Design with 179% increase in views. 
• Redesign the homepage of New York’s entertainment vertical, Vulture.com.
• Present ideas and collaborate with Photo Department, Product Owners, Engineers and Editors to create successful design strategies and solutions.
• Define and develop innovative new features utilizing web trends, analytics and best practices.
• Handle multiple daily projects for the magazine in a fast-paced, agile environment. 
• Troubleshoot design issues in HTML and CSS.

CHRISTIE'S
Senior Web Designer  //  New York, NY 2006–2011
• Determine the design and visual presentation of Christies.com. 
• Approve all design material for the site.
• Improve and innovate on visual content and usability as part of site redesign and business strategy. Spearhead redesign of the homepage.
• Team initiatives result in 70% increase of online response.
• Manage a team of producers and freelance designers to complete workflow.
• Develop new web experiences from conception to completion, some examples include: Christie’s homepage redesign, dynamic interface for slideshow view, blog for Yves Saint Laurent sale, subsite for the Elizabeth Taylor Sale and Christie’s iPhone app.

MIDNIGHT KITCHEN MEDIA
Partner  //  Brooklyn, NY 2005–2007
• Developed design collective and multi-media event planning team.
• Created strategy and vision to evolve brands by assessing client values, history and business goals.
• Designed and created websites, print material, album covers, logos and textile illustrations.
• Clients included: Le Tigre USA, charity: water, Duffy fashion line, JLM Public Relations representing Russell Simmons, Ray Gehring Jazz Trio, Business Outreach Center.

BLUESKY STUDIOS
Design and Layout Production Assistant  //  White Plains, NY 2004–2006
• Assistant managed the Design and Layout Departments on animated feature films: Ice Age 2, Robots and Horton Hears a Who.
• Created schedule, liased between departments and managed workflow.