Karishma Patel
UX Researcher
Raleigh, NC
Karishma Patel
UX Researcher
Raleigh, NC
I’ve known for a long time that I want to work to address deeply nuanced issues, such as global health, poverty, and homelessness, and when I discovered human-centered design and design thinking, I learned the tools to tackle such issues conscientiously and compassionately. Working with local communities has fueled my passion for social innovation and led me to user experience, where I am able to connect with people, learn from them, and work with them to create cutting-edge, desirable solutions to solve their needs. At Marketade, I am able to provide these same services to web and mobile-based applications.
Recent Work
- Top US brand for children’s curriculum-based entertainment — I co-led research with children aged 3-6 years old for a top brand for children’s curriculum-based entertainment in the USA. I conducted user sessions with pairs of a parent and child discussing the child’s current digital account usage and log-in processes. We also tested 3 prototypes with the dyads. I co-facilitated a research analysis workshop in which we storyboarded ideal flows regarding children’s digital account usage and sign up or log in processes.
- International NGO focused on ethical and sustainable production — I co-led 2 rounds of usability testing for this organization’s website. In Round 1, I conducted general usability test sessions and facilitated a collaborative workshop to identify barriers to site usability with stakeholders. In Round 2, I conducted user research sessions with a prototype of a redesigned site, based on the top barriers outlined in the workshop. I co-facilitated a second collaborative workshop and identified usability barriers in the redesign with stakeholders.
- Upscale, 100-year-old furniture and appliance company — I co-led this project to create research-based personas to support an upcoming website redesign. I recruited and interviewed recent customers who purchased low and high-end items from the website. These research sessions captured users’ overall shopping process, including online and offline behaviors. I co-facilitated a workshop to build research-based personas based on prioritized findings.
- Industrial machinery maker and seller — I work with this e-commerce client on a regular, ongoing basis to support iterative improvements to the user experience and information architecture of their online services. I conduct user research through techniques such as user interviews, usability testing, A/B testing, and session replay reproduction.
Past Experience
- Led a community-based project using human-centered design and design thinking methodologies as a Design Thinking Intern at Kalu Yala. I coordinated with the Health and Wellness program and Education program to complete a community assessment to uncover pressing issues the programs and community could work on together. This culminated in a zero-cost water-purification project which met the three-tiers of sustainability.
- Conducted a usability test for a health communication blog, with a group of three other members as a UX Researcher.
Education
- B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Media and Journalism with a specialization in Editing and Graphic Design (minor in Social and Economic Justice)
Outside the Office
- Though my trade is in tech, I love unplugging and spending time outdoors. I’m lucky to live near great nature sites, and I had the opportunity to live off-the-grid for 3 months in 2017.
- To relax, I enjoy reading, crafting, and writing creatively.
Karishma’s Toolbox
- Affinity Mapping
- Customer Interviews
- Personas
- Journey Mapping
- Wireframing
- Heuristic Evaluations
- Storyboards
- Workshop Facilitation
- Concept Testing
- Low-Fidelity Prototyping and Parallel Prototyping
- Usability Testing
- Content Testing