United States

UX Research

UX Design

Service Design

Content Design

Product Design

UX writing

Project Management

UX Testing

Service Design Research

Content Strategy

Brenda Ray (née Hoyle)

Senior UX Researcher

Usability Testing

Quantitative research

Public Speaking

Prototyping

Qualitative research

Communication

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Time management

Critical-thinking

Empathy

Team player

Organisation skills

Presentation skills

Customer service

Stakeholder management

Project management

Accessibility

Content research

Content strategy

Email writing

Event organisation

Information architecture

User research

Optimal Workshop

Qualtrics

SurveyMonkey

Typeform

WordPress

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Airtable

Axure

Balsamiq

Canva

Figma

Framer

HTML

InVision

Jira

Miro

Notion

Adobe Creative Suite

Confluence

UserZoom

Sketch

Mural

Volunteer Director, managing the volunteering pipeline, team, and database.

Fostering the global design research operations community.

Qualitative and mixed-methods researcher within the human-centered design team at RSM’s Consulting division. 

During my time at RSM, I conducted research for multiple industries including education, healthcare, transportation, and government with a variety of audiences ranging from children to politicians. Each engagement differed in needs, so my research methods took on a variety of forms: surveys, interviews, diary studies, usability testing, UX benchmarking, competitor research, intercepts, literary reviews, heuristic evaluations, etc. Each research project yielded actionable findings and insights that moved projects forward and provided design and development teams with the information needed to create or redesign experiences. Oftentimes, I created research-based artifacts (e.g., flowcharts, process maps, content guides, personas, archetypes, journey maps, research reports, rolling insights boards, etc.) to convey or document findings. I often worked directly with product teams to document research-based stories in project management tools like Jira or Clickup.

Primarily focused on research and design for federal agencies: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). I obtained Public Trust clearance for both FEMA and the USPTO, working directly in my clients' systems with a government supplied laptop and a virtual machine.

In addition to federal contracting, I researched and redesigned Stratera's website, business development pipeline, and human resources processes.

Established user research practice and managed research operations. Trained a team into capable researchers through on-the-job training. Led and supported both qualitative and mixed methods research studies for internal and external websites resulting in improved experiences for members, brokers, employers, and employees.

Duties included managing the usability lab and all of its assets, conducting qualitative and quantitative research studies (small and large participant pools), and crafting research deliverables that met the needs of teams.

Researched multiple internal and external websites to improve the experiences of members, brokers, and employers. Started the process of establishing a research practice by doing an inventory of the existing research lab's assets and acquiring needed research tools.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. Mobile application and website prototyping, research, design, and coding. Designed website using Javascript, Gatsbyjs, and Github Pages.

Supported a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project within a distributed team. Prototyped a mobile app. Collaborated on usability tests with a senior designer.

Company design assets creation, including content writing guidelines. Content for multiple social media channels. Reviewed and provided guidance on communications and documentation. Assisted with injection moulding of parts.

Please see Collider's social media accounts to see samples of my copywriting and photography work (@collidertech on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin).

Researched the user experience of the Petbot application, website, and product with pet owners and pets.

Collaborated with 5 UX designers to provide UX design and research services to businesses. Center Centre’s facilitators provided mentorship and acted as UX managers for all client projects.

Client list:
• Center Centre (internal tool)
• Marquette University’s Office of Marketing and Communication
• Applied Technical Systems
• Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce

For more details about the projects, please see the “projects” and “publications” sections in my profile.

Created vector art, raster illustrations, flyers, GIF animations, and custom 3D textures for clients. 

• Produced 3D textures and graphics for over 1,316 metaverse products (including custom products) by learning how to design 3D model textures using Gimp GNU, PaintTool SAI, and Krita.
• Produced 300+ custom metaverse products (including products that were part of sets) commissioned by individual customers.
• Created custom product page layouts for others by learning how to write HTML and CSS.
• Learned how to design 3D model textures through research and experimentation.
• Created 3D printer GIFs for Reality AM Partners, an additive manufacturing consultancy.
• Created vector portraits for clients.
• Created flyers for the Chattanooga Mini Maker Faire.

Brenda Ray (née Hoyle)🇺🇸

About Brenda Ray (née Hoyle)

Expertise

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