Experience and Motion Design Studio

Fade

Design Approach

Great experiences emerge when you ground the solution in radical collaboration, a deep understanding of business and customer needs, and rapid learning and iteration.

Vision & Value

Defining what kind of experience you would like your customers to have and establishing a clear vision of the product or service are the first crucial steps. These issues are tackled through workshops, stakeholder interviews, and ideation techniques, laying a foundation for the project.

Users & Context

The foundation of human-centered design is a deep understanding of the context of use, the needs of users, and their behaviors. By utilizing research techniques such as usability testing and ethnography, we can identify opportunities to craft experiences that exceed user expectations.

Iterate & Refine

Informed by the vision, user insights, and context of use, design concepts for the product or service are created. Working with users, the experience is validated and refined throughout the design and development phases by utilizing rapid prototyping techniques and quick iterations.

Leadership Experience

I've had the opportunity to lead teams of all shapes and sizes, across a diverse set of industries, in driving impact and innovation.

Diverse Teams

Established and scaled teams ranging from 4 team members to a studio of 100+

Oversight of functions including UX design, qual & quant research, content design, marketing/brand design, and front-end engineering

Led teams distributed across North & South America, Europe, and India

Coaching & Mentoring

Trained ~200 designers, engineers, and PMs in design thinking at Capital One

Led the enterprise consulting UX center of excellence at HP, defining and codifying best practices

Coached and mentored hundreds of designers over the course of my career

Radical Collaboration

Extensive experience partnering across all organizational levels

Experience co-creating with end users across diverse roles, contexts, needs, and abilities

20+ years of experience co-creating with teams of cross-functional partners

Recommendations

Over one's career, it's rare to have the opportunity to work closely with a manager who truly dares to build deep trust with those around him — fewer still someone as exceptional as Nick.

- Daniel Sunden, Design Leader

Nick has an innate ability to sort through a wide variety of inputs on projects, single out the best course of action, and provide leadership towards those goals.

- Trevor Smith, Design Leader

Nick cares deeply about the success of organizational initiatives and would be a huge asset as a leader to any UX team.

- Sajjad Khan, Product Executive

Leading Global Design Teams

I'm a multi-disciplinary design leader based in Dallas, with over 20 years of experience in helping organizations identify opportunities and reimagine their products and services.

I've had the opportunity to partner with some of the most recognizable brands in the world including Capital One, Disney, HP, and Walmart, where my team's work in merchandising was awarded Fast Company's Innovation by Design Award.

Testimonials

Over one's career, it's rare to have the opportunity to work closely with a manager who truly dares to build deep trust with those around him — fewer still someone as exceptional as Nick.

I directly reported Nick at Walmart. We had the privilege of delivering a series of strategic initiatives and build a strong design team together.

I'm in awe of his fearless ambition and ability to build cohesion with diverse stakeholders. Nick will take on any challenge, the greater, the better. His rare mix of sensitivity and ambition sets a great example for designers and professionals everywhere.

- Daniel Sunden

Nick has an innate ability to sort through a wide variety of inputs on projects, single out the best course of action, and provide leadership towards those goals.

I've helped him deliver on two 'north star' visions, and each time he guided teams with great attention to human centered design processes while balancing key business objectives.

Whether it is meeting with key stakeholders, or throwing down quick usability sketches on a whiteboard, It is readily apparent Nick cares about the success of those around him and wants to build them up.

- Trevor Smith

Leadership Approach

Design leadership can be highly contextual and call on a wide variety of skillsets and approaches. That being said, I find three things to be foundational elements across contexts.

Emphasis on Craft

Cultivating a strong focus on craft within a design organization builds mastery of the tools and techniques required to create world-class products & services, and enables teams to navigate the ambiguity that comes with innovation.

Shared Accountability

With a foundation of empathy and trust, it becomes possible to set high expectations and develop a team culture where everyone is invested in supporting and encouraging each other to create the best work of their careers.

Focus on Enablement

The impact of even the best design teams can be mitigated when not armed with the right processes, tools, and growth opportunities. A focus on enabling teams and removing friction wherever possible is critical to achieving the best outcomes.

My Role at Walmart Labs

During my time at Walmart my role grew from initially leading the merchandising design team, to ultimately leading one of three major design studios within the organization.

Merchandising

Team began with 5 product designers
Scaled the team to 30+
Included 3 people leaders
Focused on creating tools used to operate both the retail store and e-comm businesses

Store Associate Tools

20 team members
Included 2 people leaders
Focused on creating tools supporting all store associate job roles

Health & Wellness

Founded the design team in this area of the business
Scaled to 20+ team members
Included 2 people leaders
Focused on creating end-to-end products and services across channels

Design Approach

Great experiences emerge when you ground the solution in radical collaboration, a deep understanding of business and customer needs, and rapid learning and iteration.

Vision & Value

Defining what kind of experience you would like your customers to have and establishing a clear vision of the product or service are the first crucial steps.

These issues are tackled through workshops, stakeholder interviews, and ideation techniques, laying a foundation for the project.

Users & Context

The foundation of human-centered design is a deep understanding of the context of use, the needs of users, and their behaviors.

By utilizing research techniques such as usability testing and ethnography, we can identify opportunities to craft experiences that exceed user expectations.

Refine & Iterate

Informed by the vision, user insights, and context of use, design concepts for the product or service are created.

Working with users, the experience is validated and refined throughout the design and development phases by utilizing rapid prototyping techniques and quick iterations.