Brandon Youngblood
Sr. UX Designer
External v. Internal Facing
1. External Facing – I always start with extensive research and a competitive analysis to understand direction and best practices. Once I’ve gathered enough information, I will create sketches, or low-fidelity wire-frames. This allows me to map out the flow(s) and share with other team members. It’s also a good time for a touch-point with stakeholders. The final step before hand-off, is the high-fidelity mock-ups. Along with customer branding and UI components, these are more detailed and provide an accurate representation of the end-product. I come from a background in web design/development, which helps me communicate better with developers, as I am able to provide direction with code. See the Compare Internet case study below for an example.
2. Internal Facing – One of my favorite parts of the process is running user-feedback sessions, or workshops. By meeting with different users and business units, I’m able to address pain points and create better flows. As with external facing projects, I’ll generate both low and high-fidelity wire-frames, but I’ll be able to run a second round of user-feedback sessions to ensure that all the previous feedback has been addressed before stakeholder hand-off and approval. My internal facing work is usually for integration with the ServiceNow platform. We used this at both NextEra Energy and Capgemini.
Brandon Youngblood
Sr. UX Designer
External v. Internal Facing
1. External Facing – I always start with extensive research and a competitive analysis to understand direction and best practices. Once I’ve gathered enough information, I will create sketches, or low-fidelity wire-frames. This allows me to map out the flow(s) and share with other team members. It’s also a good time for a touch-point with stakeholders. The final step before hand-off, is the high-fidelity mock-ups. Along with customer branding and UI components, these are more detailed and provide an accurate representation of the end-product. I come from a background in web design/development, which helps me communicate better with developers, as I am able to provide direction with code. See the Compare Internet case study below for an example.
2. Internal Facing – One of my favorite parts of the process is running user-feedback sessions, or workshops. By meeting with different users and business units, I’m able to address pain points and create better flows. As with external facing projects, I’ll generate both low and high-fidelity wire-frames, but I’ll be able to run a second round of user-feedback sessions to ensure that all the previous feedback has been addressed before stakeholder hand-off and approval. My internal facing work is usually for integration with the ServiceNow platform. We used this at both NextEra Energy and Capgemini.
Project Case Study
As a UX Designer, my key focus is on creating experiences that make sense to the user. Imagine they start on the homepage, or click on an ad that takes them to another page within the site. The focus is always on how to get them from point A, to point B as effortlessly as possible.
This is an in-depth case study I put together for CompareInternet.com. In this example, I started by doing a competitive and UX design analysis of four different websites. I analyzed multiple aspects of all of the websites. I then created wire-frames of each page, taking into consideration that the user can start on any page. I established a hierarchy and clear call-to-actions. I then mocked up what the functional website would look like. While focusing on the API call-backs, I made sure to develop a site that would allow for anyone in the 42,000 U.S. zip codes to get the same level of quality and ease in their journey to ultimately find the best Internet and Cable provider to fit their needs.
Printable Version (22MB)
Mobile Optimized Version (2MB)
The UX “Spark”
In 2016, I was working for Shoes For Crews. We had launched our first fully-responsive e-commerce website. What we didn’t launch, however, was a responsive checkout. About 8 months after the launch of the new site, discussion of an updated checkout came to my team. The initial thought was to have a UX company do it for us. After a few quotes, we realized the cost was extremely high. So, I asked if I could take a stab at it. I got the go-ahead.
I started by researching our industry competitors to see how their flow was. I then started researching large name brands, and that’s where it made sense to me. After discussing my findings and getting the thumbs up, I started the wire-frames. My goal was to take our 8-step flow and shrink it down to a 4-step flow using a pseudo accordion look. Our back-end wouldn’t handle a one-page checkout at the time, but I could make it look like you never left the page you were on.
After several meetings with the e-commerce, marketing and dev team, we were at a point where we were ready to go live! We started with internal UAT, and then A|B testing to a small percentage, so we could finesse it before a 100% push. We discovered that it increased conversion by almost 30%. That was a huge win, and that was the “Spark” for the beginning of my UX career.”
For verification, please contact Jesse Price (Director of E-Commerce at Shoes For Crews)
The New Flow
UX Design Abilities
Experience
- UX Design
- UX Research
- UI Design
- Wireframing
- Storyboarding
Tools
- Adobe XD
- UXPin
- Invision
- Sketch
- Figma
Latest UX Projects
- FPL – eWeb Search
- FPL – Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) Website
- Pave Mobility – Client Portal
- ISG – Compare Internet Website
- Shoes For Crews – Company Website
- Shoes For Crews – E-Commerce Checkout
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Web Development Project Examples
Shoes For Crews
One of my main roles was the design and maintenance of the website. We generated approximately $150Mil/year through the e-commerce site. The first large project I worked on was updating the company website to a responsive website versus one that required a desktop and mobile version.
A key focus area of mine was constant A/B testing. We would evaluate how users were interacting with the site via HotJar. We would then see where we could improve the user experience. Once we had a plan set in place, I would create experiences via Monetate to test the statistical significance and eventually hard-code well performing updates.
Bambu Glasses
Having worked in Marketing for 15 years at the time, in 2018 I decided to create my own company with the knowledge I had accrued over the years. I believed it was time to invest in myself and see how effective I was at creating a profitable company. Within the first year, I began making profit through online sales and marketing channels. Every facet of the company is completely run by myself. Please read more about my journey as an entrepreneur here.
Other Websites I’ve designed/developed
Shoes For Crews
In 2019, I designed and developed the Shoes For Crews Resource Center, so future customers could learn the importance of slip-resistance safety.
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Pave Mobility
Pave Mobility allows parking lot owners to get their parking payments more effectively, through license plate recognition and a payment notice by mail.
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Ignite FIU
I worked on the Ignite FIU re-design through The 1 to 1 Group as part of the donor campaign.
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Venetian Spa
Venetian Nail Spa has locations nationwide. I helped them create a website that let them engage and take online orders from any state they had a storefront in.
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CenturyLink
While working for Infinity Sales Group, one of my main clients was CenturyLink. I helped them both re-design their website and made continuous updates for product offers and brand changes.
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Alexander Thomas
Alexander Thomas is a booming star in the dance industry. He was part of Serena Williams’ Nike campaign and the 2019 Superbowl.
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Web Development Experience
As a front-end web developer, my job is to understand the user experience and effectively implement the code. Whether I develop a website in Bootstrap or WordPress, my goal is to always code in a clean and concise way that would be logical and easy to understand for anyone who will be making future updates and edits to the site.
As a front-end web developer, I have worked on both, PHP and Coldfusion platforms. While having experience in both Smartgit and Sourcetree for work with Git repositories, I have the most experience in Bitbucket for my repository management. I also understand the importance of using local development repositories for testing when working with a team. I primarily work on Mac platforms, and design locally using MAMP.
Web Design Abilities
Web Related
- Responsive Web Design
- Responsive Email Design
Tools
- HTML
- CSS
- Google Ad Words & Analytics
- Bootstrap
- WordPress
Other
- Email Automation
- Video Production
- Audio and Video Editing
- Product Photography
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An Entrepreneuer
With a deep connection to nature and a love of sunglasses, I wanted to do something meaningful and create a sustainable approach to fashion. In 2018, I started my own company called Bambu Glasses.
At this point in my career, I had done just about every job in a Marketing department. I wanted to take a leap and invest in myself.
As the owner of the company, my tasks include:
- Sourcing new products and materials
- Product design
- Packaging and print design
- Product and lifestyle photography
- E-commerce web design and development
- Setting up automated email campaigns to promote discounts and new styles
- Google Ad-Words and Analytics
- Social media advertising and influencer marketing
- Establishing relationships with stores to sell my product
- Fulfillment of purchases for shipping and re-orders for stores
Visit: bambuglasses.com
About Me
In 2006, I moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and developed my skills as a Web Designer. I soon went from designing websites to working on the user experience flows. As mobile browsing started to close in on desktop experiences, I began focusing on more of a mobile first approach in responsive design.
From 2016 – 2019, I worked for Shoes For Crews, where my main focus was Front-End Web Development and UX Design. I consider this the turning-point in my career, where my core focus became UX design.
I am currently working as a Sr. UX Designer for Capgemini, where my focus is assisting some of the largest companies in the world with their internal business and service management processes, via the ServiceNow platform.
Download my resume