Hi, I'm Arez

Experience designer and researcher fascinated by the innovative design space.

Currently based in Boston designing a transformational customer experience for CVS Health.

Design Approach

As a true advocate of the user, I enjoy discovering unique insights and finding creative solutions to problems and challenges that lead to market leading products and services.

Through a user-centered design approach, identifying the challenges and pain points of the user become clear. I convey this vital information with my team and stakeholders to ensure alignment on the objectives and goals.

Identifying the User

My design process naturally begins with identifying the target user and their relationship with our brand. Without a clear understanding of who the users are, the design process can be misleading and not suited to solve the issues our users may face.

Once our target user is identified, we look for the challenges and pain points they face while interacting with the product and document it for the next phase of our research and design journey. It's important that the insight and research is conducted while remaining aligned with the brand identity and core mission.

Researching the User

After identifying that the project is in line with the core mission of the brand, we begin conducting our research with target audience.

User research methods include:

• 1 on 1 interviews
• User/Focus groups
• Surveys
• Empathy mapping &
• Usability Testing

Through these research results we can uncover problems, discover opportunities to improve on the design, and learn about the user's behaviors and preferences. This information will additionally help us begin building out our qualitative and quantitative data sets.

Analyzing the Data

In this stage of the research, we’ll use all of the research information we've gathered to analyze and distill the most important elements.

Below are three ways to analyze our design research:

User Personas

help us identify the users goals, background, age, gender, behaviors, habits, painpoints and needs. This information will help us identify with the user we're designing for. Personas can simplify the design process by guiding our ideation processes, and help us achieve the goal of creating a good user experience for our target user group.
Card Sorting

is a method used to uncover how the target audience’s domain knowledge is structured, and serves to create information architectures that match the users’ expectations. The process can be supplemented with other information-architecture methods to identify issues in our category structure.
User Journey Mapping

helps us to build empathy with our target users, providing a common picture to the team, bringing focus to key area's of user interaction with the product, and reveal opporunities that would have otherwise been overlooked. UJM's are a great way to understand what our user is going through when using our product so that we can build the best product.

Building the Design

In this stage of the design process, we begin to build out the product. One of the key steps is building out the wireframes, which is like a prototype with the bare essentials to represent the product, the information it presents, it's structure and overall direction and description of the user interface.

Other research methods include:

Site Maps

are the hierarchical diagram of a website or application, that shows how pages are prioritized, linked, and labeled. It lets us to plan for usability through a full overview, which we then simplify as a team, trimming off unnecessary pages and keeping what’s important. It’s also a great way to see if linked pages are user friendly.
User Flows

are diagrams that present the complete path of the user while using our product by laying out each and every step they take - from entry point through to the final interaction. This information helps us determine the numbers of screens needed, the order they should appear in, and the components that need to be present.
Mockups

are the static high-profile visual design drafts used to represent the structure of information, visualizing the content and demonstrating the basic functionalities in a static way. They are different from wireframes in that they provide visual details, such as colors and typography. Mockups help give viewers a realistic impression of a finalized product.

Icons

are an essential part of the UI, visually expressing objects, actions and ideas. Their core purpose is to guide users where they need to go. They communicate the idea and intent of a product or action while also providing benefits such as saving screen real estate and enhancing the aesthetic appeal.
Colors

as a building block of visual language, color highlights, guides attention and unifies elements all while reinforcing functional and aesthetic qualities of the product. While colors are a versatile tool in conveying differing types of information, in UX design it is primarily a consistent system across platforms.
Sketches

assist in the design process by allowing us to think more openly and creatively about our ideas. Through sketches we can invent and explore concepts while recording our ideas quickly. We can then discuss, critique, and share our ideas with others to decide on the ones worth pursuing and archiving them for reflection.

Launch

Once our product is launched, we want to make sure it's delivered perfectly. We do this through the following steps:

User Testing

is similar to usability testing, and involves observing the target audience using the actual product or service. User testing helps us identify problems and find opportunities to improve.
Beta Launch

is a limited release of the product to a small group of people with the goal of uncovering issues and cleaning them up before we launch our product into the world.
Internal Testing

is when our team uses the product and tests out each facet of it. The results may differ from user testing but it can lead to very innovative idea sessions.

Analyzing the Product

The last phase in the design process is to reanalyze everything once the product is launched. Questions to answer include:

• Where did we go right in the process, and why?

• What struggles did we encounter, and why?

• What are the users response to the product?

• Did we create a product that solves our users pain points and challenges?

Thank you for visiting my portfolio

In our fast-paced world of innovation, it's urgent we innovate rapidly to keep up with demand and to stay ahead of the competition.

Due to NDA disclosures, I'm limited on the amount of work I can share, but would be happy to discuss my experiences and results in detail.

You can view more work from my portfolio on Behance or upon request. I am also happy to schedule a call and share my screen to review my full portfolio of work.

Listen to the great innovator Steve Jobs talk about the importance of starting your product design with the customer experience upon his return to Apple.

Watch video

Steve Jobs on Customer Experience (2:50)

Hi, I'm Arez

Design Approach

Identifying the User

Researching the User

Analyzing the Data

User Personas

Card Sorting

User Journey Mapping

Building the Design

Site Maps

User Flows

Mockups

Icons

Colors

Sketches

Launch

User Testing

Beta Launch

Internal Testing

Analyzing the Product

Thank you for visiting my portfolio

Listen to the great innovator Steve Jobs talk about the importance of starting your product design with the customer experience upon his return to Apple.