Mary Watkins
Design

Fresh UX
AI Enabled
Human Centered

A futuristic robot in an educational setting. AI image by Copilot.

A futuristic robot in an educational setting. AI image by Copilot.

About Me

I'm a UX Manager that’s spent the last 20+ years working in higher education. I build design teams, lead research, and create design systems for complex enterprise organizations.

I’m motivated by using the power of human-centered design for the common good. I enjoy making the complex simple, and the boring delightful.

I’m in the Los Angeles area, and open to UX Manager, UX Designer, freelance web design roles, and creative possibilities.

Case Studies

Case Studies
Dealing with complexity: the Opus Project
Strategy, Stakeholder Alignment
Dealing with complexity: the Opus Project
Strategy, Stakeholder Alignment

Scoping, strategy, and stakeholder alignment on a system that grew bigger than anyone expected

Strategy, Stakeholder Alignment
Building an identity system for a university-wide WordPress rollout
Identity System, branding
Building an identity system for a university-wide WordPress rollout
Identity System, branding

How do you create components that serve dozens of departments, without making everyone feel like they're wearing the same outfit?

Identity System, branding
Using AI to interpret user research
AI, User Research
Using AI to interpret user research
AI, User Research

What happens when we handed a pile of user research to AI, and what we still had to figure out ourselves.

AI, User Research
What's the best way to get someone to fill out a form?
App Design, Forms, Interaction Design
What's the best way to get someone to fill out a form?
App Design, Forms, Interaction Design

When they don’t realize it of course.

App Design, Forms, Interaction Design
Using Illustration as Points of Delight 
Interaction Design, Illustration
Using Illustration as Points of Delight 
Interaction Design, Illustration

Unexpected happiness in the Opus application.

Interaction Design, Illustration
Using storytelling and comics to persuade
Using storytelling and comics to persuade

In a sea of Word Docs, be a comic strip.

DX Land: The Game of Digital Transformation or Stagnation
Storytelling, Digital Transformation, Board Games
DX Land: The Game of Digital Transformation or Stagnation
Storytelling, Digital Transformation, Board Games

Standard formats couldn't capture how random digital transformation can be.

Storytelling, Digital Transformation, Board Games

Writing

Writing
Buddhism and the Design Critique
Buddhism and the Design Critique

Why designers have to be egoless, and how I learned to do it most of the time.

UX Trends in Higher Education
UX Trends in Higher Education

AI, personalization, customization and more…

The power of prototypes
The power of prototypes

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a prototype worth?