John:
[jän] – noun
1. UX Strategist
2. a toilet
2
I’m a UX strategist specializing in native mobile apps.
“Cool, John. Tell me more.”
Well, it started with prairie voles. With over 4 years background in neuroscience research, I began my career studying small voles of North America and their peculiar monogamous bonding behavior. During these years, I learned the tenets of product design: developing hypotheses then testing those assumptions.
After deciding academia wasn’t for me, I moved into the business field. I started out in a marketing role at a startup, and became captivated by the ways technology can reach people on a mass scale.
I was hooked. So I left the company to try my own hand at doing a startup. Unfortunately, the team got stuck. We needed product design and I couldn’t afford expensive designers.
So I decided to learn UX myself. I signed up for UX classes at UCLA Ext. and put myself on craigslist to take on projects. Thinking that “learning by doing” was the best education, I worked hard for my first clients. I fell in love with product and have not stopped designing since those craigslist days.
Since 2015, I have worked in product for companies across the globe, including in the Philippines, UAE, Colombia and the US. I have across diverse industries, G2C, B2C, B2B, two-sided marketplaces, on-demand services, and more.
Portfolio
Trainador – For Personal Trainers
Founder | 2020 | View in App Store
App for fitness trainers to create fitness plans & send them to their clients.
dubizzle – Classifieds ads
Product Manager | 2018
dubizzle is a a platform similar to Craiglist. In this case study, I show how the category tree was built for the used goods vertical.
Swap – Barter economy
Personal Project | 2015
Swap is a marketplace where users can trade services. This case study examines h the disincentives for a marketplace like this, and how to overcome them