A Little Bit About Me

Why User Experience Design?

User Experience Designer is just one of my many roles. I'm a wife, mother, entreprenuer, friend, sister, and daughter, just to name a few. Ironically, the skills required to be a good designer, like empathy, curiosity, and observation, are the same skills that help me in all of my other roles. This is just one of the reasons that I'm passionate about UX design and design thinking.

The Early Years

Before I could write my name, I could draw my face. A strange feeling of deja vu swept over me when I witnessed the same thing with my daughter. I guess the love of art runs deep. In secondary school, I won awards for my free-hand sketches and portraits. My self portrait was displayed for a month in the courthouse of a small town in Northern Florida with a brilliant blue bow. Yet, I still lacked confidence and training.

Skill Building

The plan was to be an architect, when I attended the University of Notre Dame. That was until I discovered autoCad, something that could allow me to sketch and design using computers. I pivoted and changed majors. In fact, I double majored in graphic design and computer applications & programming, which led me into a successful career path working for Fortune 500 companies and nonporofits, like GE, General Dynamics, Nemours, and L3 Harris to name a few. I observed how the importance of brand identitiy, design thinking and user experience was pivotal to their success. While mastering those skills on my 9 to 5, I continued to sharpen my training through career certifications with Adobe and NN/g. I also worked in the evenings to apply those same principals to small businesses in my community as a freelancer.

What's Next?

I'm a student of my craft, and I want to continue to grow in this field. I love learning new skills. My current position has allowed me to break into the fascinating world of UX research. Plus, the skills I am learning as design needs reach into new spaces and "verses", excites me. I have noticed that I have a lot to offer my peers with the experience I've gained over the years. I think I'd like to share that information in more of a leadership role.

Picture of Me

Teresa N Lopes
Senior User Experience Designer
Jacksonville, Florida USA

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