About

Hi, I’m Lara

Hey there! My name is Lara. Thanks for taking a look at my work!

I am a designer that specializes in creating user-centered designs for companies big and small. With my expertise in UX/UI, graphic design, and animation, I love combining my visual design skills with critical thinking to bring unique and captivating designs to life.

My passion for putting the user first and my dedication to design thinking have helped me work on a variety of exciting projects. These experiences have allowed me to develop a deep understanding of what makes a design stand out and connect with different audiences.

My design work has been recognized through various awards and accolades. I was honored as being named a Featured Artist at Google’s Women Techmakers Afterhours event at the Grace Hopper Conference in 2019 and 2018. I was also awarded as a Featured Artist in 2019 at Google’s International Women’s Day celebration.

When I'm not diving headfirst into a new design project, you'll find me exploring the great outdoors with my sidekick Maya. I love hiking, backpacking, snowboarding, and staying active. Thanks for taking the time to learn a little more about me!


Experience

Graphic UX Designer, Zenfolio, Inc.
July 2020 - Present

  • Lead designer creating user journeys, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs and UX solutions for more intuitive environments on both mobile and web.

  • Research user needs, combine business objectives, and utilize design thinking to deliver new concepts to key stakeholders.

  • Strategize, design, and facilitate testing to validate that proposed solutions enhance the user experience.

  • Collaborate cross-functionally with product, marketing, and engineering teams to deliver the best experience to users.

  • Design and lead the creation of marketing campaigns and collateral across various media and social platforms.

  • Built and continually manage design systems through a company-wide rebrand.

Creative Specialist, Google
April 2018 - July 2020

  • Lead designer producing graphic animations, video content, and digital assets for live streams viewed by tens of thousands of people internationally.

  • Designed digital and print materials for major industry conferences.

  • Created digital content for Google’s coding competitions helping increase audience engagement by +273%.

  • Built and maintained workflow processes to successfully, effectively, and efficiently manage and track design projects from end to end.

Marketing Designer, Open Studio Productions
June 2015 - January 2020

  • Conceptualized, designed, and executed a variety of campaigns to increase user engagement.

  • Developed and implemented all outreach and social media marketing strategies and campaigns, quadrupling audience interactions.

  • Designed, developed, and maintained two film websites and blogs using HTML and CSS.

  • Strategically executed design enhancements to various web elements using user feedback and testing.

Skills

Design
Interaction
Web & Mobile
Product
Graphic
Video & Animation

Tools
Figma
Sketch
Adobe Suite
Zeplin
Invision
Jira
Confluence

UX Methods
User Research
Interviews & Surveys
Affinity Mapping
Concept Sketching
Storyboarding
User Flows
Journey Mapping
Persona & Scenario Building
Heuristic Evaluation
Interface Prototyping
Wireframing
Usability Testing
A/B Testing

Languages
HTML/CSS

Education

Springboard
UI/UX Design Career Track
April 2020 - September 2021

University of California, San Diego
Communications, BA
August 2010 - June 2012


Awards & Honors

Featured Artist, 2019: Google’s International Women’s Day celebration.

Featured Artist, 2019: Google’s After Hours celebration @ Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

Featured Artist, 2018: Women Techmakers Afterhours @ Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing


Contact

Want to chat about a future project or collaboration? Please fill out the contact form and I'll get back to you promptly.

[email protected]
based in San Francisco, CA