JACEE BROWN
UX Leader, Designer, and Evangelist
Hi there!
I'm Jacee, and I'm a designer. I specialize in platform and enterprise-level UX, with an affection for messy design problems.
A little about my design philosophy: I believe design should forever be borne from compassion and true understanding of the people we design for. I think designers have an obligation to do the right thing, and consider unforeseen consequences. Design is fundamentally about helping people thrive: helping them clear obstacles, see and seize opportunity – both within themselves and their environments.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
All true, great capital-D Design is grounded in UX practices, and always has been, even before "UX" had a name.
User Experience practices -- designing with and for the user, considering the full end-to-end experience they have with a thing or product, and solving their problems with focus, compassion and intention -- is what makes design powerful. These practices have existed and evolved for a long time, and I'm fortunate to have grown up alongside the maturation of UX as a formal practice.
As such, I've had many titles and roles over the years: user experience designer, chief design officer, director of interactive communications. No matter my title, my entire career has been chiefly about creating experiences that focus on empathy and solve problems–not just for the user–but for the companies for which I build those experiences.
I believe in considerate design – design with intention. The intention–and how you execute on that intention–is vital to any successful user experience design. What are you trying to do? What are your users trying to do? How do you meet them where they are and help them thrive?
I've built end-to-end, multichannel user experiences, large scale mega-sites and applications for software companies, government and higher education, and small sites for local businesses and nonprofits. I've designed software applications and ecommerce sites. Ultimately, the number of experiences I've created is irrelevant, though. Does the design serve it's purpose? Is it simple enough without sacrificing function? Does it feel right to the user?
Going beyond run-of-the-mill design work and investigating how people actually use that work is what kept me in college for an extra year (pursuing a second degree, in sociology). I was fascinated with order and change - the basis for sociological study - and I still am.
Design stands at the intersection of art and function, creating order and inciting change, and I am fortunate enough to have been able to make a 20-year career out of creating this order and change.
I'm also fortunate to have landed in Charleston with my wonderful husband, Chris, and our three boys, Felix, Truman, and Maxwell. After vacationing in the Lowcountry and falling in love with the area, we made the jump from New Orleans and have never been happier.