I was the first designer hired into Club Labs. Brought in at the ground floor of this AAA financed agency, I worked with the Design Manager and had a strong voice in the way it was to be set up. Including new hires, workflows, applications, and even creating the logo. By the time I left, Club Labs grew into a small agency with 4 UI/UX designers, 3 UX researchers, 2 permanent project managers (with a few rotating from the main office in Costa Mesa), and 4 dedicated front end engineers.
My Role
My responsibilities included: Creating wire wireframes for both the mobile app and the updated website, prototypes, high fidelity mocks, testing, handoff, and helped in the creation of design system. Also, was instrumental in the branding of Club Labs.
AAA Website Redesign
One of the biggest projects we got was to look at redesigning the AAA website (ACSC). We started with creating multiple versions of the home page, until we found one that we thought struck true to our vision of AAA. From there we started creating design systems, updating features, and working through pain points in the UX of the current product.
Startup Life
Club Labs was so new we did not have whiteboards to work on. We ended up using large sketch pads to share ideas and work through solutions…
Eventually, budget was approved to start building out our office and team. Whiteboards, larger monitors, and a couple UX researchers were added to the team. When I started there, I was one of 4 people. By the time I left, Clublabs grew to 11 people.
AAA Mobile App
We designed the AAA mobile app in tandem with the website, as decisions on the UX of the website would directly effect the app. Our goal was to make the app feel like an extension of the website, and users should feel right at home using it. We worked with engineers from Pivotal Labs in Santa Monica to create the iOS app. I was the lead designer on the mobile app.
Site Maps and Wires
The sitemaps and wireframes we created in Omnigraffle, and were iterated on until we came up with solutions that were ready for a clickable prototype. If the clickable prototype got approval from stakeholders, we moved into design.
Design
AAA tasked us with giving the app a sleek, modern look. This allowed us to try many different looks for the app. We aimed to have bi-weekly design reviews, but if we could not find time for everyone to meet, we hung our artwork up on the office walls for feedback. Anyone could walk by and look at the wall, and it would be an opportune time to talk with people about ideas, and solutions and workarounds if needed.
