Stepheni Mendez

Product Design Leader

Here's how I became a user-obsessed designer:

I learned about human experiences

Even before finally beginning my design career over a decade ago, I was steeped in the world of customer experiences. 

As an optical sales associate during college and an Enterprise Rent-A-Car management trainee right after college (I had to get scrappy to pay the bills), I watched, listened, and empathized with customers every day.

Whether it was a pair of bifocal glasses that was giving a grandparent severe nausea or a busy sales rep who needed the right size rental car to get to business meetings while their vehicle was in the shop; I excelled in listening, observing, and then acting to create a solution to the problem.

I began to focus on user-centered design

User experience seemed a natural focus once my design career was underway. I became obsessed with how my designs might affect the people using them.

Throughout the last decade, I have studied, learned, grown, tried, failed, tried again, and finally succeeded, many times as I have become a holistic, human-focused experience designer.

My Education

Undergraduate

With an undergraduate degree in Graphic Design from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, I have a strong base in design.

Graduate Course Work

I later spent three years doing master's level coursework in counseling psychology through Colorado Christian University. That education has not only honed my communication and listening skills — the study of human minds has also strengthened my ability to lead teams to find unique solutions to user needs.

Key Tools and Skills

Adobe Creative Suite

Sketch

Zeplin

Figma

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills

  • Collaboration

  • Mentorship

  • Community Building

  • User Advocacy

  • ERG Leadership and Facilitation

  • Product Design

  • User Interface Design

  • User Research

  • Prototyping

  • Product Strategy

  • Design Thinking

  • Workshop Facilitation

Thank you to the following photographers for sharing their amazing work on Unslpash:

Sahand Hoseini, Daniel Frank, Susan Wilkinson, XPS