Southbank Institute of Technology

CATC Design School

Queensland University of Technology

Griffith University

Mobile app design at IAG

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

IAG is the largest general insurer in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. IAG's purpose is to make your world a safer place. Currently I help support IAG's purpose by improving our mobile apps - helping everyday people navigate the complex world of insurance and asset related incidents.

I work on the NRMA Insurance app to support our Australian customers, and on the AMI and State apps for our Kiwi friends.

UX Designer

Linktree is one of the world's fastest growing startups and the most used "link in bio" tool in the world. It's used to help connect followers to the right content at the right time, across an entire online world.

At Linktree, I worked within several cross-functional teams. One in payments and integrations, a second on data analytics and a third mini team focused on subscription retention. I also researched and established a suite of user research tooling to support human-centred practices at Linktree.

Linktree

Senior Product Designer

As a product designer at MYOB, I contributed to a variety of our small business platforms, including a mobile app, web app and desktop app.

I helped:
- Small businesses pay their suppliers and employees using MYOB's new payments service.
-  Users onboard to the new web platform. Shifting focus between converting trial users, to migrating users from a legacy platform, there were a lot of very complicated, interesting user scenarios.
-  Small businesses record and track their expenses, via a mobile app and desktop or web (depending on their subscription). I saw many releases and iterations through, from research, to hands-on design, to delivery.

I worked as product designer working as a core contributor within a delivery team. This team included a PM, devs, writer, BA and QA.

As a designer I was also part of the wider design team, consisting of ~35 product designers, visual designers, UX writers and design managers.

Achievements include:
-  Company team award - recognising highly collaborative and innovative teams
-  Hackathon team award - the MYOB Values trophy, for creating an app to help employees and clients
-  A 55% increase in unique active users of our team's services, and a 68% increase in usage in 2018
-  Developing user feedback as the norm, and increasing the user feedback cycle within my team

Typical activities include:
-  Research planning, participant recruitment and scheduling
- User interviews and usability tests with business operators and staff, bookkeepers, and accountants
- Prototype development and testing
-  Internal workshops with designers, developers and other supporting roles or stakeholders
-  Design critiques and dev discussions to get feedback on ideas and concepts
-  Working closely with the dev team to get work delivered efficiently

MYOB

Product Designer (UX)

Teaching assistant for the 10 week part-time UX course, and teaching lead for a one day UX bootcamp.

Course content focused on developing skills in problem identification, product vision and solution development by applying learned techniques in research, ideation, user feedback and iteration.

Academy Xi

UX Class Mentor

Championing our customers every moment of every day.

What I did:
-  Identified problems, needs and opportunities to improve the experience at all stages of the customer journey
-  Worked closely with customer support to understand user frustrations and requests
-  Assisted in strategic product decisions
-  Designed wireframes for critique, testing and iteration
-  Prioritised tasks with the engineering team to execute development work efficiently
-  Researched into opportunity areas to understand mental models and current methods people use to achieve goals and needs
-  Recruited, scheduled, planned and ran concept and usability testing, both remote and in person

TidyHQ

User Experience Designer

Freelance designer for small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and startups (ideation and early stage).

Scope of services:
-  User Experience - User research, analysis, wireframing, prototyping, concept testing
-  Website creation - WordPress
-  Branding - Logo, signage, print, social media
-  Menu Design - In store signage, dine in menu, takeaway menu
-  Technical setup - email, website hosting, payment gateways
-  Photography and image optimisation

Web Design Bar

Designer - UX, print, digital, web

I redesigned the business' e-commerce website to better suit customer needs and the business.

Iterating on the existing site, I improved the purchasing and enquiry flows, and rolled out an improved experience across the e-commerce site.

This also included developing a new brand identity, which maintained association with the sister business, Swallow Fashion.

Throughout this project I worked with the business owner, their business advisor, their staff and suppliers.

Swallow Formal

Digital and Web / UX Designer

As a volunteer intern, I edited digital assets, organised layouts for print, and completed small print runs.

Mylestones Printing is a commercial arm of Cerebral Palsy League that exists to provide employment opportunities to adults with cerebral palsy.

Mylestones Printing - A business initiative of CPL

Print and Design Intern

I started as a Personal Carer while studying I.T. in 2010. Being a carer was very rewarding and I gained deep insight into what life is like for people with vastly different physical needs. From carparks, to accessing buildings, to cutting potatoes in a new way, being a good carer is all about having an open mind, a positive attitude and empathy. Through observation, asking the right questions and listening, it becomes fascinating to understand someone else's world.

I was part of a team responsible for supporting a client who required round-the-clock physical care. Every day my focus was to provide assistance on their terms so they could live as independently and personally fulfilled as possible.

Southern Cross Community Healthcare

Personal Carer - Disability care

I learned the highs and lows of small business, what it takes to run a successful business, and how to provide great service to clients.

My parents started this business when I was a little kid in grade 2, continuing to own and run the business for most of my life. The business got bigger as I grew up, from a small shop in a shopping centre, to an upgraded store and then a standalone warehouse holding many pallets and shelves of stock.

I gained deep business understanding from working closely with the owners (my parents), doing everything across the business to do my job and also fill in the gaps. Some activities were straightforward, others stretched my comfort zones, such as being a sales rep, and being a delivery driver. I was happy to do whatever was needed to help the business and our customers.

Clients ranged from retail consumers to local businesses, schools and government departments. There were many challenges, and the diversity of clients and jobs meant I never got bored and things could always be improved.

In addition to working in the store and visiting client offices, I participated in many industry events held by head office and our suppliers. I also attended the AGMs for many years, meeting and catching up with suppliers and fellow business staff and owners across Australia and New Zealand. I was so engaged, at many stages I wondered when I might take over this business.

Activities included:
-  Technical support for staff and customers
-  Receiving goods
-  Employee training
-  Order fulfilment
-  Retail display
-  Stock control
-  Designing ads for local magazines
-  B2B account sales
-  B2C retail sales

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Office National is an international buying group for the office products industry. I worked in one of the local independent stores, The Office Suppliers, based in Queensland.

Office National

Retail & B2B Sales + Jill of all trades

Within a local team in India, I helped conduct qualitative and quantitative research and reported on our findings. The research was on sustainable agriculture and environmental protection, within the state of Madhya Pradesh.

A biologist and I surveyed villages, interviewing local people and observing flora and fauna. We analysed the data and presented early findings to managers back at head office. Following this, with assistance from the geospatial data analyst, I completed further data analysis and prepared a detailed written report with all research findings and recommendations.

I was later updated that the organisation took actions on the research, using it to inform their work in the region where the study was conducted.

During this time, I lived and worked in rural India, and conducted this field research during the hottest time of year. It was certainly a character building time. There was not much in the way of everyday comforts, except for mango icecreams (delicious). I met lots of generous, kind people who helped me in many ways, and left with an incredibly rewarding, unique life experience.

Foundation For Ecological Security(FES)

Field Research Intern

The focus of my role was to market and recruit international internships to students at Griffith University, and facilitate personal development opportunities for my team.

What I did:
-  Led a team of 6, to facilitate students to take on international internships
-  Ran recruitment campaigns on campus
-  Liaised with Griffith Business School and co-organised events
-  Participated in personal development conferences

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AIESEC is a global student run volunteer organisation, facilitating personal and professional development opportunities for university students locally and internationally.

Melissa Orr

Melissa Orr