Work
I make digital experiences easier to use.
If your product experiences aren’t clear and easy to use, you’re probably losing people. Put their needs first, and leave them curious, enlightened, and ready to take the next step.
My Approach
What d0 we need to solve?
I’ll start by taking a look at the business case and asking questions to make sure stakeholders are aligned. Next, I’ll look at your competitors to understand what they’re doing well, and how you can stand out. Then, I’ll audit the usability, design, and content of the existing experience to identify improvements.
Who are we trying to reach?
It’s easy to get so focused on project goals that we forget to consider how it will benefit our audience. Looking at the product from the user’s perspective helps us identify solutions that will be most effective. I’ll take a look at demographics and psychographics to uncover potential customer problems, desires, behaviors, and attitudes.
How do we get there?
Once the business opportunity and user needs are identified, it’s time to establish a course of action. I help you create a strategic vision and tactics that will both solve the customer problems and meet the business needs.
What does it look like?
With a strategy in place, the design process can begin. The first step is to outline user journeys and content flows. Next, we’ll create wireframes that show how the experience could look and function. The wireframes serve as a working draft, allowing us to focus on the structure first, iterate quickly, and identify development risks early.
Is it ready to launch?
It’s hard to evaluate how useful and desirable a product is without trying it out on real people. I facilitate testing to see how users respond to prototypes, and use the findings to make informed refinements. I partner with creative, technical, and business teams throughout the process, and our deliverables are useful and usable for the people we hand off to.
Services
From discovery, to planning, to polishing, let’s make your user experience click.
Strategy
Vision Refinement
Workshop Facilitation
User Research
Personas
User Experience
User Testing
Experience Maps
Wireframes
Prototypes
Documentation
UI Libraries
Style Guides
Content Inventory & Tracking
Interactive Specs
“The way Laura engages both business and technical leaders, and takes them on a deliberate march, is fascinating. She's very gifted.”
Mike DeBock, Executive Director, NextEra Energy
“Laura Horan is curious, engaged, driven and accountable. Her strength, clarity of thought, integrity, and communication allowed us to hit important deadlines with great work.”
Mark Holterhaus, Director of Experience, Slalom
“Laura is a calm hand on the wheel. She strikes a Goldilocks balance between questions and facilitation.”
Rich Argentieri, President, NextEra Analytics
Case Studies
Client
DataGrail
My Role
Experience Strategy Lead
My Deliverables
Website Strategy
UX Oversight
UI Design & Copy Oversight
Year
2024
Protecting the human right to privacy.
DataGrail helps companies navigate data privacy concerns by automating tasks to minimizing risk, and strengthening customer trust. They were ready to build a brand that stood out from its competitors in the data privacy industry. They wanted a brand that captured its strong culture and thought leadership, while delivering dynamic storytelling.
For their new website, we distilled the UI and layout to use text as a focal storytelling device. We infused delightful impact by echoing product experience throughout. We designed warm, focused details to intentionally highlight and elevate details. Finally, we delivered dynamic storytelling by leading with humanity, warmth, and empathy.
DataGrail website before this project:
Client
Intelerad
My Role
Experience Strategy Lead
My Deliverables
Website Strategy
UX Oversight
UI Design & Copy Oversight
Year
2024
Spotlighting answers in radiology.
Intelrad is a medical imaging company that provides software and services to healthcare organizations. They had grown through several acquisitions and wanted to expand from radiology groups to hospitals and health systems. They wanted to establish a new brand that stood out in the crowded medical imaging space. During our discovery process, we learned that one of the most impactful ways that Intelerad changed people’s lives was by simplifying the path to answers. By lowering the time people spend in the dark awaiting critical medical guidance, Intelerad becomes a calming, directional presence. This sense of calm and emotional focus on answers then guided the entire brand identity and website experience.
Intelerad website before this project:
Client
Twin Cities in Motion
My Role
Experience Strategy Lead
My Deliverables
Website Strategy
UX Oversight
UI Design & Copy Oversight
Year
2024
Inspiring a community to move for more.
TCM, a running events organization that puts on the Twin Cities Marathon and a handful of other events, wanted to modernize their brand in a way that would inspire all types of people to be inspired by movement. They coordinate a number of events, programs, and volunteer opportunities so their website needed an upgrade that was easier to navigate.