BrandExtract
UX Advocacy and Building a Department at a Branding Agency.
Internal cross-department initiative to build the UX department, train project managers, and break down silos within the agency.
Timeline:
Timeline:
10 weeks to create training materials and conduct sessions, semi-annual sessions.
10 weeks to create training materials and conduct sessions, semi-annual sessions.
Team:
Team:
Agency-wide, including involvement from senior leadership.
Agency-wide, including involvement from senior leadership.
Results:
Results:
Shift in agency culture, PMs & AMs were able to manage digital projects going forward.
Shift in agency culture, PMs & AMs were able to manage digital projects going forward.
Situation
Situation
Situation
BrandExtract is a full-service branding agency that helps companies build, launch, and manage brand experiences through a blend of strategy, design, digital, and culture-building services.
Upon joining BE, the CEO tasked me with breaking down entrenched silos and redefine how departments collaborated on digital projects.
My goal wasn't to own every digital touchpoint, but to align strategy with UX and CX within the broader brand ecosystem.
My leadership role in this initiative:
BrandExtract is a full-service branding agency that helps companies build, launch, and manage brand experiences through a blend of strategy, design, digital, and culture-building services.
Upon joining BE, the CEO tasked me with breaking down entrenched silos and redefine how departments collaborated on digital projects.
My goal wasn't to own every digital touchpoint, but to align strategy with UX and CX within the broader brand ecosystem.
My leadership role in this initiative:
Workstrings is a global supplier of downhole drilling equipment and engineering solutions that help oil and gas operators drill safely and responsibly. Their customers had a critical need to quickly access and share technical product data with their teams without leaving their worksite.
Building a dedicated app would allow them to search through and share 400+ spec sheets in the field, unlike the mobile site, which serves broader audiences like Procurement and Job Seekers.
My leadership role in this project:
BrandExtract is a full-service branding agency that helps companies build, launch, and manage brand experiences through a blend of strategy, design, digital, and culture-building services.
Upon joining BE, the CEO tasked me with breaking down entrenched silos and redefine how departments collaborated on digital projects.
My goal wasn't to own every digital touchpoint, but to align strategy with UX and CX within the broader brand ecosystem.
My leadership role in this initiative:
"Keeper of the Process"
Instructional Design
Training facilitation
Organizational strategy
Building a Department
Building a Department
Building a Department
I transformed how BE delivered digital work, which led to more efficient collaboration, better project outcomes, and a stronger foundation for growth.
Rebranding from "Web" to "UX"
The existing team was siloed into just web projects. Within a branding agency, our group needed to provide thoughtful user experiences that contributed toward positive brand experiences.
My first initiative was to document the existing legacy waterfall-style process.
From there, I hired experienced project managers who could move us toward Agile and Kanban processes as well as content and research experts.
Friction needed to be met head-on. This meant having candid conversations with the heads of other departments about where previous projects went astray.
Last, workflows were streamlined and ownership was clarified, resulting in more reliable delivery timelines and improved budgets.
I transformed how BE delivered digital work, which led to more efficient collaboration, better project outcomes, and a stronger foundation for growth.
Rebranding from "Web" to "UX"
The existing team was siloed into just web projects. Within a branding agency, our group needed to provide thoughtful user experiences that contributed toward positive brand experiences.
My first initiative was to document the existing legacy waterfall-style process.
From there, I hired experienced project managers who could move us toward Agile and Kanban processes as well as content and research experts.
Friction needed to be met head-on. This meant having candid conversations with the heads of other departments about where previous projects went astray.
Last, workflows were streamlined and ownership was clarified, resulting in more reliable delivery timelines and improved budgets.
I transformed how BE delivered digital work, which led to more efficient collaboration, better project outcomes, and a stronger foundation for growth.
Rebranding from "Web" to "UX"
The existing team was siloed into just web projects. Within a branding agency, our group needed to provide thoughtful user experiences that contributed toward positive brand experiences.
My first initiative was to document the existing legacy waterfall-style process.
From there, I hired experienced project managers who could move us toward Agile and Kanban processes as well as content and research experts.
Friction needed to be met head-on. This meant having candid conversations with the heads of other departments about where previous projects went astray.
Last, workflows were streamlined and ownership was clarified, resulting in more reliable delivery timelines and improved budgets.
UX Advocacy in Action
UX Advocacy in Action
I positioned UX as a strategic function within the agency by consistently linking UX & CX, ultimately to brand experiences (BX), reinforcing its value in holistic brand building.
I positioned UX as a strategic function within the agency by consistently linking UX & CX, ultimately to brand experiences (BX), reinforcing its value in holistic brand building.
I positioned UX as a strategic function within the agency by consistently linking UX & CX, ultimately to brand experiences (BX), reinforcing its value in holistic brand building.
I led a long-running UX Minute series during weekly all-staff meetings, delivering over 100 micro-lessons on core UX principles
Each UX Minute closed with the tagline “Know your audience” and “Design with empathy.”
I facilitated cross-disciplinary Lunch & Learns focused on UI & UX trends, interactivity, and functionality.
I would like to have tested with Operations Engineers on-site in real-world conditions prior to launch.
I treated UX advocacy as an internal PR campaign to educate and shift perception with internal teams as well as clients.
I would like to have tested with Operations Engineers on-site in real-world conditions prior to launch.
UX Minute on contrast ratios
UX Minute on contrast ratios
UX Minute on contrast ratios
UX Minute on Contrast Ratios
UX Minute on Jobs to be Done
UX Minute on Jobs to be Done
UX Minute on Jobs to be Done
UX Minute on Jobs to be Done
UX Minute on Minimum Viable Experiences
UX Minute on Minimum Viable Experiences
UX Minute on Minimum Viable Experiences
UX Minute on MVPs vs MVEs
UX Minute on affordances
UX Minute on affordances
UX Minute on affordances
UX Minute on Affordances
Cultivating New Ideas
Cultivating New Ideas
Cultivating New Ideas
I approached this evolution as a UX challenge – getting to know the pain points and motivators of our employees, stakeholders, and clients. Pain points became process updates.
I approached this evolution as a UX challenge – getting to know the pain points and motivators of our employees, stakeholders, and clients. Pain points became process updates.
The Workstrings app launched on the Apple and Google Play stores in May and June 2025, alongside their new website that shared functionality.
I approached this evolution as a UX challenge – getting to know the pain points and motivators of our employees, stakeholders, and clients. Pain points became process updates.
I facilitated a BE Book Club – attended by multiple partners – to overcome the org chart and encourage a level playing field for the exchange of ideas between employees and leaders.
I designed and facilitated postmortems for all major digital projects – adjusting the format each time to encourage different answers to the “same old questions”.
Post-mortems included candid conversations with clients about wins and areas of improvement for each project.
I would like to have tested with Operations Engineers on-site in real-world conditions prior to launch.