Creating Amazing Hardware Products

I spent 2 years at Microsoft as a User Research Associate (through Harman Connected Services). In my role, I learned how to conduct User Studies with the Human Factors Lab including both user attributes and product interactions, and then collect, analyze and visualize said data. Human Factors is part of the Industrial Design Studio, where we help develop a variety of hardware devices! It’s been really interesting working with amazing people and learning about how to develop products that really focus on creating great experiences for people. People are all shapes and sizes, and the products we create should be great to use for all of them.

I later would return to Microsoft to help the Human Factors team with Mixed Reality studies and work with the Accessories team on keyboards, docks, mice, and other related products.

Note: Due to NDAs, privacy, and working on unreleased products, much of my work cannot be disclosed publicly. I’d be happy to talk about skills that can be applied to future projects.

Building Next Gen Hololens

Though I worked on a variety of Surface Products, from accessories to keyboards, my primary focus was on HoloLens. For these projects, I would design & conduct the study, then analyze and present the data to engineering and design teams. Some of the projects I did include:

• Visual & Vestibular Comfort

• Thermal Analysis

• Fit & Sizing of various Head Mounted Devices (Anthropometrics)

• Weight Analysis

• Software & Augmented Reality Usability

• Attention Analysis (EEGS)

My process involved working with the team to determine what the product needs were, developing a variety of prototypes, creating the study plan, recruiting relevant participants with a deep focus on ensuring historically excluded populations were consistently included, moderating the study and conducting sessions, then analyzing the data and presenting it, especially focused on identifying key issues and developing product recommendations, to design and engineering teams.

Political Tech Research

I’ve always been passionate about Politics. Since I was a kid, I watched every presidential debate and read countless articles. As a teenager, I volunteered as a door knocker for local campaigns, and in college was a Fellow with the Pramila Jayapal campaign in 2016. I joined UX with the plan to work in political technology, and after sending countless texts and phone calls to voters in 2020, I started working full time in 2021 on Political research to better understand the challenges facing our systems and how to help. I worked with Trestle Collaborative helping Power The Polls recruit more poll workers ahead of the 2022 midterms in order to improve the service design of the organization.