Aaron Taylor Email & Phone Number

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

• Lead UX strategist for WGU Ed Tech and its vision for the student and staff experiences. • Lead the team of UX Researchers. Established a research team specifically for UX and hired researchers. Work with the lead researcher to implement processes, methods, and tools to partner with product, engineering, and stakeholders. • Hired and lead the UI design team to build the new WGU design system and maintain it. • Operational leadership with how UX work is prioritized, scheduled, and where designers are best suited to be involved. Direct the coordination of requisitions for headcount, establishing employee growth paths, and acquiring the necessary tools. Identify areas of UX needs and hire talent. Cultivate a unified team with a strong culture and minimal attrition.• Organized the current meeting structure and cadence (reviews, planning, staff) to keep all designers/researchers aligned. Consistent 1:1s with my direct reports to review goals and career growth.• Awarded 2021 Manager of the Year—Ed Tech, WGU.

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

• Leader and mentor of the 14-member UX team—UX designers, UI designers, and dedicated UX researchers—whose mission is to improve the applicant, learner, and faculty experiences at WGU (the largest online university with a current enrollment of nearly 140,000 students). • Assigned by VP of Product to continue to evangelize the UX vision and champion user-centered design thinking across the organization.• Established team objectives and key results (OKRs).• Ensured all vital areas of user experience in the organization are strong and maintained: Creative, Managerial, and Operational. • Oversaw team budget.• Directed product discovery, research, and user validation.• Oversaw the work with the design system and atomic design thinking.

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

UX lead on the next generation platform, both student/staff experiences. Discovery and research, data analysis to uncover user experience opportunities. Conducted user testing and validation.

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

• Director of team of UX designers assigned to work with Family History and Church History departments, and familysearch.org. Strategic and creative leadership role. • UX lead for rootstech.org. Led team for complete redesign that included data analysis, research, personas, journey mapping, user flows, lo-fi, user testing, hi-fi/visual design, and rebrand. Director in the overall RootsTech organization with significant continuous work on the website, along with digital campaigns and events. • Leader with organization-wide Strategy & Ideation Team, along with Global Visual Design program.

Salt Lake City, Utah, Us

• Team lead of complete website redesign using UX principles of user research, personas, site map, and tone of voice. Within the year of the launch, increase of 30% more unique visitors to the site and two significant projects secured due directly the new website.• Created proposals for winning high-profile projects, such as City Creek Center, Provo City Center Temple, U of U / Primary Children's Ambulatory Care, doTERRA World Headquarters, and Thanksgiving Park.• Established a construction site marketing campaign that after its implementation, the annual gross revenue at Jacobsen Construction rose over 50% in 24 months.• Successful company rebranding effort, logo redesign, and implementation of style guide. • Additionally oversaw architectural photographers and freelancers involved with marketing projects.

Clients include: Deseret Book, BYU Magazine, Utah Valley Magazine, Epson, Towers Perrin, FinTech Tradecraft, Utah Beef Association, Deseret News, PoliticalWag.com, Ryan Nicholson Photography, and the Salt Lake Observer.

Provo, Ut, Us

• Created nationally award-winning editorial cartoons for the Opinion Page. Regularly featured in MSNBC.com's political section. • Tasks as senior designer included the designing of creative, cutting-edge feature page sections, writing headlines and decks, producing illustrations, informational graphics, and being a resource to other designers. • Produced a collection of my editorial cartoons in a book titled "Elephants, Donkeys, and Cougars...Oh My!" with release book signings at local Borders bookstores.

Salt Lake City, Ut, Us

• Concept/creation of marketing materials for publishing company and additionally 35+ retail stores throughout the US. These included store signage, billboards, brochures, direct mail pieces, magazine ads, point-of-purchase displays, and press kits. • Design lead that launched a successful monthly catalog that directly increased sales 130% the following year. • As art director, managed production artists, freelance designers, photographers, and photo shoots. • Responsible for selecting print vendors and doing press checks. Assisted in the creation of budgets for all marketing materials.• Received the company-wide Marvin J. Ashton Award for "the associate who showed exceptional effort, creativity, and excellence in the performance of their work and whose achievements made a significant contribution to the company."

Produced a daily comic strip titled 'Ph.D' (panel Monday-Saturday, color Sunday) with Creators Syndicate headquartered in Los Angeles, California.