Matthew Vazquez
Principle UX/UI Designer
8+ years passionate and results-driven User Experience (UX) & Visual designer with a rich history of transforming digital experiences for diverse users. Expertise in UX and Human-Centered Design (HCD), specializing in mobile and thin web apps. Proven track record of directing and mentoring design teams, delivering intuitive designs and optimizing functionality for enhanced user satisfaction. Leverages a strong foundation in mechanical engineering to bring a unique, analytical perspective to UX design, ensuring robust and user-friendly solutions.
Core Competencies
- Collaboration, Influencing, Coaching & Mentoring, Problem-Solving, Conflict Resolution, Simplifying Complex Topics, Presentation, Product Design
- Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud Products (Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe XD, etc.) Sketch App, Optimal Workshop, User Testing, Mockplus, Balsamiq Mockups, Material Design 3, iOS Human Interface Design, Bootstrap Framework, WordPress, Visual Studio, HTML 5, CSS 3, LESS, SASS, Agile, WCAG 2.1 AAA
- JavaScript, JQuery, Typescript, Angular, PHP, MySQL, C+, C#
Professional Experience
Fidelity Investments, Durham, NC
Senior UX Designer
2/2019 – Present
- Acted as the sole UX designer for the AlphaSearch project, the data aggregation tool used by portfolio managers, analysts, and administrative assistants to manage $5.4 trillion in assets.
- Played a key role in bringing AlphaSearch from beta to full production use, with 400+ active users per day.
- Championed 15-minute one-on-one user feedback sessions using video recordings, creating a comfortable environment that provided deeper user insights and informed design decisions for stakeholders and the development team.
- Advocated for and led the inclusion of fully functional mobile and tablet modes for the app.
- Balanced user needs and business requirements while interfacing with over 10 assertive stakeholders across 4 business units to replace and modernize a high-profile and essential business app.
- Developed an in-depth understanding of how portfolio managers and analysts operate, including the use of internal applications such as Equity Workspace and Global Investment Calendar to find novel ways to integrate those APIs into our own.
- Collaborated closely with up to 40 developers to ensure accurate interpretation of designs, troubleshooted CSS-related issues, and facilitated a seamless implementation process.
- Engaged in teaching moments with developers, fostered growth in front-end development skills among team members.
- Partnered with associates outside the UX role as an Admin to troubleshoot issues with Figma license conversions across the organization, smooth workspace integration, Teams creation, and initial tests for existing plugin adaptation.
- Created and maintained Figma asset libraries to ease location and retrieval, and to incorporate HTML and CSS within the library components to speed workflow and ease handoff with developers.
- Actively participated in professional development by volunteering and attending numerous Triangle UXPA events and participated in knowledge sharing opportunities with other UX professionals.
MV UX/UI Designs, Durham, NC
UX-UI Designer, UX Researcher
1/2016 – 2019
- Discovered customer pain points, insights and opportunities for improvement.
- Conducted opportunity workshops, heuristic evaluations, and competitive assessments.
- Planned/conducted user testing to improve products and reduce development by 33-50%.
- Generated wireframes, mockups and prototypes to streamline development and client satisfaction.
- Advocated for user needs and apply best UI/UX design principles to enhance usability while boosting WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility.
- Applied information architecture principles to effectively structure content and enable task completion.
- Developed strategies, standards and design guides for a consistent user friendly experience across multi-channel platforms.
- Developed custom, interactive and mobile first websites catered to customer specifications.
- Utilized frameworks including Bootstrap and WordPress for rapid website implementation.
- Produce and organize asset libraries to ease location and retrieval.
- Established new customer base; demonstrated essential networking skills for business development.
- Stayed on top of industry trends and expanded UX/UI knowledge through workshops and professional meetings.
TriangleUXPA, Raleigh/Durham, NC
UX, Y’all Conference Mockup and Website creation
4/2018 – 11/2018
- Emphasized clean, usable, and responsive Figma designs (mobile-desktop) that created an immersive story to draw other UX professionals to the event.
- Collaborated with team members to address stakeholder feedback on branding, copy, and content to meet conference expectations and user-friendliness.
- Modified size and color of pictures in Photoshop to reduce load times and match color palate/branding.
- Applied a foundation of JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and CSS to make the website responsive and deployed email forwarders/scripts to handle conference branded emails through the web host.
- Had 100+ attendees and received positive reviews on website satisfaction and usefulness.
Sparrow, Durham, NC
Sparrow Prototype App creation
4/2018 – 8/2018
- Created Lo-fi wireframes, user flows, high-fi mockups and design comps within Figma.
- Conducted participatory design meetings with stakeholders to collaborate on app features, achieve early approval and ensure designs meet user’s needs and business goals.
- Applied understanding of common UI patterns, Information architecture, and user-centered design principles to develop a coherent onboarding process and app functionality.
- Collaborated with team members on app rebranding, color palate, and overall design.
- Captured the onboarding process through the generation of task flows and wireframes.
- Applied the principles of Agile to quickly generate iterative designs.
- Developed more complete user interface for testing purposes.
- Crafted interactive user tests (A-B tests, Card Sorts, etc.) using Figma, Invision and Optimal Workshop. Recommend changes based on testing feedback and findings.
- Conducted guerilla testing on app mockups and interfaces.
Wake Technical Community College, Durham, NC
Plot On! Mobile App Mockup
1/2017 – 5/2017
- Developed High-fidelity mockup of mapping and plotting app for a specific business segment.
- Executed competitive analysis to identify opportunities for innovation and usability issues.
- Utilized best UX practices and user centered design principals to drive innovation and address issues with competing apps.
- Constructed personas to obtain a clear notion of usability goals and design requirements.
- Applied knowledge of type face and color pallet selection to improve ease of use.
Wake Technical Community College, Durham, NC
PDF Out Loud Mobile App Mockup
8/2016 – 12/2016
- Developed interactive, High-fidelity mockup of PDF viewer/reader for consumer market.
- Constructed personas to establish top task achievements and user goals.
- Performed competitive analysis to identify usability issues and opportunities for innovation.
- Applied user centered design and current UX practices to solve problems with existing apps.
- Implemented Material Design guidelines to provide an enhanced user experience.
Durham Technical Community College, Durham, NC
Tutor
8/2012 – 12/2015
Mechanical Engineer
- Over 15 years of experience in engineering roles related to UX including HCD, operator evaluation, ergonomics, design thinking, management, customer development and retention.
- Experience with interdisciplinary roles (electrical/mechanical) within heavy equipment, consumer products, medical devices and energy generation
- Applied knowledge of human factors and ergonomics design in the creation of cockpit controls and interfaces, adding value and ease of use for operators of Caterpillar equipment.
- Performed product design consulting on prototypes, user testing and operator evaluations.
- Conducted user research and developed consumer products ranging from inexpensive photographic lighting equipment to garden hose removal apparatus to aid the elderly and disabled.
- Presented and communicated concepts and designs to stakeholders via regular design reviews.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams as a senior-level engineer/manager within a six-sigma environment for steady process improvements.
- Collaborated with over-seas manufacturers to balance design intent and manufacturing requirements.
- Received patent on an ergonomic joystick clamp.
Additional engineering experience provided upon request.
Education & Credentials
Wake Technical Community College
AS, Web Technologies; Web Designer 2017
Certificate, Information Technology; Web Designer 2017
Certificate, Information Technology; Web Developer 2017
Certificate, Information Technology; Front End Developer 2017
Certificate, Information Technology; Advanced Web Designer 2017
Northern Illinois University
BS, Mechanical Engineering with Mathematics emphasis
McHenry County College
AS, Drafting and Pre-Engineering