Product design that grows the business.
I’ve worked on both sides, so I bring marketing and product teams to the same table. Today I lead experience design for customer acquisition across Consumer and Business Banking at Wells Fargo.
See selected work →About
From the campaign to the open account.
At Wells Fargo, my team designs every surface where someone finds and opens an account: the mobile app, online banking and wellsfargo.com. Before that, I led design teams of up to 80 people at Organic, SMITH and R/GA.
Proof
70%Faster account funding. I led the design of an automated funding flow for new accounts.
Gold Stevie®For LifeSync, the bank’s financial planning platform. I led its experience design.
+7%Higher conversion. I brought Product, Engineering, Risk, Legal and Compliance together to fix where customers dropped out of account opening.
Timeline
Account opening →I lead product design for digital account opening, part of customer acquisition across Consumer and Business Banking.
Credit Close-Up →My team designed a free FICO® Score and credit report that now appears across the app.
LifeSync →Led experience design for the bank’s financial planning platform.
Experimentation →A/B testing is now part of how we design.
Debt-to-income →My team made debt-to-income easy to read, with each customer’s numbers already filled in.
Designing how millions of people open a Wells Fargo account.
Wells Fargo
Executive Director, Experience Design
2021–present
Account opening →I lead product design for digital account opening, part of customer acquisition across Consumer and Business Banking.Credit Close-Up →My team designed a free FICO® Score and credit report that now appears across the app.LifeSync →Led experience design for the bank’s financial planning platform.Experimentation →A/B testing is now part of how we design.Debt-to-income →My team made debt-to-income easy to read, with each customer’s numbers already filled in.Before Wells Fargo
Brand to product, agency to in-house.
Shewmaker Consulting
Principal Consultant
2015–present
Consulting keeps me close to new problems and new ways of working.
Wells FargoCarried the service concepts I started at Organic into experience concepts for the Emerging Affluent segment. That strategy became LifeSync once the bank hired me.
LifelinesShaped the product vision and experience for a digital wellness startup, working directly with Melissa & Doug founders Melissa and Doug Bernstein.
West MarineLed customer research and field studies as a player-coach, shaping the experience strategy for a new digital services platform with senior leadership.
WeatherBugLed the redesign of the iOS and Android apps, hands-on with the developers and product managers, and helped build the in-house design team.
Organic
Executive Creative Director, UX
2015–2020
Ran campaigns and designed products for the same bank.
Wells FargoDelivered the bank’s nationwide digital campaigns, while my teams designed products like Daily Change and turned IDEO’s strategy into new service concepts.
American Family InsuranceEmbedded with AmFam’s in-house teams, my teams designed for its site and app, including a redesigned My Account sign-up.
TeamsLed experience design across San Francisco and Detroit, with 20 direct reports.
AIHelped create Synthetic, the agency’s division for AI-driven work, and taught clients how to use AI for their customers.
SMITH
Chief Experience Officer
2012–2015
Built the agency’s design practice and helped run the business.
LeadershipSat on the executive team, helping grow the business, evaluate acquisitions and present to investors.
PracticeGrew experience design to about 30 designers, researchers, strategists and interface engineers across four offices.
ClientsLed strategy work for Microsoft, Honeywell and Tejuri in the UAE, working directly with CEOs.
R/GA
Executive Creative Director, UX
2003–2012
Built things people use, for brands like Verizon and Microsoft.
VerizonLed customer acquisition experiences for Verizon Wireless and FiOS, the agency’s largest client at the time.
Microsoft SurfaceLed the global launch, working directly with Microsoft’s executive team.
LeadershipActing head of the 80-person global interaction design department, then Co-Executive Creative Director of R/GA San Francisco.
Walmart eCommerceOn loan as in-house Executive Creative Director, 2009–2010, leading creative from inside the business.
Photography
Recognition
Gold Stevie Award, 2024 · New Product of the Year, Financial Technology, for LifeSync
Chair, Creative Judging Committee, American Business Awards, 2014
Judge, American Business Awards, 2016–2019
Judge, Creativepool Annual Creative Awards, 2020
Case studies are password protected. Email me for access →