My Work Experience
UX/UI Strategist & Creative Direction
I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a rewarding, expansive career. I’ve created some exciting and transformative projects with incredibly talented and dedicated people on my teams.
Christina Leeson
Wilmington, DE 19808
Experience
Creative Director, UX/UI Strategist
Avosette – Wilmington, DE
June 2024 – Present
Highlighted Project: Rocker Soaps – Lincoln University, PA
The Challenge
Update brand, logo, and website to achieve goals:
- Place Owner as Seasoned Professional
- Create Shopify store to sell and track Rocker Soap products
- Due to tight timeline, preferred to start with simple look/feel on Shopify and save full visual redesign for Phase 2
- Share upcoming workshop events
- Engage with wholesalers to introduce Rocker Soaps products to larger audiences
- Increase Engagement with Audience
- Phase 2: Sign Up Event Calendar, User Ratings, Higher-level Visual Redesign of Website
Contributions
Style System & Branding
- Creative Direction
- Project Management
- Logo Redesign + UX Testing
- Visual Design
- User Interface (UI) Design and Testing
- Form/eCommerce UI and Design
UX/UI Strategy
Strategically used UX tools throughout the design process including:
- Competitive Audits
- Personas
- Interviews
- Quantitative and Qualitative Data Gathering
Copy
Content strategy and creation with a focus on User Experience and Search Engine Optimization.
Assets
- Logo Redesign
- Label Redesign
- Live Shopify Website
- Mood Board
- Image Gallery
Skills: Marketing · Adobe Creative Suite · Shopify Setup · Content Strategy · Figma · User Experience (UX) · Trello · Web Design · SEO · Logo Design · Project Management · Visual Design · UI Design · UX Strategy · UX Research & Testing · Copy Writing/Editing
Creative Director, UX/UI Strategist
Avosette – Wilmington, DE
June 2022 – September 2023
Highlighted Project: ToTrade – Elkins Park, PA
The Challenge
Create brand, logo, and website to achieve goals:
- Place Owner as Seasoned Professional
- Provide Education including: live classes on zoom, office hours, blog, and newsletter
- Ability to Capture Leads for Sales
- Increase Engagement of Audience to purchase: classes, private consulting
- Phase 2: Community & User Admin
Contributions
Style System & Branding
- Creative Direction
- Project Management
- Logo treatments
- Desktop & Mobile views
- First Read treatments
- Navigation
- Blog Architecture & Design
- Form/eCommerce elements
UX/UI Strategy
Strategically used UX tools throughout the design process including:
- Competitive Audits
- Personas
- Interviews
- User Testing
Prototypes
Created prototypes demonstrating:
- Responsive Resizing of elements
- Navigation flows
- eCommerce purchase/registration flows
Copy
Content strategy and creation with a focus on User Experience and Search Engine Optimization.
Assets
- Style System
- SVGs of icons
- Hand-picked Image Gallery for present and future use
- Mood Board
- Site Map
Skills: Marketing · Adobe Creative Suite · Style System Creation · Content Strategy · Figma · User Experience (UX) · Trello · Responsive Web Design · Web Design · SEO · Logo Design · Project Management · Visual Design · UI Design · UX Strategy · UX Research & Testing · Prototyping, Copy Writing/Editing
Website & Graphic Design Coordinator
Delaware Nature Society – Hockessin, DE
September 2013 to December 2023 (10 years)
The Challenge
Ensure robust online presence and effective branding materials to fulfill mission. Report on website metrics to support grants.
Contributions
Creative Direction
Contributes creative direction toward organizations marketing materials and online presence. Creates and/or reviews assets to assure brand alignment across departments. Provides Canva templates for staff to contribute print materials and ensures brand alignment.
Staff Training & Design Reviews
Advises departments from a design and marketing perspective. Creates visual deliverables for social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Reviews submitted videos for quality and branding alignment, prepares, and publishes.
Digital Product Manager
Works with a team to achieve optimal branded user experience within WordPress and Blackbaud Altru frameworks. Creates visual design with UX optimized copy editing. Oversees programmer as needed. Ensures success across major platforms and devices. Tracks website metrics, collecting and summarizing data and trends. Optimizes content for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Creates and maintains Google Ads for Nonprofits. Chooses and creates photography and optimizes content to reflect diversity to assure visitors see themselves reflected and feel welcome.
Project Management
Proposing and oversaw the migration of Delaware Nature Society’s main website from iMIS to the more versatile WordPress platform. This saved the organization time and money and increased SEO.
Efficiency and ROI Contributions
Researches, introduces, and implements technical improvements such as WordPress, Trello, LastPass, Google Analytics and Webmaster tools, and more. Utilizes Adobe Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop), now including new AI features.
Copy Editing and Copywriting
Helps ensure highly-aware framing, grammatical correctness, brand consistency, and engaging, concise content in website and printed materials. Ensures scientifically-accurate sources.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Committee Member
Supported equity and inclusion of people of color, LGBTQ, neurodiverse, differently-abled peoples, and those of varied economic realities. Optimizes content to reflect diversity and ensure all know they are welcome.
Remote Working Experience
Worked fully remote March 2020 through late 2021 with positive reviews. Has worked hybrid remote since then.
Skills: Creative Direction · Marketing · Adobe Creative Suite · Vector Illustration · Typography · Content Strategy · User Experience (UX) · Diversity & Inclusion · Google Ads · Google Analytics · Bootstrap · Trello · Social Media Marketing · Copy Editing · WordPress Design · Email Newsletter Design · Responsive Web Design · Adobe InDesign · Adobe Photoshop · Adobe Acrobat · Microsoft PowerPoint · Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) · Video Editing · Search Engine Optimization (SEO) · Print Design · HTML · CSS · SEO · WordPress · Logo Design · Graphic Design · Illustrator · Social Media · Advertising · Proofreading · Staff Admin Training
Website Design & Development
Trellist – Wilmington, DE
April 2011 – September 2013 (2.5 years)
Creation of responsive frontend coding, CSS, UX/UI, and graphic design for digital designs and email campaigns. Served small businesses, nonprofits, and large financial and pharmaceutical institutions.
Website Design, Development & Project Manager
Yikes, Inc – Philadelphia, PA
December 2000 – April 2011 (10.5 years)
Worked with clients directly to lead them through the process of kickoff, architecture, website development, and content implementation. Created innovative website designs with effective user experiences implemented with the help of the programming team when needed. Also created logos and other graphics. Skills used regularly were: project management, UX/UI, SEO, website design using Adobe Suite, hand-coding HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. Worked within databases and with PHP. Helped teach website design classes for at-risk communities.
“Marketing can make or break an organization. Her talent has moved Delaware Nature Society forward often. I enjoyed working with her for many years.”
– Helen Fischel, Principal at HFF Environmental, Former Director of Education at Delaware Nature Society
Recent Certifications
Start the UX Design Process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate
Grade Achieved: 96.25%
See UX Research Report portfolio piece created during certification.
Foundations of User Experience (UX) Design
Grade Achieved: 96.21%
Education
B.A in Illustration, Minor in Animation
Rhode Island School of Design – Providence, RI
September 1995 to August 2000
Skills
Creative Direction
User Experience (UX)
UX Strategy
UX Research
UX Design
UX Writing
Interactive Architecture
Intentional Framing
Style Systems
Brand Design
Style Guide Design
Marketing
Video Editing
Copywriting & Copy Editing
Infographics
Trello
Figma
Adobe Suite
Fundraising
WordPress
Responsive Design
HTML/CSS
Social Media
Photography
Organization Types
Non-profits
Small Businesses
Financial Institutions
Pharmaceutical Companies
Volunteer Leadership & Fundraising
Mentor at Brandywine Bots
Wilmington, DE
June 2024 to Present
Team leader at Brandywine Bots, a non-profit club which provides their competitive Vex Robotics teams with robotics learning – opening this opportunity to children and teens of a variety of incomes. Helps organize and plan for team meetups and tournaments and contributes physical labor to setup and take down fields for tournaments and also scorekeep for tournaments.
Founder of OUTdooristas LGBTQ Women’s Outdoors Social Club
Wilmington, DE
June 2019 to December 2024
Founded this hiking and social group for LGBTQ adults within the local area to create a fun, healthy, supportive venue to meet and build community. Organizes and leads successful (average of 10 attendees per week) bi-weekly hikes and brunches year-around. During the early pandemic, ran online Zoom meetups. Holds fundraiser twice per year to cover costs. Ensures an inclusive and supportive community ethic.
Ukraine Fundraiser
Wilmington, DE
March 2022
To help a friend from Ukraine, designed a “Support Ukraine” shirt gift and planned a virtual social event, promoted on Facebook, to quickly help raise over $800 within 4 days.
Articles
Top 10 Times the Curb-Cut Effect Helped Everyone
Have you ever used a ramp when pushing a stroller? Or enjoyed auto-captioning on a video when your headphones weren’t handy? That’s the Curb-Cut Effect in action! See…
Celebrating Rocker Soaps: Earth-Friendly Care for Your Body and Mind
At Avosette Marketing, we love working with businesses that share our values. That’s why we’re thrilled to shine a spotlight on our incredible client, Rocker Soaps, a company…
Why Embrace Diversity in Proto-personas
Why Embrace Diversity in Proto-Personas? Delve into 5 reasons this UX strategy is a win-win for your business, digital marketing efforts, and those your business serves.
High-Impact, Goal-based Eco-friendly Office Tips
Make these Eco-friendly Office tips your everyday habits to make a difference. These tips help reduce your use of fossil fuel, reduce the microplastics and chemicals you release…
Case Study: Harness Habit-forming Technology to Create Positive Change
Understanding what creates and upholds habits is powerful. Read this case study to see how Duolingo uses habit-forming techniques for a positive goal.
Want to work together?
I’d love to hear from you!