Hi, I'm Jess, a Design Strategist with 20+ years of experience helping organizations make complex software work better for the people who use it.

I've worked across enterprise software, healthcare, government, and financial systems—places where getting it wrong has real consequences. My work sits at the intersection of research, strategy, and execution: figuring out what's broken, what should be built, and how it should work.

I founded Mindful Studio to do this work independently—bringing senior-level thinking to teams who need clear direction, not just deliverables.

Design Strategy

Check out my work

What I do

I help product teams and consultancies make sense of ambiguous, high-stakes systems—turning complexity into clear interaction models, research insight, and build-ready design.

I work as a freelance and fractional design partner for teams building complex software—especially where decisions, data, or automation shape user trust and behavior.

Services

UX & Product Discovery

Short, focused engagements to clarify problem spaces, align stakeholders, and define what to build.

  • Research planning and synthesis

  • Journey and workflow mapping

  • Opportunity framing and prioritization

  • Early concepts and prototypes

Best for: teams at the start of a project or stuck in ambiguity

Research & Sense-Making

Turning qualitative research into insight that teams can actually use.

  • Interviews, workshops, and scenario walkthroughs

  • Synthesis and pattern detection

  • Insight frameworks and decision support

  • Executive-ready findings

Best for: organizations overwhelmed with data but lacking clarity

Systems & Interaction Design

Designing how complex products actually work—across screens, states, edge cases, and constraints.

  • Information architecture and interaction models

  • Multi-step workflows and platform patterns

  • AI-adjacent UX (confidence, explanation, fallback states)

  • Design specs that engineers can build from

Best for: complex products, platforms, and enterprise tools

Fractional Design Leadership

Senior-level design thinking without a full-time hire.

  • Product and design direction

  • Cross-functional facilitation

  • Design quality and system coherence

  • Mentorship and team support

Best for: consultancies and product teams needing experienced judgment

Executive Advisory & Strategic Alignment

Supporting leaders navigating AI uncertainty, trade-offs, and organizational change.

  • Executive interviews and strategic reflection sessions

  • Decision framing and trade-off analysis

  • Facilitation of leadership alignment workshops

  • Narrative development for internal and external communication

  • Ongoing advisory support for critical moments

Best for: senior leaders accountable for AI outcomes without clear precedent or playbooks

Responsible & Ethical AI Design

Embedding responsibility, transparency, and governance into AI initiatives from the start.

  • Ethical risk identification and mitigation

  • Human-impact and stakeholder analysis

  • Governance and accountability framework design

  • Evaluation criteria beyond model performance

  • Alignment with regulatory and organizational values

Best for: organizations building AI systems that must be trustworthy, defensible, and aligned with public or stakeholder expectations

AI Strategy & Readiness

Aligning AI ambition with organizational reality, capability, and risk.

  • AI opportunity framing and prioritization

  • Organizational and data readiness assessment

  • Stakeholder interviews and capability mapping

  • Risk, governance, and feasibility analysis

  • Strategic recommendations and roadmap options

Best for: organizations exploring AI adoption but unsure where to start, what’s feasible, or what actually creates value

AI Adoption & Organizational Integration

Ensuring AI initiatives succeed beyond the model and into everyday operations.

  • Organizational readiness and change assessment

  • Workflow and process integration analysis

  • Incentive and capability alignment

  • Measurement and learning frameworks

  • Feedback loops for iteration and evolution

Best for: organizations where AI works in theory but struggles in practice

How I work

I’ve spent my career working across consulting, product teams, and independent practice. Much of that time has been in short-to-mid-term engagements, helping teams:

  • Enter complex problem spaces

  • Create structure without oversimplifying

  • Make decisions they can stand behind

  • Leave behind systems and thinking that scale

I’m comfortable stepping in quickly, collaborating closely with engineers and product leaders, and adapting to how teams actually work.

Let's work together!