About

About

Photo of Monica Arellano staring off with hope in her eyes at the city of Zurich.

She / her

 
 
 

What I learned: Design principles, user interviewing, user surveys, design iteration, design systems. 

I think one of my first and most profound experiences in research practice was my MMI project. This project was inspired by my family's fight with cancer and the experience of exploring alternative therapeutic methods.

MMI explored the emerging medical marijuana industry and the problems new patients face like fear, stigma, accessing reliable information and a general lack of support and empathy. The experience of interviewing and surveying people in this space allowed me to interpret their pain points into meaningful solutions.

I walked away with a genuine love and curiosity to understand peoples’ needs and find ways to positively impact their lives.

 
 
 

What I learned: Collaboration with various teams and stakeholders, product launch strategy, video and motion design, web and mobile web UI

I didn’t exactly jump right into UX, however I did catch the attention of Kikoko, a women-owned women-led cannabis botanical wellness company. As part of a small but mighty team, I had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects that centered around people who were canna-curious but perhaps unfamiliar with their tolerance.

At the end of four years in a fast-paced startup like Kikoko, I was left with a desire to create more impactful work that focused on improving people’s lives through research practice.

 
 
 

What I learned: UX Design principles, user research, usability testing, site map development, user flow chart, information architecture, problem statement and HMW development, persona development, user journey mapping, research & synthesis, wire frames, interactive prototype development in Figma, project planning and leadership

I wasted no time launching myself into a user experience bootcamp and spent the next 12-weeks learning and leading UX research ’end-to-end’.

Most recently I worked in a team of three to complete a soon to launch client project, the Nom Street app. This experience of connecting people in and outside of the Muslim community to Halal safe dining options gave me a chance to apply the UX toolkit to a real problem our client brought to us. At the end of the bootcamp experience, I was ready to take my first leap into the world of UX design. 

Looking to the near future, I’m excited to collaborate with diverse teams and ideas to create delightful experiences for all people. Let’s grab a cookie and a coffee if you’re excited too.

 
 
 

What I learned: Riding the plane down is not an option, how to tie various knots, most advanced cooking techniques, wearing what sparks joy in you is the highest form of fashion

When I’m not losing sleep in a bootcamp or discussing new ideas with my tech-nerdy friends and family, you can find me cooking, DIY renovating, playing my Moog theremin, traveling, hiking, climbing, thinking I’m skiing faster than I actually am, expressing myself through fashion, jumping out of perfectly good planes, gardening and making the lives of my two rescue cats very luxurious.

 

Resumé

Summary

As an up-and-coming Product Designer, I bring a dynamic blend of creative vision and a solid foundation in user research and human-centered design practices. With a background in graphic design spanning five years, I am adept at collaborating cross-functionally to craft innovative solutions for complex challenges. My commitment to enhancing user experiences is evident in my approach, which revolves around thorough research, iterative design processes, and thoughtful solutions.

 

Skills

Visual design | UI Design | UX Design | Prototyping | Problem solving | Information architecture | User research | Empathy | Collaborating across teams | Communication | Critical thinking

 

Tools

Figma | Photoshop | InDesign | Illustrator | Procreate | Slack | Asana | Trello | Google Suite

 

experience

2022-2023 | General Assembly
User Experience Design Intensive
Remote

Completed 500 hours of professional UX Design training, led two team projects and completed five project sprints utilizing research methodologies.

Amoeba Music | e-commerce redesign | Independant project

  • Designed four new pages including landing, search result, product details Conducted user interviews and synthesized the results through affinity mapping.

  • Explored and developed potential solutions through sketching, prototype development, usability
    testing and iteration.

  • Addressed user critiques of the original site by designing mockups of the new landing page, search
    result, product details and check out flow.

  • Delivered a high-fidelity prototype, increasing discoverability of new music and reducing checkout
    times by 50%.

DFW | streamlining the airport experience | Project lead

  • Evaluated of the original app and conducted usability testing, user interviews and competitive/ comparative analysis.

  • Identified key insights and defined one core problem experienced by users.

  • Created a site map that prioritized the users immediate needs.

  • Explored potential solutions through sketch exploration and developed wireframes.

  • Developed a high fidelity interactive prototype in Figma.

Nom Street App | Quick and easy Halal food locator | Project lead

  • Led team of three UX designers by developing a project Gantt chart to help meet all deadlines and deliverables.

  • Established scope of work and maintained a regular communication schedule with the client.

  • Collaborated with the team to complete 17 customer interviews, 15 usability tests, comparator feature analysis and synthesized and presented the findings to the client along with our recommendations.

  • Collaborated with the team to develop a new end-to-end customer facing experience.

  • Delivered a high-fidelity prototype and comprehensive design system in Figma facilitating a smooth transition into development for the client.

 

2018-2022 | kikoko
Emeryville, ca
Graphic & Motion Designer Remote

  • Collaborated with sales and marketing teams to design print and digital campaign assets using InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and After Effects for the launch of five new product lines and four product category extensions.

  • Teamedw up with design and social media heads to plan a digital launch strategy and create content that facilitated a 53% increase in followers over four years.

  • Collaborated with the sales and design to create five videos, using Premiere Pro, Illustrator and After Effects. The videos increased brand education and engagement in B2B sales meetings.

  • Establish templates for two departments for internal and external facing brand and sales use in cooperation with the Chief Design Officer.

  • Collaborated with web engineers to identify and implement key usability improvements to the B2C website that improved checkout flow and reduced bounce rate to <20%.

  • Developed assets for 14 product and benefit related site pages for desktop and mobile.

  • Led cross-functional workshops to define and document components, patterns, and guidelines within the design system to standardize branding elements across all digital platforms.

 

2023 | UX design intensive general assembly | remote

2018 | M.A. Graphic design | academy of art university | san francisco, ca

2012 | university of central Florida | orlando, fl

education