Clifton Simmons
Clifton is a senior content strategist for Allstate, focusing on claims and roadside service. He’s dedicated to inspiring a diverse generation of UX design professionals, working as a mentor and instructor in various programs. Prior to his work on UX design, Clifton has worked at large ad agencies as an experiential marketer for USAA, Chevy, Coke and McDonald’s.
For more, keep up with Clifton at professoradman.com or on Twitter as @ProfessorAdMan.
Presentations
UX Camp Fall 2020
“Du” Good: How UXers Can Help Change Our Companies & Communities
As UX practitioners we pride ourselves on human-centered design, but do we really practice what we preach when statistics continually reflect a staggering lack of diversity? Even in a pandemic, studies show industry leaders predict an increased demand for UX design professionals.
You’ve protested. You’ve made public statements to do better. Now you’re probably asking, “What now?” Learn how companies can start to fulfill their promises to create a more diverse UX design workforce. Corporate volunteerism is also a way for companies to empower employees to continue the fight against systemic racism by enabling your UX staff to support community organizations in need of our digital skills. As an example, this talk will include work as a skills-based volunteer for the DuSable Museum of African American history and how we collaborated with museum staff to develop the digital marketing campaign, “this is What We Du.”
UX Camp Fall 2019
Taking the (Em)Path to Human-Centered Design
In UX design, empathy is a critical skill to creating user satisfaction. No one tells us how to develop empathy! Finding that connection starts with drawing from personal resources.
Many people in UX careers started in positions not even remotely connected to UX design—and that’s been their benefit. These non-traditional, if not all, experiences provide unique insight when it comes to improving our empathetic approach to human-centered design. Diversity is also key to collaborating with and understanding unique voices and problem solving to meet the needs of others not like us. Along with consumer data and journeys, empathy helps design teams deeply analyze user situations to create solutions.
