Nicole Maynard

Nicole Maynard

Nicole Maynard is the Head of User Experience at Hyatt leading a team of researchers, interaction and visual designers, creating solutions that elevate Hyatt’s digital footprint and enhance the guest experience. She has taken the helm as president of the Chicago chapter of UXPA (User Experience Professionals Association).

Nicole is a versatile UX professional; she has a foundation in graphic, information and interaction design and has been performing user research well before realizing it was a profession. She has always found the inner workings of our minds to be a compelling subject of study. Her work has been published nationally and has won various design awards. If you want to get her chatting, ask about her talking budgie or her commitment to health and wellness.

For more, keep up with Nicole on Twitter as @punkynixter.

Presentations

Leadership By Design 2017

Cultivating Happiness

Neuroscience explains the delicate sparks that can either create happiness or make it elusive. Happiness has power–it makes us more productive, engaged and creative. When we’re feeling good, we are better able to create delightful experiences and have that positivity trickle into everything we touch. Let’s take a look at methods for cultivating happiness within ourselves so we can propagate it for others.

UX Camp 2014: Prototype Camp

Prototype Testing: Working Smarter Not Harder

Usability testing can be very demanding. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” Especially in the fast paced development world we work in. We need to adapt our methods to learn how users respond to our prototypes without the design or team taking a hit.

Lessons from the field have taught me that testing prototypes requires us to take a fresh look at usability testing. Learn how to remain flexible while testing your prototype to ensure you get the most out of your time and the team by pruning your process, being ready to change on the fly and prepping reports without losing sleep.

Before you know it, your project team will be hooked and asking you to schedule more tests.