Jamie Thomson Pate

User Experience Designer

About Me

  • UX generalist, but IA and IxD are where my heart is
  • Process is typically double-diamond shaped
  • Big-picture + detail-oriented (yes, both!)
  • Thrives on collaborative, cross-functional teams
  • Comfortable with complexity and ambiguity
  • Always questioning (what's the goal? how will this work?)
  • Knack for translating research insights into action
  • Foodie, cocktail nerd, outdoors explorer, Trekkie since birth

Accomplishments

  • Over the past 6 years at Mad*Pow, was continually in demand from both clients and coworkers for my UX skills, healthcare industry expertise, and ability to tackle complexity
  • Created some of Mad*Pow's first journey maps and facilitated some of its first journey mapping workshops, laying foundation for UX strategy to become a formal discipline and team
  • Worked on some of Mad*Pow's early health behavior change projects, helping pave the way for a formal behavior change discipline and team
  • Helped shift Mad*Pow's thinking from static style guides to living design systems — led projects to establish design systems with 3 major clients in 2016-2017
  • Designed one of the first interfaces for IBM Watson's cancer treatment and insurance pre-authorization system
  • Served as lead designer on two large-scale .COM redesigns – 1 major insurance company, 1 regional hospital system
  • At Messagefirst, worked on the first version of Reframer, which was eventually sold to Optimal Workshop
  • Published and presented on design process through professional groups and conferences, from local to international levels
  • Created a framework for hosting design challenges as part of Mad*Pow's annual HxD/HxR conference, and have volunteered for the IA Summit and Interaction conferences

Current Status

In 2017, I moved from Boston to Seattle, excited for the opportunity to explore the Pacific Northwest. I'm still settling in and always looking for hiking, snowshoeing, and restaurant recommendations.

After six years as an experience designer with the great folks at Mad*Pow, it was easy enough to continue working remotely. But after a few months, I started to miss being in an office with my coworkers every day. In December I decided to take some time off to better connect with my new city and reflect on my career thus far.

I’ve spent the past 10 years helping organizations from the outside, from the agency and consulting perspective. There’s a lot to love about consulting – the never-ending variety of projects, the constant learning about new niches of industry, and the ability to inspire organizations to go deeper in their commitment to design and the people they serve.

I’ve handed off some great ideas, strategies, and plans, and even launched a few sites and apps along the way. And you know what I’ve found? I’m most fulfilled and energized on projects where I’m collaborating with business, product, and developers to make ideas into reality.

I’m ready to work on the inside, to be part of a highly functional team that continually gets to know its users better and iteratively improves based on that knowledge. I want to help an organization execute on the fine details, while always keeping in mind the big picture of not just the product, but also the people, business, and society around it. I am open to team leadership roles, as long as the majority of time is still spent "doing design," and not just managing.

The majority of my work thus far has been in healthcare. I’d love to stay in this space, but with so many wicked problems out there in the world, I’m also open to diving into something completely new – as long as there's an opportunity for societal impact. I want to stay on the front lines as human-centered design expands its role in health, government, education, financial wellbeing, and other areas that enable people to live, grow, connect, and flourish.

Are you hiring? Check out my resume and some of my past projects.