Hi,
I'm Erica
Meade.
An Overview of Me
I’m a Spunky Cheerleader
in a non-annoying way
I'm enthusiastic and passionate, and keep my team motivated. I make sure we have fun as we get stuff done!
I’m an endless
IDEA GENERATOR
I’m always thinking
I'm constantly looking for connections between disparate things and coming up with theories, models and concepts.
I’m a Leader/ Facilitator
that MBA helped
My leadership skills emerge when the timing is right, and I make sure that my whole team contributes and thrives.
What I Do
I am a designer, strategist and artist hoping to improve lives through thoughtful design.
I am the Senior Design Lead at StumbleUpon, where I lead my team to create products, features and mobile applications that delight 25 million+ users. It's pretty great to know that my work directly impacts so many people, and that the products I work on make people smile. I'm moving along a career trajectory where I'm able to make an increasingly meaningful impact on a growing number of people, and that makes me very happy.
I have a degree in studio art from Skidmore College where I focused on painting, drawing and sculpture. I'm also a graduate of the MBA in Design Strategy program at California College of the Arts which blends design, sustainability and innovation with traditional business issues in a collaborative environment.
My Process
For most projects, I like to follow a multi-step process. First I assess the problem and define it as clearly as possible. I then research my users, clients, similar projects and anything else that will help me create sketches and prototypes of potential solutions.
I then test the things I've created to see if they effectively solve the problem defined in the first stage of the design process. Once I have an idea, prototype, or other creation that meets the users' needs and the problem I have defined, I will refine the concept to a finished product.
My Professional Work
StumbleUpon
Since September of 2010, I've been involved in nearly all changes to StumbleUpon's consumer-facing and business products, mobile apps, etc. If it's awkward or not quite refined, myself or my team have not had a chance to work on it yet :)
I also do a lot of behind-the-scenes research, thinking and strategizing with my super smart colleagues.
Thought Leadership
In addition to UI/UX work, I also enjoy contributing to the greater design/tech community and exploring concepts, theories and research.
LEFT Speaking at a panel at The Creator's Project, San Francisco in March 2012.
RIGHT Social strategies I've developed for StumbleUpon. They are best explained via voiceover, so contact me to learn more.
Sketches
Sketches are my favorite way to communicate concepts quickly and clearly to engineers, executives and product managers. Although I love digital tools, there's nothing more satisfying than putting pen to paper.
Some of my sketches are simply starting points for projects, and in other instances the sketches function as a blueprint for development.
Responsive Layout System
When we started exploring a more responsive layout for StumbleUpon, it required rethinking our range of content modules, including how they fit together and reflow based on a user's screen size. Using a unit-based grid, I calculated the optimal grid size and module variances for the new system (still in development).
I'm not afraid of math.
Interaction + Visual Design
As a hybrid design lead, I drive the full lifecycle of projects from concept to implementation. Deliverables include sketches, wireframes, flow diagrams, visual designs, assets and more.
LEFT Annotated wireframes for a custom autocomplete + create UI designed for a current beta feature on StumbleUpon.
RIGHT Visual design used for front end implementation of the feature.
Annotated Concepts
Collaborating with engineers and product managers to realize a design requires clear and thorough communication. Depending on the scope of the project, the scenario and the teams involved, I provide whatever is needed to execute the concept—whether it's detailed wireframe or design annotations, layout specs, interaction guidelines or more.
Other Work
The Creative Q
The Creative Q is a project aimed to help creative people move past creative blocks. The concept is a subscription based service where members receive prompts, get inspired and share their work in a virtual studio.
I worked solo on this project and was responsible for primary and secondary research, concept ideation, prototyping and implementation. See thecreativeq.com for more info.
SmallSteps
I worked with a team of my MBA classmates to develop an innovative solution to "move the needle" on sustainability. For this team effort, I conducted primary and secondary research, participated in need-finding and ideation sessions, and developed illustrations, mock screenshots and nearly all print materials.
See rinseandwash.com/smallsteps/ for more info.