James Lavine
CapabilitiesProjectsWritingResume

Hey, I'm James. I'm a design director at Maark and bootstrapping Outseta on the side. When I'm not working, I might be surfing in the icy waters off the coast of Maine or hanging with the people I love. When I am working, I'm usually trying to keep my cat off my keyboarslkfjd.

Here are some of my capabilities as a designer, researcher, and manager.

Throughout my career, I've done a little bit of everything. But these are the aspects of design that I'm mostly focused on as of late.

User/stakeholder research

I've logged hundreds of hours of listening to people. And asking the right questions. I understand that a product can't be successful without listening to both its users and its stakeholders. I'm experienced with a variety of research methods and have planned and executed dozens of studies around discovery, usability, feature prioritization, and probably other things.

Design systems

Design systems are so 2018, right? They may indeed be, but they're not going anywhere. I've been involved in a few large-scale design system projects at this point. My roles have been anywhere from facilitating atomic design system categorization workshops to collaborating and QAing with developers as they build out design system Storybooks, to getting down and dirty in Figma designing those beautiful building blocks.

Experience mapping and flows

There's nothing quite like looking at a body of research or a project brief and just diving headfirst into mapping out the first iteration (or a big overhaul! or even just subtle improvements!) of an experience. Give me a fresh FigJam file and a few hours with no meetings and I'm a happy guy.

Wireframing, UI, and prototyping

I love the quick process of wireframing, but I'm also skilled in the art of translating wires into fully-fledged UIs. Don't even get me started about prototyping. With interactive components now in Figma, prototypes can communicate (by showing instead of telling) in a way that was nearly impossible before. I rarely design something without prototyping flows and interactions.

Managing a team

As a design director at Maark, I'm responsible for setting the vision on projects, executing on that vision with the help of my team, and creating an environment where designers have what they need to be successful and do their best work. I also lead research efforts on various projects, either by performing research to inform your design decisions and product direction, or collaborating with researchers to help find insights. of a div block.

Check out a few recent projects I've been working on.

These are some of the larger projects I've been working on over the past couple of years. I like to think they show the maturity and breadth of my skill set. Full case studies are coming soon!

Manulife/John Hancock Investments

When John Hancock Investments was acquired by Manulife a few years back, the team at Maark was tasked with bringing John Hancock in line with Manulife's global brand system. At the same time, we were building a scalable platform and tools that could be leveraged by both brands and in many regions. My role has been to lead our design team's vision for this platform. To date, over a dozen marketing sites now exist using this design system dubbed Common Core. Several of those sites include secure dashboards for users ranging from institutional investors to financial advisors to group retirement plan participants. In addition, the video here shows a preview of a few tools that we're excited to launch to users in the coming months.
Research
Conduct stakeholder and user research for multiple regions and lines of business to help create a roadmap of opportunities.
Information architecture
Work out the IA for several sites and secure dashboards based on stakeholder input and user feedback.
Design system
Work alongside a team of designers to define and build out a UI system that could scale across many sites and applications.
Developer collaboration
Communicate with developers all along the research and design process to evaluate feasibility and ensure the vision gets translated into code.
Client communication
Serve as the creative lead when interfacing with multiple client teams across several business lines within John Hancock and Manulife.
QA testing
Help the team perform design QA testing to verify that what was built was exactly as the design team intended.

Travel+Leisure GO

In early 2021, Travel+Leisure magazine had a big idea. They wanted to launch an online travel agency, knowing they'd be competing with the likes of Kayak, Expedia, and Airbnb. But they also knew they had a niche and an advantage; a higher-end clientele and the editorial experience to put together tailor-made travel itineraries for destinations across the world. A small group at Maark became the de facto product team for this new product called Travel+Leisure GO. We came up with a vision for what the platform could be, tested that initial vision with travel enthusiasts, and quickly got to work designing and building out the product incrementally. This is an ongoing project, with me as the design lead. We iteratively design, test with users, build new features and updates, and launch on a biweekly schedule.
Product vision
Translate a big, amorphous idea into a tangible vision and concept, tested by users and approved by the client's leadership team.
User research
Help to plan and manage user recruitment and testing activities on a rolling basis, prioritized by risk and business goals.
Design leadership
Manage a team of designers from junior to senior level, helping to prioritize work, giving feedback, and facilitating communication with researchers.
Atomic design
Conduct atomic design categorization workshops to establish an organized library of styles and components agreed upon across PMs, designers, and developers.
Developer collaboration
Communicate with developers all along the research and design process to evaluate feasibility and ensure the vision gets translated into code.
Client communication
Serve as the creative lead when interfacing with multiple client teams across several business lines within John Hancock and Manulife.

Outseta

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to join a tiny team building a really big piece of software. Outseta is an all-in-one membership product, offering payments, authentication, CRM, email, help desk, and reporting. For an online business, it's all the infrastructure you need to serve your customers under a single login. As the only designer on our five-person team, I'm responsible for the visual brand, the UX patterns and design of the product, the marketing site, and even some customer support. Possibly the coolest thing about this team and this product is that we run our own business on it — we are our own customers. And since the help desk is a big part of the product, we're constantly getting feedback from our customers and building that feedback into our roadmap and the features we ship.
Branding
Establish the visual brand and tone for the marketing and the product.
Product design
Responsible for the design of the entire product, including customizable components that are embeddable on our customers' sites.
Ongoing listening
Always listening to user feedback and iteratively incorporating the things we learn into product updates and new features.
No-code dev
Build and maintain our marketing site with Webflow, as well as multiple demo sites, with tools like Bubble, Carrd, and Super.
Founding member
Part of a small founding team, I'm a voice in the direction of the product and the future of the company.

I've done a bit of writing, too.

It Takes a (Design-Led) Village

Designers can create incredible value when allowed to lead, but is it possible for design to have too much sway?
James Lavine

A Checklist for Designing Digital Experiences

Making sure your design addresses these seven questions can save your digital experience from big problems.
James Lavine

Read my resume.

Work experience

Maark

Boston, Massachusetts — Maark (a WillowTree company) delivers end-to-end digital marketing services and cutting-edge product development for clients in a variety of industries.
maark.com

Associate Design Director
2021 – Present

Lead Digital Designer
‍2020 – 2021

Senior Digital Designer
‍2019 – 2020

Theory and Principle

Portland, Maine — Theory and Principle works with clients to build web and mobile applications designed to improve the legal experience for all.
theoryandprinciple.com

Design Director
‍2018 – 2019

Freelance

Providence, Rhode Island | Washington, DC | Portland, Maine — As a freelancer, I had the pleasure of partnering with businesses and designing experiences across a variety of industries. Clients included Blue Cross Blue Shield, Smithsonian Institution, SAP, and Medtronic.

Brand Designer, UX/UI Designer, Low-code Developer
‍2011 – 2018

Karhu

Beverly, Massachusetts — Karhu is Finland's legendary running brand.
karhu.com

Junior Designer
‍2009 – 2011

Education

Rhode Island School of Design

Providence, Rhode Island

Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) Graphic Design
‍2005 – 2009

Skills

Strengths

Collaborative
Even-tempered
Not afraid to fail
Effective communicator
Intentional listener

Capabilities

Experience design and strategy
Managing design teams and projects
User research
Stakeholder interviews
User interface design
Prototyping
Wireframing
Site maps
User flows
Journeys
Competitive analysis
Personas
Writing

Tools

Figma/FigJam
Webflow
Whimsical
HTML/CSS
Adobe Creative Cloud
Microsoft suite
Pen and paper

Built in Webflow using Hatch.
Last updated December 21, 2021
hello@jameslavine.com