Howdy, I’m Erica
Design. Research. Strategy. Operations.
My Mission: Transformative Growth
In a way that’s sustainable — for everyone.
When you work with me, you can expect a human-centered approach and purpose-driven, data-backed solutions to the business problems keeping you up at night.
SOLUTIONS THAT TRANSCEND SIMPLE ARTIFACTS: STRATEGIC APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OUTCOMES
I’m a player/coach who came up in the .com boom era, experienced the bust, and have stayed curious, thirsty and busy since — there are a few things I don’t believe in anymore, like pushing pixels or launching guesswork. I’m a T-shaped design generalist with a specialty in Service Design who’s led teams at a range of organizations, from mid-size startups to Fortune 50 enterprise product teams, and I know what it takes to successfully craft solutions that mitigate risk and solve for complex challenges — on the first try. Try me.
Expertise & Services
Fine-tune operations, elevate the brand, & delight your audiences
Fractional
Leadership
A hands-on player/coach who partners with stakeholders to devise and orchestrate a plan, supports her team, while keeping leadership in-the-know.
Business &
Product Strategy
Methods that leverage human-centered design to simplify complex challenges, define business objectives, and create actionable plans to meet organizational goals on tight timelines.
Operations and
Systems Design
From designing back stage organizational processes, to designing and deploying user-facing Design Language Systems, the goal is creating efficient, cohesive ecosystems.
Branding &
Creative
Capture brand essence and tell a compelling brand story. Comprehensive brand platform development, communication strategy, visual identity systems, and creative direction.
Product &
Service Design
Holistic, end-to-end, dual-sided service and product design — from concept and evaluative user research, to launching iterative solutions that scale over time.
UX / UI
Design
Launching thoughtful, user-centered digital experiences that are purposeful, clean and functional, created using a process and toolset that are lean and intentional.
Experience
A timeline of career highlights with case studies and key accomplishments
An HCD-driven product & management consulting services agency offering Strategy, Design, and Fractional Leadership adapted specifically to serve small and medium businesses and startups in hyper-growth mode — when agility and mission-critical results are non-negotiable.
Current
Head of Services
Serious Mission
Leading a team of six designers and producers to create dual-facing (agent & member) native mobile and responsive web SaaS experiences serving over 14 million members. Spearheading product strategy for three of the most complex and highly regulated lines of business in the bank — Consumer Lending, Real Estate Mortgage, and Debt Recovery – looking after a book of business exceeding $30million.
2021 – 2025
Design Director
A Fortune 50 Bank
Case Study: Debt Recovery, With Heart? →
Partnering with functional leads to redefine cross-collaborative services while establishing a new human-centered design practice, including new services SKUs. Collaborating with operations and Sales, crafting sales enablement materials and leading presentations to drive demand for services. Leading HCD engagements to create impact for top tier customers including Palo Alto, Microsoft, Visa, Google Cloud, Sephora, Epic Games, & others.
2019 – 2021
UX Lead, North America
Khoros (formerly Lithium & Spredfast)
Establishing and expanding the Austin team by 5x over 18 months for this rapidly growing HCD-driven business management consultancy, while spearheading new business development and establishing productive partnerships. Leading cross-functional teams and concurrent consulting engagements with two of our cornerstone clients, McKinsey Digital and Accenture Products and Platforms.
2017 – 2018
Design Director
Drawn
Founding a small services agency offering Strategy, Design, and Fractional Leadership to a range of Fortune 500 organizations including McKinsey Digital, Dell Experience Design Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EA Games Worldwide Customer Experience Group, Zynga Games and a range of respected services agencies in New York and Austin.
2014 – 2016
Founder, Head of Design
Serious Mission
Case Study: This Client said “Tell us how to become the industry leader within the next 3-5 years”
Key projects included: launching a new Delta Airlines booking experience, bringing the Citibank digital ecosystem to WCAG compliance, creating a State Farm banking and insurance app for the new Windows 10 platform, crafting an award-winning experimental travel experience including sculptural data visualization installation, digital kiosk and mobile experience for SFO Airport, and much more.
2011 – 2014
UX Experience Architect
Publicis Razorfish
What’s your mission?
Democratizing Design to Create Economic Empowerment
Graduate research & thesis project work in the Communication Design MFA program at Texas State University
I believe that practicing design is a life skill that everyone can – and should – learn because it has the power and potential to uplift the most economically disadvantaged and at-risk individuals and communities. But when, where and how do we go about teaching folks to develop this skillset? I am leading the charge to demonstrate how to do this.
At the same time, I know there are aspects of design that should generally be designated for professional practice – but what are they and how do we define them? How do we navigate the line between professional practice and design by the lay-person, particularly with the rise in agency afforded by modern tools like Canva and generative AI? Designers have an opportunity to sharpen the discipline’s focus by unitedly articulating our response, rationale, and rally cry in a thoughtful, cohesive way.
Good to Know
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All of the above, with a hybrid model preferred. I believe face-time is important, particularly in the beginning stages of a project. For projects outside of the Austin metro, I’m happy to arrange travel as needed.
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I’m fortunate to have built a network of top tier professionals who I can pull-in to support any given project demand. Serious Mission operates on a flex-to-fit model, meaning if your project requires a team, I will source the right talent, including a project manager, as needed.
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We will select the toolset that best complements both the project requirements and organization’s needs.
We have expertise with industry standard design tools including Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Canva Studio, and others.
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In harmony with my mission to democratize design, I like to make sure that services are financially feasible for organizations large and small, so I offer a range of ways to structure an engagement so it fits the project need and client budget. Rate is determined based on factors such as length of time commitment and level of expertise required.
Extra Small Projects: $85 – $150 / hr
Small to Medium Projects: $675 – $1000 / day
Medium to Large: $3000/week & up
Extra large and long-term projects: $9,000/month & up
For help sizing your project, schedule a 30-minute chat
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Currently we have immediate availability. To discuss your needs, reach out and schedule a 30-minute chat.
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Yes, I offer a structured mentorship program in 6-month increments tailored to the early to mid-career design professional. I currently have capacity for one individual who is looking to clarify their career path, level-up communication skills, and grow as a leader.
Interested? Email your proposal to erica@srsmission.com and book a 30-minute chat.