Context & Problem
The Summary
In 2022, I joined a reputable tech company that sells research and data to business leaders through a subscription-based B2B SaaS platform. I stepped into a UX role that promised high impact, but what I found was an organization in the middle of digital transformation where UX was still misunderstood and underutilized.
UX and Visual Design operated like parallel universes. What I expected to be collaborative turned out to be fragmented. The organization had adopted agile rituals without changing its waterfall mindset.
My Role
My role evolved out of necessity: I was the first full-time UX designer hired by the UX Director, joining an organization with over 30 designers across brand, marketing, and product. As the dedicated UX team grew to five, I became embedded in the company’s largest product team, a cross-functional group of seven designers (led by a Design Director), along with product and engineering leads, supporting a SaaS platform for enterprise software buyers.
While my title didn't change, I had to become responsible for defining UX processes, building collaboration rituals and surfacing business-critical insights through user behaviour. It was fast, political, and often chaotic — but full of potential.
What I Saw
From the start, it was clear the problem was how UX was positioned. I saw a culture where user needs were secondary, processes were inherited not designed, and teams didn’t feel empowered to ask “why.”
UX activities weren’t baked into product workflow. We were often brought in late — after decisions were made, after designs were started, sometimes just for sign-off. Product teams prioritized deliverables, not discovery. Visual designers were talented but often boxed into execution roles. Everyone was busy — but few felt aligned.
I started asking questions:
Why aren’t users part of the process earlier?
Why does UX feel separate from design?
Why do teams rely on handoffs instead of collaboration?
Challenges I Faced
Cultural Misunderstanding
UX was seen as a visual layer, not a strategic discipline
Fragmented Processes
No shared frameworks, metrics, or expectations for user outcomes
Confusing Leadership
Competing visions for what UX should do
Misuse of Agile
Agile rituals existed, but without space for discovery or user input
Solution / Design Leadership
Breaking the Wireframe Assembly Line
I didn’t have authority. But I had curiosity, people skills, and a high tolerance for ambiguity. Leading change wasn’t technically part of my role, but doing good UX work was. That meant stepping up anyway.
As I navigated these constraints, I led process improvements that integrated UX and Visual Design into a shared workflow — no more handoffs, no single owner, just collaboration. My goal wasn’t to “own” UX, but to create space for it.
Process
Year 1: Building the Factory
In my first year, I supported a high-impact service design initiative focused on improving how the design team created data visualizations, a critical lead-generation asset for the business. These frameworks translated complex research into digestible, strategic visuals published on our gated blueprint pages, where they played a central role in converting prospects into subscribers.
The problem? The process was broken. Researchers worked in long, waterfall-style cycles and handed off dense content to designers in Jira with a vague request, often with no message clarity, or design intent. UX was brought in to wireframe, but not to shape the story or the user experience behind it.
The UX director’s solution was to insert UX into the chain: UX handled intake and wireframes, then visual designers took over. It resembled a Double Diamond, but with an added handoff in the middle. We shipped over 100 of these that year, but designers felt like assembly workers, not collaborators.
It worked — but it wasn’t enough.
What I Noticed
The process made production smoother, but it also split UX and visual design into separate tracks. Designers began to feel like wireframe “assembly workers,” disconnected from the creative part of the work. We needed shared ownership — not better handoffs.
Year 2: Breaking the Wall
When I became embedded in one of the largest product teams, I saw an opportunity to fix the broken handoff model. With support from the design director, I launched a pilot program to integrate UX and Visual Design across the full Double Diamond. The design director made no divide between UX and design, treating me as an equal team member—crucial support as I navigated organizational tensions to prioritize product success over internal politics.
My Approach: From Handoffs to Co-Creation. I replaced the linear handoff model with integrated collaboration across two phases with four key activities:
🔀 Diverge Phase:
1. Content Analysis – 1-hour working sessions to unpack research and map key messages
2. Collaborative Ideation – Co-sketching concepts with designers from day one
🎯 Converge Phase:
3. Concept Development – Moving from literal layouts to strategic visual metaphors
4. Iterative Refinement – Real-time design and feedback through team critiques
This systematic approach upskilled designers at all experience levels. Instead of gatekeeping knowledge, I made everything transparent—inviting designers to stakeholder sessions and running 1:1 working sessions where we'd work through the framework together, teaching them to break down complex research and explore conceptual directions.
The Key Shift:
Instead of asking designers to "color in" wireframes, I started stakeholder meetings with: "How would you explain this research to someone brand new?" When stakeholders said things like "chasing money" or "sports strategy," these became rich conceptual territory. We transformed these insights into powerful visual metaphors:
A soccer field for brand positioning frameworks
Gravity wells for voice-of-customer dynamics
Butterfly chase patterns for investment behavior
These weren’t just creative, they helped make complex ideas instantly clear, build trust, and improve lead conversion. Designers shifted from execution to strategy. And our process became a shared craft, not a sequence of handoffs.
I used my background in illustration to help visual designers explore ideas more freely and connect with the "why" behind each framework. By thinking through the story together, they began developing stronger conceptual skills. This transformed 5-7 designers from wireframe executors into project leaders who now present directly to stakeholders, becoming the foundation for how we solved product challenges day to day.
The success of the pilot gave me something more valuable than process: trust. Designers started inviting me into their working sessions. I started attending daily scrums and leading brainstorming workshops while collaborating on projects.
Expanding Impact
Redesigning the Blueprint Page Itself
Since our collaborative approach was working, when blueprint page improvements appeared on the roadmap, I saw an opportunity to extend our impact to the customer experience. This is the high-traffic platform where the visual assets get published along with the in depth research.
These pages were critical to our lead generation strategy. But the experience didn’t reflect the value of the content, it was hard to scan, overly dense, and gave users little reason to engage before hitting a locked CTA.
When the design director asked me to lead this effort, I ran a 2-week sprint with product designers and front-end developers to create a modular, conversion-focused layout. The goal was to improve engagement and form completion by making key content easier to find and reducing friction. Other product teams later adopted our modular approach, expanding the impact across multiple product lines.
Reflection
This wasn’t just about design. It was about change — slow, messy, human change. And change doesn’t happen through process alone. It happens through people. Through friction. Through fire. That’s why this was a reckoning — and why I’m proud of it.
The biggest lesson? From two separate diamonds to one unified approach 💎- this transformation showed that UX leadership isn't about having authority, it's about creating space for collaboration to happen.
Impact
🤝 Strategic Collaboration
Turned designers into strategic collaborators by replacing handoffs with co-creation
📈 Broader Adoption
4 out of 5 UX designers began using the same collaborative model
🎨 Visual Storytelling
Raised the bar on storytelling, helping stakeholders communicate complex ideas more effectively
⚡ Rapid Delivery
Delivered a redesigned blueprint experience in 2 weeks — clearer, faster to navigate, and optimized for lead conversion
Results
"Working with Felicia brought UX and design together. We were able to discuss ideas early on in the process…which became a collaboration rather than line work and making a piece pretty. As a designer that made me feel more useful." Product Designer
"The pilot for this product has been very successful... It has been such a huge benefit to the designers, and the results were amazing." UX Director
