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Hi, I'm Shira.

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I am a UX researcher and designer who solves hard, weird, and pesky problems.

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I can do both qualitative and quantitative analysis, and I can run user interviews and usability tests. I can use most prototyping tools and make pretty things, but I’m just as interested in the process of writing the brief as executing it.

 

I have a degree in math, experience in product management and journalism, and I'm working towards a master's in UX Design. I'm looking for opportunities in the Baltimore/DC area, or remotely.

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See my work below, and feel free to contact me at shira@kamiguera.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Code-Free Machine Learning

I was hired to design an interface where users could create, test, and share machine learning models without writing a single line of code.
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Showcased in this project:
  • Problem solving
  • Task analysis
  • Design

Not Your Grandma's Scrapbook

What happens when we try to streamline an intentionally messy and informal process? What are the risks and what are the benefits?
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Showcased in this project:
  • Task analysis
  • Problem solving
  • Information architecture
  • Design
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Pane Management

Can we allow users to be in two places at the same time within one digital product? This mini case study details my process for solving a fun little UX problem.
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Showcased in this project:
  • Problem solving
  • Interaction design

Better Google for the Non-typical Googler

What should a Google search result look like for a user who's systematically going through hundreds of them in a given day?  And what's the right way to show this user the enormous amount of data resulting from running a webpage through natural language processing?
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Showcased in this project:
  • Task analysis
  • Information architecture
  • Problem solving
  • Design
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Four Personas for Canvas by Instructure

Are personas actually a useful tool in UX? Does anyone make them well, anymore? Does anyone make them at all, anymore? Do they elicit eye rolls? Respect? Indifference? Would you have to be a fool to put them in your portfolio? I struggled with all of these questions as I was working on this personas-focused project for a graduate course at MICA.

Nevertheless, I attempted to create and use personas earnestly: as vivid fictional characters, firmly grounded in research, whom we can use as the center of conversations about users, their unmet needs, and the opportunities these needs create for the product. Since I'm passionate about education technology, I chose Canvas by Instructure as my product.
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Watch the final presentation I gave to my class above, and view the presentation PDF below.
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Chick-fil-A App Redesign

What do users gain and what do they lose when they order food from an app vs in person? And how can we design an experience to overcome the former and highlight the latter?
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My contributions to this project included:
  • Discovery research
  • Survey design, deployment, and analysis
  • User interviews
  • User tests
  • Actionable insights

Optimizing Airbnb for Groups

Decisions are hard when they have to be made by an informal group of people, and even harder when the options are seemingly endless.
 
How can Airbnb help friends who vacation together decide where to stay?
 
This solo project involved:
  • Survey design, deployment, and analysis
  • User interviews
  • User persona
  • Journey Mapping
  • Design
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