Hi, I’m Amy!
Who I Am as a Designer
I am a Learning Experience Designer who looks at the entire learning journey — not just the moment when information is delivered. I design with a systems lens, paying attention to the structures, expectations, relationships, and constraints that shape how learning is experienced in real contexts.
People don’t encounter learning in isolation — they experience it inside workplaces, power dynamics, time pressures, and emotional realities — and my work meets them there.
Across my work, I focus on removing the barriers that make learning harder than it needs to be — not as an afterthought, but as the conditions that enable learning to work for real people.
My goal isn’t just for people to complete a learning experience, but to feel oriented, respected, and supported enough to use what they learn in meaningful, sustainable ways.
How I Design for Access, Meaning, and Real-World Use
Learning is both an act of doing and an act of meaning-making — and it only works when the conditions for engagement are present. Too many experiences assume learners start from the same place, understand instructions the same way, or interpret content without emotional cost. These aren’t compliance checklists — they are the conditions that determine whether a learning experience actually works for the people who use it.
My work starts with four questions:
Can people reach and use this?
Can people make sense of it?
Can people engage fully without fear or shame?
Can people use it beyond the course in real contexts?
These questions form the foundation of my design principles.
Core Design Principles
These four principles look at accessibility as more than technical compliance — they consider whether people can reach the learning, make sense of it, stay present with it, and carry it into their real world.
Beneath each principle, you’ll see three small buttons that represent different ways of engaging with the idea:
Lightbulb — Belief: the core idea behind the principle.
Question Mark — Guiding Question: how I use this principle to notice barriers and make design decisions.
Magnifying Glass — In Practice: a grounded look at how this shows up in real learning environments.
Design Signatures
These principles are reflected throughout my work in the form of design signatures, which are recognizable ways my perspective and values take shape in the experiences I design.
The signatures below highlight some of those through-lines in my practice.
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I design with the understanding that learning is shaped by context, identity, lived experience, and belonging. People don’t simply receive content — they bring fears, expertise, responsibilities, histories, and constraints into every learning environment.
Grounded in adult learning principles, I begin by understanding those human conditions. This isn’t a preliminary research activity — it’s the foundation that determines whether learners can make sense of the material, feel safe engaging with it, and see themselves inside the experience rather than working around it.
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I design with the understanding that access is not something learners should have to request or negotiate. I look for barriers that are structural, cultural, cognitive, or technological — especially the invisible ones that place extra labor on some learners more than others.
Rather than treating accessibility as an accommodation step, I build it into the foundation of the experience, so people aren’t forced to translate, self-advocate, or work harder just to participate.
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I use storytelling and character-based scenarios to support comprehension and sense-making. Story is one of the ways people make meaning: we understand ideas more deeply when we can see how they unfold in real situations, decisions, and relationships. Narrative gives structure to complexity, helping learners organize information, recognize patterns, and connect concepts to lived experience.
I also design characters with depth and authenticity so learners can see the humanity inside the situation. Empathy becomes a pathway to perspective shift — emerging through nuance, context, and lived realism.
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I design with the belief that clarity communicates care and respect. When the flow of the experience feels intuitive — and instructions and interactions are easy to follow — learners don’t have to spend energy figuring out what to do next before they can engage with the thinking inside it.
I focus on reducing avoidable cognitive noise by organizing information in purposeful ways, pacing complexity with intention, and designing pathways that help learners feel oriented and confident as they move through the experience. When the mechanics fade into the background, attention can stay with meaning, reflection, and practice.
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I design with the belief that empathy can be built into the way a learning experience responds to the learner — especially in moments of uncertainty or hesitation. It shows up in small interactions: how feedback is written, what happens after a mistake, how much choice someone has in how they participate, and how the experience meets them when they need more time or take a different path.
In practice, this means writing feedback that is informative rather than corrective, treating mistakes as part of the learning process, and offering options that reduce pressure rather than adding it. My aim is for the interaction itself to feel respectful and steady, so learners don’t have to work around the experience while they’re trying to learn inside it.
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I design with the understanding that learning doesn’t end when the module closes. It has to make sense in the real contexts where people work, make decisions, and support others. I try to design experiences that connect to those realities — the tools people use, the constraints they navigate, and the kinds of situations they’re likely to encounter.
That also means creating supports that live beyond the course itself — resources people can revisit, job-adjacent tools, and structures that help ideas re-surface at the moments they’re actually needed. My goal is for learning to feel usable and portable, rather than something that only exists inside the training environment.
What We Can Achieve Together
When we work together, we design learning that supports people — and the systems they work within. My approach looks at the human experience of learning as well as the structures, constraints, and environments that shape it.
Together, we can create learning that:
Removes barriers to participation and sense-making
Honors learners as whole people with diverse needs
Aligns with real-world contexts and workflows
Shows up in the moments when people need it
The goal isn’t just better training — it’s learning that fits the way people actually live, work, and make decisions.
Who I Am Behind the Screen
Curiosity is the deep thread running through everything I do. I’m drawn to the patterns beneath the surface—the emotional cues, the untold stories, and the unexpected details that reveal what people need to feel grounded and connected. Outside of design, I write, learn, and create alongside my kids. I pay close attention to the small moments that make us feel human: a shared laugh, a piece of music, or a question that opens a new door. Those moments of attentiveness strengthen the way I design for dignity, clarity, and belonging, and I bring that same sense of wonder into every partnership and every project.