Nicole brings a diverse knowledge base to her role, with hands-on experience as a marketer, web designer, engineer, and small business owner. This context is essential to her core functions as the Senior UX Designer, and she applies what she’s learned through her professional journey to her approach to optimizing the Raistone client experience.
A career change was not at the top of Nicole’s mind when a past colleague who had since joined Raistone reached out about the UX Designer position on the Product Management team.
The Product Management team translates client business needs into product features and assists with training, testing, and documentation. As a problem-solver and self-starter, Nicole was a great fit.
The company’s mission to equalize access to working capital resonated with Nicole because of her background as a small business owner, and the role would provide her with an opportunity to use all her varied skills.
“I knew this was my job, even though I had never been in the financing world or done anything finance related,” she said. “I was ready to be hired. Everything just clicked.”
One of the aspects of her job she enjoys most is the opportunity to conceptualize the project as a big-picture idea and zoom in on the tiniest details — such as a button on the Raistone website.
“I focus on those little things, but then I also take many, many steps back from that button, back to the screen itself, back to all the different pages of the site, and back to what we call the user flow or user experience,” she said.
Nicole collaborates with other teams at each stage in the process to achieve the best results. From communicating the ideal flow to the Research and Development team, to referencing brand guidelines from the Marketing team to maintain consistency, she ensures the user experience is smooth.
Most recently, Nicole worked on the newly launched Raistone Portal, which offers seamless and secure access to account information for existing clients, and also enables new clients to quickly get up and running with Raistone services.
“My work has been for those future clients,” she said. “What are their needs, and how can we better improve their experience in this process, which can be daunting? Because some of them are running their own business. I’ve been there as a small business owner, and I’ve worked directly with other small business owners,” she explained.
Nicole’s impressive ability to tackle a wide array of projects also applies to her life outside of work. She is a dedicated plant mom and skilled crafter, from crocheting and fiber art to illustration, Nicole stays busy.
“I recently got married, and my best friend gave a little speech. She said, ‘I’m warning you, just so you know, the one thing you always have to deal with is Nicole collecting more craft supplies.’ Which is very true,” she said with a laugh.
