Sonya Badigian
UX Researcher
Durham, NC
Sonya Badigian
UX Researcher
Durham, NC
I’ve always been fascinated by new technology, but frustrated at the frequent imbalance of form and function. When, during my undergraduate computer science work, I first learned about human-centered design and user research, it resonated deeply with me. Today, I spend most of my time designing and conducting sessions that give users a chance to show me how the software they’re using can work better for them — I get to listen closely, and translate their joys and frustrations into design recommendations. At the core of my work, I’m excited to connect with people and help humanize the software they use.
Recent Work
- Enterprise Security Firm — I have led 5 rounds of qualitative user research for an $18 billion multinational whose products include enterprise digital security software. On these projects, I recruit and interview highly specialized target audiences (e.g. cybersecurity executives). My work spans the entire software design process, from market validation of a potential new product to testing granular usability aspects of software prototypes.
- Fortune 500 Financial Company — I run recurring research with an enterprise financial services company to help them build and improve their internal software based on employee feedback. I also help recruit and run studies that test their website and mobile application for consumers.
- WCG Clinical — I co-led a 5-day intensive design sprint with a team at WCG, a 50-year leader in the clinical trial space. I facilitated collaborative research and design exercises throughout the week, and helped the team arrive at solutions that present data in the most usable and meaningful scenarios to users.
- National Fire Protection Association — I was the lead researcher for two rounds of our usability and concept testing of NFPA’s CodeFinder platform. I designed the research, moderated all qualitative research sessions, and facilitated both stakeholder workshops.
- Herman Miller – I led a round of interviews and research sessions to help a modern furniture company establish research-based personas for online shoppers on Design Within Reach. I then co-led a persona workshop with their UX and Design teams to solidify those personas and help the team create customer journeys.
Past Experience
- Worked at an open-source nonprofit in Charlottesville, Virginia, that is helping to democratize the world of academic research. I helped them redesign their website and information architecture and imagine their offerings as interconnected services. I also helped them make improvements to a new service based on user feedback.
- Completed a service design project for MasterCard as a capstone project at Carnegie Mellon. With a team of four over 8 months, I designed and conducted research with users in Pittsburgh and prototyped a complete map-based service that met MasterCard’s goals.
- Worked on an in-house security team at Cisco that monitored network security and kept track of potential threats that were targeting large American companies.
Education
- Masters of Human Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon
- B.S. from University of Rhode Island, in Computer Science
Outside the Office
- I play traditional American string band music, traveling during the year to attend related events across the country.
Sonya’s Toolbox
- Qualitative User Research
- User Interviews
- Usability Testing
- Affinity Mapping
- Problem & Market Validation
- Design Thinking
- Workshop Facilitation
- Personas
- Journey Mapping
- UX Evaluations
- Content Testing
- Prototyping
- Design Sprint Facilitation
- Information Architecture Research