LendingHome
LendingHome 2017 - 2018
We believe the path to home ownership should be a positive, delightful journey.
At LendingHome, I led a team of fantastic designers towards our shared vision of the future. We believe the path to homeownership should be a positive, delightful journey.
After joining LendingHome in early 2017, I built the design org from the ground up. I led the effort to recruit, hire, and lead a diverse, talented team of designers. Together we created a thriving design culture and leveraged that energy every day in building the best experience for our internal and external audience.
As Head of Design, I led all visual, product, user experience, brand, communication, and marketing design. My team and I collaborated closely with product, engineering, business, and mortgage operations teams.
A few of my favorite projects:
Culture Videos
In collaboration with Cultivator Content Labs, we produced a handful of videos featuring the LendingHome team to share our stories and vision for the future of the mortgage industry. My role included all brand and creative direction for motion graphics and content.
Mortgage Calculator
In search of new ways to engage our audience in a more playful manner I came up with an idea for a new kind of mortgage calculator. My role was to lead all ideation, product development, visual, user interface, and motion design.
My team and I invented new ways to make slider UI go to infinity, sneak education into a fun experience, and crunch numbers with real mortgage rates all under the guise of exploration and play. An engaging success but short-lived before LendingHome took a pivot away from consumer lending. No longer on production, have fun watching the long capture of all the features, or the semi-cheesy internal demo trailer.
SF Pride 2018
Parade float, check. I didn’t see this one coming but was thrilled to dive in and build a visual theme for our LendingHome Pride Employee Resource Group to support our company participation in SF Pride Parade. I’m a sucker for rainbows, so this was an excellent opportunity to jump into some IC work and rethink a bold graphical treatment with basic colors (including our LH Sunshine Yellow). I produced some really fun swag to go along with the 30-foot float rolling down Market Street in San Francisco, proud to share our support for our Pride team and everyone in the LGBTQ community.
Hackathon 2017
The bi-annual hackathon was another fun internal project to boost morale and support collaboration across design, product, and engineering teams. We raised the bar for our event with a full internal campaign. I designed a visual theme and produced printed materials, posters, stickers, and presentation decks.
Swag
Like any good designer, I have Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles for Good Design hanging on the wall. One principle that I feel is often overlooked in our digital product world is #9, “Good Design is environmentally-friendly”. I’ve challenged myself and my team to take more care in designing swag that won’t go straight to a landfill (and take our brand along for a ride). We are creating more precious items for internal employees to treasure long-term as badges of honor, and more low-impact recyclable giveaways for conferences and events.
LendingHome HQ at 315 Montgomery
In the summer of 2017, we locked in a beautiful (and raw) new HQ space for our growing team. The top 4 floors of 315 Montgomery were rebuilt with thoughtful leadership from Blitz. I had the pleasure of contributing creative direction for finishes, color, furniture, lighting, layout, and signage. Carefully applying our LendingHome Sunshine Yellow with meaning and restraint, the results were spectacular and FAST. We put down roots in late November and are filling it up with hires and smiles every day.
Designing the Design Org
What I’m most proud of at LendingHome is building and leading this great design team. Starting from scratch, I designed the design org from every job description to every interview, every vision document, critique cycle, and every weekly 1:1 with my direct reports. The effort has paid off, our team can’t be beaten in smiles per day or quarterly employee NPS scores. My role is to help my team do their best work, providing them with challenges, opportunities, and the support they need to take risks and grow in their careers. I love what I do.
