At Instructure, I’ve worked across two very different but equally rewarding areas:

Canvas Studio: designing user-facing features like lightweight captioning and media tools.

InstUI: rebuild of our internal design system, including governance, design tokens, accessibility standards, and automated handoff processes.

These roles allowed me to dive deep into both user-facing problem solving and systems-level thinking. I collaborated closely with developers, accessibility engineers, and other designers, working on everything from interaction patterns to foundational design tokens. The work demanded a high level of precision, adaptability, and long-term thinking.

This chapter of my career has been about leveling up how design operates at scale – building tools, frameworks, and standards that help teams move faster, stay consistent, and deliver more accessible experiences.

I started by designing customer-facing flows like bill payments, offers, and landing pages. As the company shifted to a new tech stack, I became a Lead Designer on a multi-year digital transformation that rebuilt all major digital touchpoints – including the self-care portal and the convergent webshop.

In this role, I led a hybrid team of internal designers and external contractors, collaborated with business analysts and development leads. I was responsible for delegating tasks, and ensuring quality and consistency. It was also during this time that I adopted Figma (very early in its release), establishing it as our primary design tool.

This role sharpened my design leadership and systems thinking on an enterprise scale and complexity.

Although not a traditional workplace, Codecool was a turning point in my career. The bootcamp was structured like a full-time job, with agile ceremonies, team projects, peer reviews, and constant collaboration – all designed to reflect how real product teams operate.

Over the course of a year, I worked through intensive modules covering Python, frontend development, Java, and C#, each culminating in team-based projects. This is where I first encountered agile workflows, standups, retros, and version control – and where I discovered my passion for product thinking and cross-functional collaboration.

It also gave me something I still use every day: the ability to explain technical concepts clearly, whether in stakeholder meetings, design reviews, or team presentations.

This was a bit of an in-between chapter in my career, where I stepped away from digital product design and leaned into more traditional graphic design work. I was responsible for creating menus, promotional materials, signage, and in-house decor across all six venues.

Alongside design work, I coordinated with vendors, managed production, and solved ad-hoc tech and operational issues. The experience taught me resourcefulness, organization, and how to communicate effectively with non-design stakeholders — skills that remain invaluable in fast-paced product environments.

My first professional design role, where I managed product pages, created launch assets for major video game titles, and designed campaign landing pages. I also supported marketing with newsletters and print materials.

Beyond the design work, this is where I learned the fundamentals of working in a fast-paced environment: collaborating with developers and marketers, managing multiple requests at once, and balancing creativity with commercial goals.