Case Studies
The best UX work I’ve done didn’t start with a design brief — it started with a question no one had asked yet.
These case studies document the work of building that capacity: the research that reframed a product direction, the design system that became cross-functional infrastructure, and the delivery model that moved an entire pipeline from coordination overhead to same-week iteration.
Each project is a different context. The method is consistent: go upstream, hold the frame, earn the trust.
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- Harmony Design System, Arcos, IncDesign Systems & Infrastructure
Harmony: A Design System Built for Machines
What happens to a design system when AI agents are first-class consumers, and how building two prior systems shaped the architecture that finally closes the gap.
- Arcos, IncSystems Architecture
The Handoff Is the Bug
How restructuring the design-to-dev pipeline at Arcos cut kickoff time from two weeks to three days: one shared design language for UX, engineering, and AI.
- Arcos, Inc. UX Leadership & AI DeliveryLeadership & Culture
From Delivery to Direction
What an AI-assisted delivery model revealed about where design creates its highest value, and why speed without clarity of purpose just accelerates the wrong thing.
- Arcos, IncUX Leadership
UX as Organizational Strategy
Arcos had no UX function before I arrived. Credibility, process, and relationships are what made design a necessary voice in what gets built, not just how it looks.
- TVH Parts Co.Design Systems & Infrastructure
Uplift: Fixing the Org Before Fixing the Design System
How moving design system engineers under UX ownership, then co-designing governance with an engineering advocate, turned a neglected component library into shared infrastructure across four brand tech teams.
- Arcos, Inc
Control Tower and Arcos Field: Embedded Field Research That Reframed a Platform
How 2.5 months of embedded research across 14 utility sites reframed a greenfield product from the ground up, and what it took to ship that vision through two rounds of scope cuts.
- BetterCloudDesign Systems & Infrastructure
Building Fulcrum: BetterCloud’s Internal Design System
How a shared design language cut prototype time by 40%, and what it revealed about cross-functional adoption.
- The Cerner Learning Journey Portal
Cerner Learning Journey Portal: Designing for EMR Adoption at Scale
Clinicians forced into EMR adoption by the ACA’s ‘meaningful use’ mandate weren’t resisting because they lacked information. They were defending professional identity. I helped Cerner redesign their Learning Journey Portal around that insight, replacing transparency with strategic opacity.
- BetterCloud Secure Platform
BetterCloud Secure: Redesigning Risk Remediation for IT Teams
How a manual audit of 86 remediation actions across 5 apps shaped a design sprint, producing three capabilities that tested well with users and leaving a design system that outlasted the project itself.
- Athens State Online Degree Microsite
Athens State Online: A Microsite Built for Graduate Enrollment
A content-rich microsite for Athens State’s online programs, built with SEO-first IA and journey-mapped landing pages. It drove a 20% increase in graduate enrollments.
- Peru State Online Degree Program Marketing Pages
Peru State: A Tiered Landing Page System That Beat Conversion Goals
A three-tier landing page system built around the student decision journey, tested iteratively and shipped in 15 pages. It exceeded both visitor-to-lead and lead-to-applicant conversion targets.
- jason.sonderman.infoAgent-Facing Systems Design
The Content Is the API
This redesign shipped three systems that looked like one reusable pattern. They weren’t. Here’s how I figured out which one actually was, and extracted only that.
- Arcos, IncField Research & Product Definition
The Notebook in the Truck
A lineman kept a paper notebook to check his time entry against, because payroll had gotten it wrong before. Building mobile time entry for utility field crews at Arcos meant tracing that notebook back to two mistakes baked into the data model, not the screen.