COEN
THORNTON

UX Research & Service Design Consultant

Designed and ran a three-method mixed-methods study (10 secret shoppers logging ~60 quantitative data points, 30 contextual inquiry sessions, and 10 semi-structured neighborhood interviews) to diagnose service bottlenecks at a specialty coffee shop, reframing wait times from operational issue into consumer retention and reputational risk.

Identified a single overtasked register handling six task types simultaneously as the structural bottleneck driving an 8:13 weekday and 13:37 weekend average wait time, well outside the five-minute industry benchmark.

Applied Jobs-to-Be-Done framing to surface two distinct customer segments (quick to-go and dine-in) flowing through a single undifferentiated service architecture, producing two-track workstation, staffing, and QR ordering recommendations that drove organizational role shifts before physical implementation began.

Earned a signed engagement to expand from research into service design by reformatting an unread report into a reverse-pyramid brief, then translating findings into a service blueprint, three-state task flow diagrams, and an AI-assisted scheduling system that saved the manager six hours per week.

Aligned cross-functional teams to pressure-test design proposals through FigJam mapping and live concept testing, which drove role realignment that shifted internal responsibilities before final implementation began.

UX Researcher

Designed and ran a self-initiated moderated usability study of the NYC Ferry App combining pre-task generative interviews with live think-aloud sessions, so every task failure traced back to a participant's own stated goal rather than researcher inference.

Surfaced a 20% task completion rate on route mapping (the app's core onboarding function) across five participants, with 4 of 5 saying they would abandon the ferry entirely, reframing a feature-level usability gap as a rider acquisition and conversion failure tied directly to NYC Ferry's growth goals.

Synthesized five sessions into three severity-rated insights and a unified emotional journey map, charting a consistent arc from curiosity to frustration to avoidance and translating qualitative data into design opportunities organized by impact.

Delivered five research outputs from a two-week solo study (persona, journey map, task data, severity-rated insight report, and a Figma prototype illustrating a route-first home screen redesign), covering the full arc from study design to redesign ideation.

Staff Counselor & Equipping Team Apprentice

Logged 3,500+ hours of structured and semi-structured 1:1 qualitative interviews across a five-year caseload of 20 to 30 clients, building expert-level fluency in non-directive questioning, longitudinal pattern recognition, and reading behavior beneath stated responses.

Joined a cross-functional product team to develop and iteratively refine a mental health workshop training MVP, contributing audience contextualization, content design, and post-workshop survey analysis to improve delivery across three successive cohorts.

Shaped the implementation approach for a dual EHR system integration as an internal workflow consultant, gathering structured usability feedback from clinical staff, identifying friction points, and delivering recommendations directly to leadership.

Clinical Case Manager, Bronx Adolescent Skills Center

Conducted daily structured 1:1 interviews with a caseload of 30 adolescent students, capturing longitudinal qualitative data on developmental patterns and barriers to emotional well-being using consistent session frameworks.

Designed and distributed over 100 short-form surveys to identify group therapy topic preferences, using participant feedback to iteratively refine programming content as an early applied example of feedback-loop research driving program design.

M.A., Counseling

B.A., Psychology & Global Studies

Data-Driven Design: Quantitative Research for UX · IxDF

User Research — Methods and Best Practices · IxDF

Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences · IxDF

AI Fluency Certified · Anthropic