• Bio:
  • I’m a San Francisco based user experience design consultant specializing in solving problems for my clients.

• More info:
  • A longer biography is below if you’re interested in more about me. This site contains some my previous design work for digital products for a wide variety of corporate clients and their digital products online properties.

• What I look like:
  • Yes, that’s my ‘headshot’ to the left. I’ve thought about something more ‘corporate’ looking, but I’m not really a corporate headshot kind of person per se.

Here’s a visual describing I work as a design consultant utilizing a number of tools in my toolbox, including:

What I do – a longer text description:

• I’m a designer:
  • I use my analytic and creative skills to solve problems and create beautiful products, services and user experiences. Accurate, critical analysis, holistic, design thinking and systems thinking, creative problem solving – the skills I’ve honed as a professional user experience design consultant – are now the skills I bring to the growing field of sustainable design consulting.
• I’m a builder:
  • I transform the problems clients have into concrete requirements, and those requirements can be met by creating successful products and solutions that solve the client’s problems and can be measured – setting the stage for happy clients, and enthusiastic, passionately committed customers. I’m a ‘full service’ design consultant – which means I have experience working from defining the problem, to creating the solution.
• I’m a consultant:
  • I am fully versed in all aspects of user experience design – from business analysis and requirements gathering, to information architecture, content strategy and interaction design, as well as additional related disciplines such as usability engineering and production (including graphic design and Web development). I’ve had a variety of clients, products, project lengths, roles, statuses – no matter my experiences, I’ve learnt to succeed by listening to my users, and fulfilling my client’s needs.

My current availability:

• Work:
• I am available for work primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area although I am open to consulting anywhere the wifi can take me

• Volunteering:
• I’m also open to volunteer and nonprofit/NGO consulting – right now I’m volunteerworking with the Taproot Foundation on a project for a great nonprofit called Girls for a Change. Stay tuned for more information about the project shortly!

When not found creating great products and experiences for my clients, I’m engaged in a few activites (in no particular order):

• analyzing:
  • reading up on trends and issues in pop culture, design, politics and technology.

• creativity:
  • I love art, crafts, gardening, origami, and a variety of more creative and less analytical pursuits.

• traveling:
  • I adore travelling – both worldwide (including Burning Man), as well as closer to home (exploring the Bay Area).

I’m also interested in personal development – not in a hippie-dippy sense, but more like ‘improving myself, and helping my community’ sense. My list of personal goals is on 43 Things, and I’m currently giving back to one of my communities by being involved with the Taproot Foundation, a great San Francisco based non profit who help volunteers do pro bono work to help local nonprofits increase its impact.

Interested some of my ‘favourite things’? Check out the FAQ page for a breakdown on some of my favourite brands.

One of my interests is photography – you can find my photos on Flickr:

Here’s a more detailed biography on who I am and where I’ve come from. All links below open in a new window.

background: Rachel M. Murray is a designer – which means nothing delights her more than the intersection of business, design and technology where she’s always lived. Born and raised in her beautiful hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Rachel has brought her personal and professional experiences to her work as a user experience designer. Rachel grew up with technology at an early age – her first computer experiences in grade 5 in the early 80s was as a participant in the ‘CSILE’ (computer-supported intentional learning environments) study at the University of Toronto’s OISE (Ontario Studies in Education) program. Computers – and using technology – is literally second nature for her.

education: Rachel grew up not far from the University of Toronto, where she graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in 1999, with a major from the ‘Ethics Society and Law’ program at Trinity College, and minors in philosophy and psychoanalytic thought. The benefits of honing her critical thinking skills, and the knowledge that comes with a solid liberal arts education are ones she continues to reap every day and use professionally. Rachel has been online since the early 90s, creating various sites for personal and professional interests. Along the way, she has subsequently received two professional certificates – one from the University of Toronto (Faculty of Information Science’s Certificate in Information Design in 2005) and the other from Centennial College (Certificate in Web Development, 2002).

experience: Rachel has been professionally consulting since graduating from the U of T in a variety of disciplines related to user experience design. She’s expanded her skills to work mostly in the fields of information architecture and interaction design, doing analysis and design for a wide variety of clients – from startups to governments, from nonprofits to large corporations, and always with the same passion, expertise and enthusiasm for design solutions. Although primarily an user experience designer, she is also passionate about designing social media, strategy and sustainable design solutions – three of the key areas for the future of design and technology. Rachel relocated to the SF Bay Area in early 2005, where she continues to live, work, play and design.