About me

Photo of Michael StallingsI am a Senior User Experience Designer for Blackbaud, serving as design & research lead for several products, including our learning management system, higher education products, and billing management system.

My background is in HCI design and education, and I hold Masters degrees in both fields. Along with some wonderful co-authors, I’ve published a few papers over the years. You can check those out on Google Scholar.

Outside of professional life, I am a traveler, a runner, an aspiring bicyclist, and a volunteer.

Design skills

Axure RP
Sketch
Invision
Balsamiq Mockups
Adobe CC
HTML5/CSS3
User Research
Measuring Success

Process

Each project has its own unique qualities that influence the design process. This section outlines some of the methods and tools I use on a daily basis as a Senior User Experience Designer at Blackbaud.

Get in Touch

My generalized process

  • Research: Understand the space

  • Iteration: Learn through trial, error, and insight

  • Presentation: Communicate with context and clarity

  • Critique: Embrace rigorously honest feedback

  • Measure: Compare design goals with results

  • Reflection: Improve with experience

Research/Design Methods

  • Affinity Diagramming

  • Analytics

  • Card Sorting

  • Contextual Inquiry

  • Diary Studies

  • High-Fidelity Prototyping

  • Interviewing

  • Low-Fidelity Prototyping

  • Paper Prototyping

  • Personas and Scenarios

  • Surveys

  • Usability Testing

Portfolio

This selected portfolio is drawn from my design and research work at Blackbaud. Among other things, it includes examples of creating new product features, improving existing features, developing a prototyping toolkit, and applying a new UX framework on existing products.

See My Resume (PDF)

Contact

Want to talk? Send me a message below and/or connect with me on LinkedIn.

Connect on LinkedIn

Thanks for visiting!

I created this site and its contents using WordPress, CSS3, Axure RP, Illustrator, Photoshop, Balsamiq, and Sketch.

The About Me photo was taken by Natasha Komoda.