“I had the privilege of working with Liz across two different organizations. In both cases, I saw how she maintained an unwavering focus on talking to and understanding our customers. She has a talent for listening to a complex or vague problem and unpacking it to help articulate the fundamental questions that need to be answered in order to inform a business decision. And as far as determining how best to answer those questions, she knows which tools are likeliest to yield the most precise, helpful answers.
"I learned a tremendous amount from watching her orchestrate numerous focus groups, interviews, and surveys, all of which provided critical insights that helped guide the product roadmap. Her work influenced our decisions regarding communication channel investment, messaging strategy, and even led to key insights that caused us to question our specific on-page tactics, resulting in changes to certain CTAs. Liz is serious-minded while being funny, analytical while remaining empathetic. She's an asset to any organization who needs to understand its customers - that is to say, basically any organization. I would recommend her without reservation.”
- Adam Tao, Senior Product Manager at SpareFoot
"Liz was a joy to work with. First and foremost, she excels as a user experience researcher and design strategist and it’s clear to me she’s well-versed and comfortable in her craft. Liz knows the right questions to ask at the right time, is inclusive by being a great listener and folding stakeholder perspectives into the mix, and can clearly communicate uncovered insights and opportunities to all levels within the organization.
"I’ve witnessed Liz wrangle amorphous consumer and business research questions time and time again into well-synthesized artifacts and insights that inform overarching product roadmap opportunities, tactical in-flight product work, and spark valuable conversations that lead to new business initiatives.
"Beyond her core skills, Liz is inquisitive, has a great sense of humor, and made being on the same team feel like being around a good friend.
"At the end of the day, Liz is sure to bring an objective approach to understanding consumer and business needs and package it in a way that creates valuable business impact, all while being fun to work with."
- Kevin Walorski, Senior User Experience Designer at SpareFoot
"Liz is dedicated to her work and believes in her ability to drive meaningful changes that improve users’ lives. Before she joined SpareFoot we had a big need for real qualitative user insights. Liz established what would become the framework the company used to conduct user research. Results from this kind of research became the cornerstone of many improvements tested and made to the sites.
"A huge missing piece for us was the lack of real consumer personas. Liz worked over a few months to put the personas together. She worked with various groups in the company to gather data. The personas we used in product decisions were presented, well-received, and rolled out. This showed many good traits of Liz’s work and abilities.
"Liz is easy to work with. She will listen to other’s opinions and data, and have engaging discussions about differing views. Based on the time we spent together at SpareFoot, I confidently recommend Liz."
- Felix Del Rosario, former Product Manager at SpareFoot
"At IBM, I worked closely with Liz to support research for the product design team she is leading. Liz is a seasoned UX practitioner who brings so much passion and dedication in what she does. Moreover, she demonstrated her ability being a design team leader who will get things done, while overcoming various external constraints. Liz knows when to be assertive and when to take a step back. In the meantime, she is a great active listener who always tries to understand others' perspective. I am honored to have worked with Liz and wouldn't hesitate to recommend her for a senior UX role at any company!"
- Lan Guo, former Senior Design Researcher at IBM Design
"I worked with Liz for one of my past projects in IBM Design. I feel lucky to count Liz amongst my friends and co-workers and had an amazing relationship all around. She dove into embodying the role of Design lead for the project and always demonstrated superior qualities such as empathy, exchange of ideas, soliciting feedback, etc.
"I will always want to work with her in the future, should such an opportunity present itself."
- Soma Ray, former UX Designer at IBM Design
"Liz is a great design researcher. She excels at making sure the right things are built the first time around and works to get everyone involved in crafting the solution. She's a valuable member of any team she's on."
- Adam Peterson, former Product Designer at NetSpend
"I had the pleasure of meeting Liz when she was enrolled in my HCI class at DePaul. I later hired her to work as a UX designer at Transcend Innovation Group. Liz is impressive. She is talented, smart, witty, creative and passionate about design. Liz is able to see the big picture and overcome constraints in order to create designs that meet or exceed business goals and customer expectations. She is an incredibly talented designer and would be an asset to any organization."
- David Burns, President of Transcend Innovation Group, LLC
"UX people can come with a lot of titles– some call themselves customer evangelists while others take on the name of experience designers. Liz is not one to fall for the hype of titles, but, after working with her, I could confidently say the word "anthropologist" should be a part of her business card.
"She has a clever attention and empathy for her audience that is coupled with a calm and patient demeanor. She studies, analyzes and catalogs behavior to find the perfect sweet spot (forgive the cliche) that creates a fool proof and intriguing product. This is all done while meeting the business objectives of any project."
- Christopher Montwill, former Senior Art Director at Manifest Digital
"I value Liz because she is indefatigable, intrepid, and all those other words that mean she can’t be stopped."
- Meredith Payne, former Senior User Experience Architect at Manifest Digital
"I had the pleasure of working directly with Liz Dykes at the Ex-Students’ Association of The University of Texas (Texas Exes) and I can say that she always handled herself in a professional, productive manner. Liz is the type of employee we all like to work with - one who does whatever it takes to get the job done, and does so in a positive, accommodating manner.
"Combining her intelligence with a strong work ethic, Liz approached each challenge with vigor and a determination to succeed. Liz stepped in and admirably served as a one person department following the departure of the lead web developer, and then did a great job assisting in the hiring and training process for the new lead web developer. This was truly "above and beyond" her responsibilities, and for which, I am extremely grateful."
- Bill McCausland, former Chief Operating Officer at Texas Exes
"Liz has the innate sensibilities and strong communication skills required to be a highly effective interaction designer. Liz continually identifies opportunities to address audience goals and then balance them with technical and business constraints; she is a great advocate for the user. Liz's ability to collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams under changing requirements makes her a valuable asset, especially on marathon, big solution projects. Liz finishes what she starts at a high level of quality and consistency in craftsmanship and execution. I will gladly work with Liz again in future endeavors."
- Michael Long, former User Experience Practice Lead
"Liz is a skilled User Experience Designer with the right attitude and a pleasant personality that makes her a joy to work with. I would definitely recommend her as she has a keen ability to understand the users' expectations and the kind of proactive and positive attitude that makes everyone want to work with her. She knows how to deliver quality software."
- Dan Poage, former Senior Software Engineer at McLane Advanced Technologies