Microsoft | Azure Developer Division

UX content design for developer tools

Cracking complexity

Designing for developers means I break down highly complex subjects into clear, efficient—yet still authentic—interfaces. My audience coverage includes new developers and experts alike; transparent communication is the through line.

Intentional pattern use

I redesigned a complex form that needed more strategic pattern use.

In this product example, users are creating a scale rule for an application. They can choose from a service template or work from a blank form—in either path, there are highly-technical fields to navigate.

I’ve shown the designs along with annotations I shared with partners.

What’s the core user action?

To communicate a feature requirement within the limited space of this radio selection, I combined a string with URL text to reduce cognitive load.

Users immediately know what’s required and where to complete the task, with less reading.

Research-driven iterating

Step 1: Align internally

At this stage, we had a lot of user feedback telling us which specific problems we needed to solve. Design-wise, that was a great position to be in—until we realized that we didn’t have alignment across the product team on how to solve those problems.

I created a new internal process where design and research interviewed all internal stakeholders to understand their mindmap of the product. We clarified audience segment, business outcomes, and specific jobs to be done.

I designed a feature over the course of several months and multiple user research studies. We had a clear problem to solve—and a challenging road to a solution.

Step 2: Draft designs

Once the team was aligned, we could start building a coherent solution. Given that much of our user feedback on past designs concerned confusing terminology, I worked to simplify the UX language according to the user jobs the team aligned on in step 1.

Step 3: Validate again

Then it was time to see if we’d addressed the core problems with the previous design.

I write scripts, work with motion designers, and refine voiceover audio.

I love writing for video and creating multimedia assets. It’s such an impactful way to expand reach and fill out the story between product interface, docs, and marketing channels.

Product video