Hi, I’m Karen.

My love for design has been a journey of discovery.

About me

case studies

Improving Sales Journey at
Aussie Chef Clothing

Aussie Chef management tasked me with the complete redesign of their existing website from the ground up.

Learn more

Achieving a North Star for
TfNSW's Opal

Transport for NSW tasked my design sprint team to take a futuristic view of the Opal app and plan out a future roadmap.

Learn more

Exploring Sky Country
with StarLore

A personal project exploring ways to bridge Australian Indigenous cultural stories with Astronomy.

Learn more

Building Customer Trust
with Pinnacle Oak

The exclusive commercial agent for renowned Famille Sylvain required our team to design a business website & branding.

Learn more

Graphics

As a UX /Senior Graphic Designer, I currently create design assets and content for my employers website.
I endeavour to tie all parts of their Customer Experience together - DM campaigns, social media, website, signage, catalogues, blog entries, packaging and other marketing materials.

I am highly skilled in graphic design, art direction, photo and video editing, and written content creation.
Take a look at some of my current and past projects.

Learn more

Testimonials

“It was an incredible experience working with Karen as her project supervisor and course mentor.

During these client facing phases, Karen's ability as a natural problem solver and an incredibly deep thinker proved pivotal when it came to the success of the client projects. Whenever there were moments of intense debate and potential fracture within the team, Karen's ability to provide clarity but also bring the team together meant that not only the projects stayed on track, but more importantly the final outcome provided significant benefits for our  clients and subsequently incredible value for their customers.

It's rare to find practitioners like Karen and can't wait to work with her again.”

Thiru Yoganathan

Academy Xi - Project Supervisor/Mentor & ANZ Experience Design Chapter Lead

“Over the past four weeks, we’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with the talented team and students
from Academy Xi's UX design program.

They were tasked with designing an app to help plan trips on public transport.

The final prototype they developed exceeded our expectations, incorporating traveller safety, accessibility needs, and providing a personalised experience for users. Bravo, team!”

Carmine Mastrantone

TfNSW - Senior Manager - Product Experience & Design

“Karen developed the graphics for IIDA’s Leaders Breakfast for Northern California (USA) for almost 15 years.

Leaders Breakfast is IIDA’s annual signature event for 500 attendees, for the Northern California Chapter (and globally) and a significant fund raiser for the organisation. She developed designs for the variety of graphics required for each annual event, including web-based informational pieces, physical and web-based invitations, podium graphics, centrepieces, table numbers, posters, and the event’s individualised PPT design. The graphics were designed by Karen to reflect the speaker selected for each year’s event. Speakers such as Amy Tan, Janine Benyus, Alice Waters, Paul Hawkins and Van Jones, to just name a few.

Karen became a valued member of our committee, and we grew to depend on her experience, insight and skills required for a successful event. Every year our attendees noted this was the “best event yet”, and that included the graphic designs developed for the program.”

Jean Hansen

Past Chair, International Interior Design Association (IIDA), Leaders Breakfast Committee

“The work performed by the XI team has been nothing short of amazing. The quality of work achieved in such
a short timeframe, and in such a specialised field has been impressive. In a short period of time, the team were able to understand the business, my USP, and the customer experience, to deliver an outstanding product. I would never have expected people from outside my industry to be able to speak with such authority on this specialised field.

The final product delivered has surpassed my expectations. The website design is beyond the scope I was envisioning, and as such, this has pushed me and my business into a more professional space. Without the XI team’s work, my website would not have reached the level of professionalism and detail it has. Thanks to the entire team!”

Andrew Munro

Pinnacle Oak - Owner and Director

“I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside Karen on two client sprints while studying at Academy Xi. Our first project involved developing the branding and website design for Pinnacle Oak, a new cooperage agency. In our second sprint, we focused on designing innovative solutions for the Transport NSW Opal app.

During the Pinnacle Oak project, Karen led the creation of a detailed information architecture, which laid the foundation for a functional and effective website. As the team lead for the Transport NSW Opal app, I entrusted Karen with overseeing the entire design process, from information architecture to final prototypes. Based on our previous collaboration, I had full confidence in her leadership, calm demeanor, and her ability to deliver outstanding results, even under pressure. Her innovative idea of a homepage that adjusted dynamically based on the time of day earned high praise from the client.

Karen is a creative, thoughtful, kind, and hardworking designer. Her ability to stay calm under pressure taught me a lot, and I wholeheartedly recommend her as a valuable asset to any design team. Her dedication and design talent truly make her stand out, and I would love to collaborate with her again.”

Sandra Massarotti

Product Designer - Academy Xi sprint team member