About
Hi, I'm Cheryl! I'm a designer, researcher, and educator passionate about working with equity-seeking communities to create designs.
I get the most excited when my collaborators realize their needs are directly translated into tangible designs, and when the designs are able to shift existing power dynamics.
I'm currently based on the unceded and ancestral territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, otherwise known as Vancouver, BC.
Project Lead @ Health Design Lab
Service & Interaction Design Instructor @ Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Graduate student @ University of Victoria, Masters of Community Development
Currently
Senior Designer @ Inclusive Design Research Centre
Previously
See my full resumé on Linkedin.
My core roles
My bread and butter is user experience (UX) and service design that is highly iterative, research-driven, and deeply focused on achieving user needs.
Designer
Skills
Service design
Information architecture
UX/UI
Usability and accessibility testing
I have extensive experience with leading community-based participatory research that is inclusive to different communities, including disability communities, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and BIPOC communities.
Researcher
Design research
Co-design and facilitation
Participatory action research
Qualitative data synthesis
Skills
I find teaching and mentoring deeply meaningful, both in the context of a classroom, and in the context of leading teams and mentoring designers.
Educator & mentor
Curriculum planning and delivery
Public speaking
Team leadership
Stakeholder management
Skills
My core values
Why talk core values? Because I believe that designs are always embedded with values of its creators, and here are some of the values I aim to instill in every thing I create or facilitate.
I believe in using design as a vehicle to highlight and prioritize perspectives that have not been historically included. To me, this looks like deeply emphasizing lived experience, considering intersectionality with every decision, and creating accessible processes for engagement.
Equity & Accessibility
Integrity and accountability go hand in hand - to me, it looks like doing what you say you’re going to do. While it’s simpler said than done, I believe all designs need to be accountable to the communities it impacts most, and enabling these communities to be as involved in the decision-making as possible.
Integrity & Accountability
The people involved in design and research projects aren’t simply participants - they are collaborators and colleagues - their experience of the project is just as important as the outcome.
Care & Relationships
Let’s connect!
Got a cool project idea you want to share or work on together? Want to connect on shared interests and practices? Please don’t hesitate to reach out.