A platform built to convert
When I joined PERQ Software in 2015 as Lead UX Architect, the product was conceived as an additive technology layer — a set of branded, interactive experiences a customer could deploy directly on top of their existing web platform to drive lead generation and conversion. The three core business verticals were multi-family dwelling communities, automotive dealerships, and furniture retailers.
My initial mandate was to design a wide array of templates that powered PERQ's lead engagement and conversion platform. These experiences ranged from credit pre-approvals and shopping guides to purchasing quizzes and reward-based interactions — each one engineered to attract and educate buyers while producing higher-quality, more qualified leads for sales teams.
Customers didn't want to do it themselves
The templates proved highly effective — attracting buyers, educating them through the funnel, and converting to stronger leads. But testing the platform in the hands of real customers revealed a critical insight that would reshape the entire business model: PERQ's customers had no interest in setting up and managing their own experiences. They wanted PERQ to do it for them.
"Customers weren't buying a toolkit — they were buying an outcome. They wanted PERQ to create bespoke, data-driven consumer journeys within their own business context. That changed everything."
This pivot — from self-serve templates to fully custom, data-driven consumer experiences — meant that the product's value proposition fundamentally shifted. Instead of giving customers a platform to build on, PERQ would become the designer and operator of unique experiences tailored to each client's brand, audience, and conversion goals. The demand quickly outpaced what a single UX architect could deliver.
From sole architect to department lead
The pivot required me to transition quickly from being the sole UX practitioner to building and leading an entire UX department. I hired, onboarded, and developed a team of six UX designers and researchers who could execute custom experiences at the same quality level I had established — but across a much larger volume of client engagements and at a pace the business demanded.
Building the team meant more than filling seats. I developed career path rubrics that gave each designer a clear understanding of where they were and where they could grow. I ran regular one-on-ones, provided structured feedback to both new hires and existing team members, and evaluated performance against meaningful UX craft standards. As the team grew, I also took on an elevated stakeholder role — representing UX strategy and priorities directly to PERQ's leadership.
Building the foundation that made scale possible
A team of six designers producing custom experiences across three verticals can only maintain consistency and quality if it's supported by strong infrastructure. I developed a research and development strategy for the team, established best practices for approaching projects, and built the design systems and tooling that kept work aligned and accelerated delivery.
Alongside the design system, I adopted agile delivery methodologies to bring structure and rhythm to the team's workflow. Scrums, story pointing, backlog grooming, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives became the operational backbone — giving the team a shared language, predictable cadence, and a built-in feedback loop for continuous improvement.
Custom, data-driven journeys across three verticals
With the team, infrastructure, and process in place, PERQ's product could deliver fully bespoke consumer experiences at scale. Each vertical required a distinct UX approach — automotive buyers needed credit pre-qualification flows and inventory-driven shopping assistants; multi-family prospects needed floor plan explorers and community comparison tools; furniture shoppers needed style quizzes and purchase configurators.
Designing for how consumers actually engage
As mobile usage across PERQ's three verticals grew, ensuring that every experience translated seamlessly to smaller screens became a core design priority. Rigorous mobile UX reviews were conducted to audit interaction models, evaluate touch target sizing, assess reading legibility, and identify friction points unique to the mobile context.
Motion design played an equally important role. Static screens couldn't fully communicate complex interaction models — especially for multi-step flows involving floor plan exploration, product configuration, and guided quiz experiences. Motion studies were developed to document and validate key interaction sequences before they reached engineering.
From one designer to a scaled UX operation
PERQ was where I made the transition from individual contributor to people leader — and where I learned that the hardest design challenge isn't the interface, it's the organization. Building a team that can consistently produce excellent, custom work requires the same human-centered thinking as designing the products themselves: understanding what people need to do their best work, removing the friction that blocks them, and creating the conditions for growth.
The design system, the agile process, the lunch-and-learns — none of these were overhead. They were the product. They were how six designers could operate as one cohesive team and reach one million consumers without compromising on quality or speed.