My path to User Experience began in the publishing world. My passion for hearing and responding to the voice of the customer enabled me to serve the organization in increasingly strategic positions.
However, when I discovered User-Centered Design, something monumental shifted for me. I knew that User Experience, and more specifically, User Research, was my calling. I observed how the methods of user-centered design fundamentally changed how we listened to customers, how we responded and how we included them in the process of development. Further, it changed the way our customers viewed us and how we viewed ourselves.
As I began helping additional organizations, I came to see user research for what it is: a foundational and pivotal point in an organization’s work where user insight has the capacity to powerfully improve customers’ experience of a brand, identify new opportunities and substantially improve a company’s bottom line.
Testimonials
“Heather is a UX professional who very much walks the walk. She is a UX professional who has changed an entire organization’s approach to how it makes and supports its core products.
She is a UX professional who promotes collaboration but who is also willing to lead effort. In fact, because of all of these traits and much more, I strongly offer this recommendation here on her behalf... she also possesses a wealth of experience in user-centered design, especially in crafting user profiles, creating prototypes, and eventually testing and revising materials for young users.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t emphasize her training capabilities. She easily could spearhead any efforts to teach organizational groups, such as development teams, the essentials of UX.”
-Brian Still, Director Usability Research Lab Texas Tech
“Heather Sutton is a big thinker….about many things marketing-related. But what I enjoyed about working with her the most was her steadfastness in thinking about the customer in BIG ways.
Heather brought true empathy and creativity to the user experience and it was her first and foremost priority in all brand-building projects.”
-Andrea Syverson, President IER Partners
"The secret to designing an intuitive user experience is making sure that the conceptual model of your product matches, as much as possible, the mental models of your users. If you get that right you will have created a positive and useful user experience."