Who I am

Hello! I am a Cognitive Scientist and UX Design & Research leader with 8+ years of experience across retail, ecommerce, and product. I am deeply curious about people, and I believe that an open mind and an accepting heart are immense assets in research and design, because people tell you what they need if you listen carefully — and show you what they need if you watch closely. Visit my portfolio.

Alicia Hammond by the numbers:

• Directed UX strategy, research, and design operations across 5 departments, owning a $600K research & design budget as the first UX hire at a growing company

• Took a player-coach approach leading a team of 3 researchers and 2 designers, advocating for and rolling out a company-wide design system and research-first culture across 3 products

• Led an original low-fidelity concept through a full end-to-end redesign in 9 months — personas, user flows, site maps, high-fidelity prototypes, and rollout — helping the organization go from 0 to 40% of revenue from its product portfolio in under 2 years

• Served a financial media publication with 800,000 premium subscribers and 1.5 million free monthly visitors, supporting 15+ departments with a move toward an omnichannel research framework

• Plans, executes, analyzes, and communicates research with rigor and efficiency, conducting 85 moderated and 225 unmoderated interviews in a single year

• Mentored 10 researchers and 2 designers over the past 7 years

• Educated students in Research Methods, 200+ to date

Core Skills

I can trace a direct line from my first experience working in a lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant to my current work directing UX strategy, design systems, and research that shapes product and business outcomes.

Research: Qualitative

• User Testing

• Contextual Interviews

• Exploratory Interviews

• Card Sorting

• Tree Testing

• Grounded Theory

• Content Analysis and Audit

• Participant Recruitment

Research: Quantitative

• Survey Design

• Inferential Statistical Analysis

• Descriptive Statistical Analysis

• Experiment Design

Additional Skills

A natural teacher, I have worked extensively in higher education and bring a unique teaching approach to my relationships with colleagues and stakeholders. My time in academia, in retail, and as a research consultant for small businesses has left me with a lot of unique experiences. While not strictly design or research skills, wearing multiple hats across industries informs and adds richness to my practice, and I have developed the following skills:

• Product Management

• Change Management

• Content Marketing

• Cultural Competency

• Diversity & Inclusion Theory

• Copy Writing / Writing for the Web

• Retail & Ecommerce Operations

Software Competencies

In addition to these core skills, I am comfortable using the following software systems:

• R

• SPSS

• Active Campaign

• SquareSpace

• Canvas LMS

• Shopify POS & CMS

• FastSimon

• Square

• Adobe Photoshop

• Adobe Rush

• TypeForm