Limassol
Design Leader, Manager, Strategist | Parsons Educator
Product, Service, UX/UI, Research, Business, Branding, Communication
Based in New York
Professional experience
Parsons, The New School
Professor & Manager
Behance.net/redzebra
Linkedin/in/ limassolzok
+1 (929) 563-8032
limassol.zok@gmail.com
15 years of experience.
Human-centered design leader; managing projects and guiding teams to strategically implement design thinking methods to create innovative products, services, and businesses.
Led teams at McKinsey for 6 years through the Product Design and User research process, aligning them with success metrics.
Guide, teach, and mentor undergraduate students on design thinking methods.
Expert in distilling research insights into meaningful solutions and developing prototypes that address human needs.
Balance customer needs with business strategy and tech limitations, collaborating with engineers, managers, and designers to implement digital solutions.
Manage stakeholders through creative workshops, and develop personas, user journeys, user flows, audits, research plans, and rapid prototypes.
Expert in Visual & Communication Design and experience in Project Management.
Professor, Capstone, Innovation & Design Strategy (Products & Services) 2024
Driving innovation initiatives by instilling Design Strategy best practicing, while guiding, teaching, and mentoring BBA Strategic Design & Management program senior students, to prototype their business ideas and user test them, while establishing sustainable business models, and curating effective go-to market strategies.
> Student projects themes: Fashion tech, Art curation, Airport navigation, Urban intervention, Alcohol brand authenticity, Perfumery, Indie fashion promotion, Exposing colombian artisanry
Professor, Design Research Methods 2016-17
Led the strategic direction of innovative student projects around solving human needs, by teaching Design Thinking methods, including qualitative and quantitative research, while instilling best practices for applying them to real products and systems, while guiding and mentoring ~30 international students to deliver creative solutions.
> Student projects themes: Waste recycling product, Healthy food consumption service
Program Co-Lead & Manager, Parsons Entrepreneurial Lab 2014-16
- Managed the operations of the fellowship program that incubated ~30 Parsons startups in innovation
- Managed the website and social media accounts of the program, ensuring high visibility
- Coordinated events with partners in the legal and business space to aid startups for growth
Senior Product Designer (UX, Research)
- Led the re-design effort of the import flow of contacts into Mailchimp with focus on user testing, aligning to the company’s strategic vision, and implementing UX UI design best practices.
- Collaborated with peers on deploying new features for the Contact Table page, while, designing, managing, researching, and QA testing for the release, which impacted 8M+ users globally
- Strategically framed problems in decks for leadership, ran UX audits, and conducted usability tests
McKinsey & company
Product Design Leader (UX, Research)
2023-24 2017-23
- Led multiple projects and stakeholders through UX / UR frameworks, including user journeys and personas
- Designed campaigns and products that meet business needs, raise awareness for 30K+ users/employees
- Led projects in Recruiting and Cybersecurity with focus on user research, OKRs, and strategic vision
- Facilitated multiple workshops to gather insights from stakeholders around ideation, and problem prioritization
- Facilitated conversations with vendors and external partners to create compelling internal brand strategies
- Prototyped digital solutions using Figma based on findings from user research studies (surveys, interviews, etc)
Senior UX Designer Pearson
2016
- Designed the award winning annual report of 2012 and project managed the award winning report of 2013
- Branded, designed, and produced two issues of a cultural journal that focused on urbanism
Solidere LLC
Project Manager | Senior Designer
- Designed the award winning annual report of 2012 and project managed the award winning report of 2013
- Branded, designed, and produced two issues of a cultural journal that focused on urbanism
Art
Director Ethos Interactive
- Researched and benchmarked markets for digital platforms of big brands like IKEA, LG, and Burger King
- Art directed, conceptualized, and wireframed microsites and social media apps in a client-facing role
- Guided web developers with SPECS & guidelines to ensure high quality implementation of websites
Designer (Print, Branding, Digital) Polypod
- Conducted market research and engaged clients in brand positioning and strategic thinking
- Designed and named brands in Ukraine, Dubai, and Lebanon focusing on producing visual identities
Born Interactive
Web Designer
- Translated client briefs to information architecture and UX/UI of websites, focusing on storytelling
- Guided web developers with project guidelines to ensure high quality implementation of website layouts
Zok
Intuit, Mailchimp 2007 2008-09 2010-11 2012-14
DESIGN LEADER
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Limassol Zok
SKILLS
Product
Product Design, User research, Design Strategy, UX/UI, Branding, Publications, Identities, Presentations, Art Direction, Posters, Storytelling
Strategy
Design Thinking, UCD, IDEO’s Double Diamond, Innovation, UX strategy, Competitive analysis, UX audit, UX writing, User Interviews, User journeys, Surveys, Personas, Service blueprint, Market Research
Leadership
Teaching, Mentoring, Project management, Stakeholder management, Roadmaps, OKRs and KPIs, Strategic thinking, Problem solving, Kanban, Scrum, Agile, Workshop facilitation
Languages
English and Levantine (fluent), Spanish and French (intermediate)
TOOLS
Product
Figma, Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), User Testing, Dovetail
Collaboration
Miro, FigJam, Mura.ly, Microsoft Office
Management
Trello, Asana, Notion, Jira
Technical
Wordpress, Wix, Squarespace, Sharepoint, Basics of HTML and CSS
Design Leader,
Manager, Strategist
| Parsons Educator
Product, Service, UX/UI, Research, Business, Branding, Communication
Based in New York
Education
Linkedin/in/ limassolzok +1 (929) 563-8032 limassol.zok@gmail.com
Parsons, The New School MS in Strategic Design & Management
Graduated with honors; GPA 4.0; Capstone project was selected top 5; got incubated at the ELab
NNG Nielson Norman Group Certificate in UX Design
Completed 5 NNG courses: Mobile UX, Complex apps, Web design, Ideation workshops, UX metrics
AUB American University of Beirut BA in Graphic Design
Served as Teacher’s assistant for two courses: Color I and Color II
ESMOD Certificate in modelisme
Completed a course that focused on tailoring fashion items based on pre-designed patterns
Self-employed / Contracts
Design Strategy Advisor, AvaToday, 2016-2017
Guided C-suite through their Design Strategy based on market research, taking an innovative approach to benchmark and propose a vision focused on digital SaaS platform
Communication Designer, XRC Labs Incubator, 2016
Designed pitch decks of startups, with focus on storytelling, enabling them to seek investment
Strategist & Innovator, Offseat, 2016-2017
Created the business plan and product design of a mobile app for walking meetings, to help employees get productive and healthy at once
Communication Designer, Happold Consulting, UK, 2008
Designed the layout of a 400-page Strategic Plan document for the city of Jeddah, working closely with a diverse team of economists, architects, and urban planners
Freelance Designer, 2001-2014
Created visual design identities for various brands across the globe including a wine brand, a hostel in Rome, a board game for Green Peace, and a construction contracting company.
Recognition
Red Dot, Design Award, 2012
Co-designed the annual report of Solidere LLC, collaborating with other designers &managers, overseeing it through to production
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Teaching Excellence Award, 2016
As part of the learning experience at Parsons, our team flipped the classroom and taught the course in an innovative way.
Behance.net/redzebra
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