Design practitioner for flourishing, healthy communities and the places they live in.

TOGETHER WE MIGHT…

Navigate complex systems

Build community trust with research

Design health promoting services

Reduce risk with strategic foresight


Services

Research & Systems Navigation

Helping leaders and teams to conduct primary and secondary research with mixed-method practices.

Output may include:

  • Actor mapping

  • Rich pictures

  • Interview reports

  • Ecosystem mapping

  • Literature reviews

  • Rapid prototyping workshops

Design & Workshops

Translation of data in its various forms from quantitative to quantitative into usable artefacts for decision making.

Output may include:

  • UX/UI Wireframe

  • Journey & Service Maps

  • 3D models

  • System Maps

  • Workshop Experiences

  • Graphic Design collateral

Strategic Planning & Foresight

Use of frameworks and sessions to break out of the present and look at the future through multiple lenses for better decision making.

Output may include:

  • Backcasts

  • Strategic planning reports

  • Scenario writing

  • Signals, Trends, and Drivers research

  • Horizon mapping

  • Objects from the future sessions


Work


Supporting early leaders to foster healthier workplace relationships with Parafoil

2024 - 2025

Human-centred UX/UI & service design for a digital leadership analytics application

Overview


Employer

Parafoil

Challenge

How might we help frontline managers build healthier, more trusting relationships with their teams through data-driven leadership insights, creating more psychologically safe workplaces?

Scope of Work

  • Interviews & Surveys

  • Value proposition testing

  • Virtual workshops

  • Journey & service mapping

  • Wire framing & Prototyping

  • User experience design

  • User interface design

  • Strategic planning

  • User interface design system

  • Agile product management

  • Minimal viable product (MVP)

Role

As the Founding Designer, I led all UX/UI research and design from concept to execution for the product MVP and Alpha launch. I worked closely with our Founding Engineer to create a user experience and user interface that simplified complex psycholinguistic data while being fast to implement. In developing Parafoil, I used HCD to guide a product market fit (PMF) approach.

Impact

Strengthened relationship to the problem area and user through mixed-methods researcher

Built wireframes and prototypes with Figma to enable rapid iteration with our full-stack engineer

Developed a product MVP and alpha that lead to beta user sign-ups and further rounds of seed funding

Designer a bespoke product experience to take complex, psycholinguistic data and create a usable experience for leadership growth for users

Example of Leadership Analysis

As we developed Parafoil, the presidential debate was taking place. We decided it would be a great way to test our leadership ontology and contribute to the larger discussion about leadership and democracy. Below is our report out…


The Power of Language to Shift and Reinforce Desirable Systems Transformation

2023

Synthesizing years of learning into published work of a framework for scaling community-oriented systems research and design

Overview


Conference

RSD12

Authors

Angie Eriko-fleming, Michele Fenlon, Ruslan Hetu

Scope of Work

  • Desk Research

  • Academic writing

  • Graphic Design

  • Conference Presentation

Abstract

Systems science, citizen science, design science, and data science come together to form a system of interconnected domains that, at their intersection, manifest a space for shared understanding to be cultivated and systems change to emerge. Language is the common thread that ties these four sciences together as it is both a medium in which systems communicate and a leverage point for introducing systems change. We propose that language is the fundamental building block for systems change because it is an expression of the innermost mental models we hold and use to make decisions and engage with the world around us.

In making visible the invisible mental models in language, we are able to catalyse moments of self-awareness needed for mental models to shift. Innovative technologies are emerging in the space of natural language processing that can assist systems change practitioners with analysing large volumes of unstructured language data to make visible the relationship dynamics, values and biases that underpin the language.

This paper discusses the importance of language in systems change and how systems practitioners can operationalise systems change using natural language processing technologies. We also propose an experimental framework for navigating unique styles of conversations within systems work and associate them with a relevant natural language processing tool.

Impact

Developed and shared with the larger community a framework for understanding language’s impact on systems change efforts


Collaboration Science Methods at Scale

2022 - 2023

Scaling community engagement and system methods for engineering accreditation in Canada

Overview


Client

Engineers Canada

Challenge

How might we apply and scale our community-centred research methods to engage hundreds of stakeholders across Canada’s engineering ecosystem to make visible the invisible dynamics of the current national accreditation system?

Scope of Work

  • Interviews

  • Virtual Workshops

  • Actor Mapping

  • Causal Loop Analysis

  • Gamified Systems Research

  • Periodical System “Snapshots”

  • Journey Maps

  • Digital Product Diagrams

Role

Working on the research team as a information design/systems mapping specialist, I co-led the research phase with the practice teams researcher and my data humanist teammate. I worked on primary and secondary research, building tools for workshops and system maps. Our work engaged over 200 stakeholders from the system to engage productively in revealing their mental models and talking openly about what was the true state of the system.

Impact

Strategic learnings to create a digital product offering to assist in scaling our methodology

Revealed relationships dynamics and supported deeper empathy among stakeholder groups

Informed 18 strategic recommendations for Canadian engineering accreditation


Creating inclusive hospital spaces amongst systemic tensions

2021-2022

Systemic service design aiding a healthcare system to listen deeply to its community and foster systemic change in care experience

Overview


Client

St. Paul’s Hospital and Coeuraj

Challenge

Use a collaborative design approach to transform a hospital’s entry experience to become safe and welcoming for a diverse community by engaging stakeholders in a co-design process.

Scope of Work

  • Desk Research

  • Interviews & Workshops

  • Framework development

  • System Mapping

  • Data Stewardship

  • Data Synthesis

  • Strategic Insight Planning

  • Final Report & Artefact

Role

As a contract Health designer on our small, 2-person research and data science team, I was brought in to co-lead the research, design, and execution of the mixed-method participatory research and system mapping with the community. I conducted primary and secondary research, facilitated workshops, built journey maps, mapped the systems at play, then synthesized all the data into system artifacts for leadership level strategic decision making. We engaged with over 160 stakeholders including Indigenous populations, marginalized community members, and hospital staff.

Impact

Revealed fundamental model difference of registered versus unregistered health needs

Built trust with the community through thoughtful mixed-method research approach

Co-created new language with the community leading towards empathy building within large care system

Methodological developments on internal research and design practice leading to subsequent RFP successes


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