Hi, I'm Sarah Ann!

I was named after both of my grandmothers, so I have two first names. My pronouns are she/her. I’m a curiosity-driven design researcher, with experience solving problems on both consumer-facing and business-to-business teams for data-driven products and human-centered services.

Currently, I’m expanding my knowledge of digital accessibility and inclusive design thanks to a scholarship from Deque University, as I pursue my International Association of Accessibility Professionals certification.

I earned my master’s degree in interaction design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. My studies deepened my understanding of human-centered design and challenged me to consider the unique research needs and ethical implications of emerging technology.

Understanding people and processes through research builds upon my foundation as a story seeker. My former career as a photojournalist taught me to share stories that promote empathy and understanding. Today, I apply those skills to produce user research that is communicated in impactful and actionable ways.

In my free time, you can find me curled up with a good book and a cup of tea, practicing aerial yoga, or pretending Prospect Park is my backyard. I’m always learning something new to fulfill my creative spirit. My latest nerdy-yet-artsy hobby is coding interactive generative art. ✨

Website designed & built by Sarah Ann Jump. Made with Webflow, Figma, Finsweet, P5.js & MixItUp. Featuring Swear & Vulf Sans by Oh No Type Co.

Sarah Ann Jump

LinkedIn ↗

Skills

card sorting 
ethnography
usability testing
heuristic evaluation 
in-depth interviewing
participant recruitment
qualitative data analysis persona development 
competitive analysis
data visualization
survey design
tree testing
A/B testing
people management
mentoring + coaching
ethical decision-making 
storytelling + communication
creative problem solving
project management
workshop facilitation
accessible design
participatory design
customer journey maps 
wireframing + prototyping
service design blueprints
information architecture
user flow diagrams
Respondent
User Interviews 
Optimal Workshop
Adobe Creative Suite
Dovetail, EnjoyHQ, Notably
Figma, Miro, Webflow
UserZoom, Maze
Jira, Confluence
Excel, SQL

Experience

  • As part of the Enterprise Trust team, conducted research to serve the mission of building customer trust by fostering a sense of control over their productivity tools cloud environment through platform and infrastructure enhancements.

  • Recruited enterprise research participants in influential roles from Atlassian’s top 1% of customers by collaborating with Technical Account Managers, careful to respect and maintain established customer relationships.

  • Creatively shared findings with stakeholders and shaped organizational research socialization practices by documenting processes and creating templates.

  • Represented research leadership in collaborative workshops with design, product, and engineering to strategize, ideate, and prioritize for the product roadmap.

  • Managed research participant data with informed consent, maintaining privacy practices and adhering to international regulations such as GDPR.

  • Atlassian: Controlling Change 🔗

  • Advocated for user needs based on qualitative and quantitative research for a machine learning-powered B2B SaaS supply chain risk management platform.

  • Designed, recruited, executed, and communicated the results of concept testing that influenced the design and product strategy for a high-priority new feature.

  • Spearheaded the development of 3 user personas based on 33 activity-based user interviews across various industries, areas of expertise, and countries.

  • Strategized engaging ways to communicate and socialize findings for alignment between engineering, product, design, and customer success teams. 

  • Developed research infrastructure by creating a strategy for recruiting participants for an industry-specific research panel.

  • Interos: Risk Analyst Personas 🔗

  • Designed and executed a qualitative, generative and evaluative research study that influenced the design direction of a data-driven, consumer-facing tool to promote skills-based career growth created by Citi's innovation incubator.

  • Collaborated with the Product Manager to develop and implement the first protocol for recruiting existing product users for research studies, leading to increased stakeholder exposure to users.

  • Shared findings with stakeholders in multiple actionable formats, including an interactive visual report, a presentation, and product team ideation workshop.

  • As part of the Citi University Partnerships in Innovation & Discovery program, led a collaborative graduate student product design team in the end-to-end process to create a high-fidelity prototype, which was the winner of Strategic Innovation in Product & Service Design competition. Role was then extended into a contract position to continue product research.

  • Citi Ventures: Reimagining Worthi 🔗

  • Led service design research and strategy to implement cost-effective solutions to improve The Herald’s digital products and innovate ways to reach new audiences, resulting in a 254% increase in page views and a sustainable workflow for journalists.

  • Conducted 250+ in-depth interviews and documented candid moments to tell 82 long-form journalistic stories that promoted understanding and empathy.

  • Hired, managed, and mentored a team of staff photojournalists and photo interns.

  • The Herald: Reaching New Audiences 🔗

  • The Herald: Love Is Not A Memory 🔗

Volunteer

  • Analyzes audience survey data and presents findings to leadership to help grow their audience and shape content strategy for the non-profit, which trains the incarcerated to publish their stories.

  • Supports the accessible document and website design and development process.

  • Supported the accessible website design process with the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease in mind.

  • Uncovered dozens of opportunities to improve the user experience through an accessibility audit, heuristic evaluation, and navigation tree testing.

Education

Master’s Thesis Presentation: Moolah 🔗

Moolah, my master's thesis project, was a concept of an educational platform that supports parents in learning about financial topics and raising money-confident kids.

Select graduate coursework included: Research Methodologies, Strategic Innovation in Product & Service Design, Ethics of Emerging Technologies, Digital Accessibility, AR/VR Prototyping

Senior Capstone Exhibition: First Comes Trust 🔗

New Roots, my capstone project, followed a Congolese refugee family through their first year of resettlement in Rochester, NY. Their story was told through an interactive website that I created to combine documentary photography, written reporting, audio, and data visualizations.

Courses completed:

  • Accessibility Fundamentals - Disabilities, Guidelines, and Laws

  • Basic Web and Document Accessibility for Content Contributors

  • Overview of the ADA: Basic Concepts

  • Section 508: Fundamentals of the Law and Technical Standards

  • Accessibility Program Management

  • Designing an Accessible User Experience

  • Semantic Structure & Navigation

  • Visual Design & Colors

  • Images, SVG & Canvas

  • Multimedia, Animations & Motion

  • Responsive Design & Zoom

  • Device-Independent Input Methods

  • Web Accessibility Testing: Basic Methods & Tools

  • Usability Testing for Accessibility


Curriculum Certificates:

Deque University Certificate of Completion. Sarah Ann Jump has completed the courses in the Designers Curriculum. 9 courses.
Deque University Certificate of Completion. Sarah Ann Jump has completed the courses in the Accessibility Program Management Curriculum. 6 courses.