My experience in product design

A brief overview of where I’ve been and what I’ve done, specifically in the realm of product design.

About me, today

Most recently I was the Head of Design at BRYTER. Currently, I’m working as a consultant and writing a book about onboarding.

I have more than 13 years of experience in product design and design leadership. I’ve worked across the entire product design process—research and strategy to execution and iteration—and adapted my work to a variety of industries and circumstances. As a lead, I’ve built international teams and created resilient cultures, in-office and remote.

Above all, I aim to do good and to do it well. Through my work, I support people in their endeavours, big or small, for customers and for the teams I work alongside.

Read more about what drives me and how I work on my ReadMe.

I’m designing with Caribou, a design agency that I cofounded back in 2011, with Quinn Keast. These days my work is primarily on Caribou initiatives.

Visit Caribou.co

I’m expanding my onboarding resource, the up-to-speed script, into a book. Onboarding can be a challenging time but we can make it better.

Read about my book

Where I’ve been

A high-level glance at the range of organisations I’ve been a part of.

Industry

No-code

Roles

Product designer
Head of design

Size of org

100+

Audience

B2B
B2C

Platforms

Web app

Series

B

What is BRYTER?

A no-code automation platform targeting the legal industry to digitize and scale up services both in-house and for clients. With BRYTER, legal teams are expanding their portfolio of offerings and focusing on the most important problems, not the paperwork.

Highlights

  • Led design through the shift from product to platform
  • Shaped company strategy with the founding team
  • Scaled the design team to twice its size
  • Evolved design’s vision and built a resilient culture, including nurturing rituals and practices

Outside work hours

Co-founder and mentor, plug-and-play usability testing space for local start-ups in partnership with North Forge.

Co-founder and host, a meetup for the growing UX community in Winnipeg.

Instructor, Web Usability for the Digital Media Technology program.

My work, at a glance

A curated collection of screens and stories from my time in design and design leadership to give you a sense of my work experience and how I approach solving different problems.

Contact me for access –jen@jengoertzen.com

Collage of software screenshots and diagrams

Talks

The following is a selection of talks I’ve given over my career. Presenting has given me the opportunity to dive deep into topics that have shaped me as a designer and have thoughtful conversations with others.

Talks I would love to give again

To design for no-code: We need to stop talking about ‘no code.’

"No code" tools have an opportunity to shift the power dynamic of who can create solutions for the problems we face. But they are held back by the very teams behind those tools. As designers and developers, are we too close to the problem we aim to solve?

Let's talk about the "curse of knowledge" and how we need to change our mindset around those who don't code but will build.

Joining and knowing your new team: How to onboard yourself.

Onboarding is often a tension between learning the lay of the land and hitting the ground running, between fitting in and standing out. This tension affects our confidence and our ability to do our best work. I'll share the challenges we face as newcomers, why we face them, and a framework for a better, smoother start (for you and your new team).

This talk inspired my book.

Past events and presentations

To design for no-code: We need to stop talking about ‘no code.’

BRYTER Bar Camp

May 2022

Berlin Product Designers Meetup

March 2022

Growing into any role you want: How to thrive in any team.

New Media Manitoba

April 2021

The tension between inclusion & accessibility and the demands of product-market fit.

Roundtable at UX Copenhagen

March 2021

Joining and knowing your new team: How to onboard yourself.

UX Camp Europe

June 2020

IxDA Berlin

June 2019

How we design: Defining the problem space.

Guest speaker for Content Graz

May 2019

Context matters: How to get better use feedback.

Marley Spoon's Design Exchange

February 2019

Wire

February 2019

Ethics & Sustainable Design (or how to be a good human).

Red River College

January 2018

Navigating Cross-Functional Team Dynamics (Design & Dev)

Panel organizer and moderator at Prairie Dev Con

June 2017

Stop Reacting to Mocks and Own Your Product

Prairie Dev Con

April 2016

Contact

Work with me

A design consultancy called Caribou.

Find me

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