Hi. I’m Patty Costello.
I am a User Experience Researcher with 10+ years of experience in applied research, research design, interviewing, journey mapping, and testing users to understand needs and pain points. I am accomplished at providing actionable insights to diverse industries including higher education, medical device companies, local and federal governments, and consulting companies.
My work.
I hold a PhD in Neuroscience with minors in Cognitive Science and Human Factors from the University of Minnesota. I have worked on and off in the UX field since the early 2000s, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
I’m based out of beautiful (and growing!) Boise, Idaho. I love to brainstorm UX projects while drinking coffee.
My fav projects
City Transportation Site Testing
“Transportation demand management” or TDM focuses on understanding how people make their transportation decisions. The TDM calculator tool was developed to help developers pass their development plans to the city of Los Angeles in order to meet LA’s Mobility Plan 2035 goals. We asked: Are developers able to successfully complete tasks using the TDM Calculator website?
Student Portal Improvements
The Student Portal is a university student’s gateway to their online classroom and other resources. I asked: What is a student’s journey when they log into their online student portal? What additional features and links in the student portal would be most valuable to students? What online classroom elements should be directly accessible from the student portal?
Learning Platform
Learning engagement platforms are designed to help online educators create an engaging experience for students in their online classrooms. I was asked to research a platform to ensure that it was a good fit for the market; find out what educator personas liked the platform and who did not; and to better understand the educators in order to prioritize the product roadmap to improve student outcomes.
National Voter Registration Form
The National Mail Voter Registration Form (NVRF) can be used to register to vote or to update existing registration with a change of name, address, or political party. The current form is a (very long) fillable PDF that can also be printed and filled out by hand to be mailed. I am the UX researcher tasked with updating and shortening the form, which will become a modernized form containing state-specific instructions. I first conducted a heuristic evaluation to identify design errors. The next phase will involve usability testing with voters. Eventually, there will be a new NVRF that is usable for everyone!
Student Journey Mapping
As part of an undergraduate program Capital Investment Proposal funding request of $1.1 million, I was asked to create student journey maps. I looked at the approximate timeline a student would stay within each phase of their journey, the tasks and actions a student would perform, the pain points, problems, and challenges the students face, and what touchpoints the students had along their journey. Creating journey maps allowed me to identify key areas for enhancements such as improved engagement with students at the various touchpoints, workload management in the classroom, and course content relevance.
Life Insurance Strategy
I am part of a team conducting in-depth interviews to help understand opportunities and barriers that might affect a successful financial influencer (“finfluencer”) marketing strategy for a life insurance client seeking to engage with new market segments. We are exploring the current UX journey with target audiences. The interviews will help uncover motivations, fears, needs, and aspirations of social media users who follow and engage with finfluencers and seek out finance-related content. The interviews will help identify pain points and opportunities for improving the overall user sign-up experience.
Vote.gov website
I am currently the UX researcher for the Federal vote.gov website. My cross-functional team is tasked with modernizing the website as part of an Executive Order (EO) on Promoting Access to Voting. We are working on an updated site for the 2024 presidential election. I am interviewing specific groups of people addressed in the EO. I will also conduct usability testing on the enhanced functionality and content. With millions of annual visitors to this website, this is no small feat!
Civic Tech Jobs
I was on a Code for American team that is designing and testing a new website for civic tech jobs that will connect Hack for LA volunteers with project roles. The new website will replace an existing (and confusing) Github board. The main goals are to ensure that the new website looks appealing, is easy to navigate, and also makes new volunteers excited to join the organization. The new website should also make it easy for existing Product Managers to post roles and attract volunteers.
What’s next?
User Research should always be an integral part of product development. I own a freelance business called Costello UX Research Consulting. Let’s chat about your next project!
