Principal UX Designer · Product Design · Design Systems · Experience Strategy

I Untangle Complex Problems and Design Experiences That People Can Actually Use.

I help teams make complicated experiences easier to understand, use, and improve, bringing clarity to the products, systems, and communications people need along the way.

What feels harder than it should for your users?

A collage of mobile screens from the ACES Program Explorer.

University of Illinois, ACES Program Explorer

Reframed program discovery around how prospective students choose.

I designed an interest-based Program Explorer that let students start with what interested them, not the college's department structure. The same model supported a focused recruiting view without a second build.

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Walmart, Experience Quality Strategy

Design Quality at Scale

At Walmart, I built practical ways for teams to make stronger design-quality decisions: risk-based review, training shaped by recurring issues, peer champion support, and portfolio prioritization.

As the organization grew, the work gave leaders a clearer view of where deeper support would matter most. It also gave teams a better starting point than routing every question through one specialist.

View the Experience Quality Strategy

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How I Work

Design the Experience

I turn complex content, needs, and constraints into clear interaction models, information architecture, and accessible behavior.

Make Quality Practical

I build standards, review paths, and decision tools that help teams catch issues earlier and avoid solving the same problem again.

Build Team Capability

I use coaching, training, shared tools, and clear escalation paths to help people become more capable, not more dependent.

Make Tradeoffs Visible

I bring product, engineering, business, and design into the same conversation when a decision affects the experience, the team, or both.

About Melissa

I started in graphic design, where I learned how thoughtful communication and visual clarity shape people's experiences.

Over time my work expanded beyond designing interfaces into leading the systems behind them. Today I help organizations strengthen design quality, improve collaboration, build team capability, and create more sustainable ways of working. Accessibility is a major strength in that work, but it isn't the whole story. Whether I'm building training, governance frameworks, or operational processes, I'm motivated by the same goal: helping people do their best work and creating better experiences for the people they serve.

Learn More about Me

Melissa Waller sketching an experience model on glass in a collaborative workspace.

Resume

See what Walmart and the University of Illinois achieved when I brought clarity to UX teams, design systems, experience strategy, and team enablement.

View Resume