Joshua Rudd

Hi. I’m Joshua Rudd, an outcome-driven product designer and strategist focused on helping teams identify and solve real problems.

I help teams research, test, and deliver digital—and some physical—products and processes that allow organizations to achieve their goals in beautiful ways.

You can find me on LinkedIn, Dribbble, GitHub, or out and about in Cary, North Carolina. I’ve also started sharing some thoughts and insights on Medium. Feel free to get in touch with me via email.

Selected Work

Experience

Director, User Experience

Aiwyn

May 2021 – Present

Remote
Design Lead

Vaporware

May 2019 – May 2021 (2 yrs)

Raleigh, North Carolina
Director, User Experience

UserVoice

Nov 2015 – Dec 2018 (3 yrs 2 mos)

Raleigh, North Carolina
UserVoice is a B2B SaaS platform that simplifies the arduous tasks of gathering user feedback, making sense of it, and making informed product decisions. During my nearly 10 year tenure at UserVoice I played many product and design roles, all with the same goal: solve real problems. As director of UX I helped put in place the tools and processes for teams to do the same.
- Created team alignment through our UX philosophy, design principles, and version-controlled design system
- Spearheaded company-wide commitment to a course of accessibility compliance and transparency
- Lead design for several major feature releases with a focus on expansion and new business, including Contributor Sidebar, Roadmaps, and a fundamental redesign of our feedback infrastructure that enabled UserVoice to become the single repository of product feedback collected by any system
Skills & Responsibilities
- Facilitate project kick-offs, customer research, user story mapping sessions, and design critiques — all with an emphasis on problem definition and alignment on desired outcomes
- Set up and maintain core usage analytics using FullStory, Heap, Mode, Pendo, and Google Analytics
- Concept testing with rapid prototypes
VP, Product

UserVoice

Jul 2014 – Oct 2015 (1 yr 4 mos)

Raleigh, North Carolina
After five years in UserVoice’s San Francisco office, I transitioned to leading product and moved to Raleigh to help ramp up the east-coast office. During this time we doubled the size of our Raleigh office, began building out a new space, launched a new version of our platform, and realigned our focus from small businesses to mid-market and enterprise.
- Launched UserVoice 3.0, an entirely new version of the platform targeted towards mid-market and enterprise customers, helping move UserVoice’s monthly average selling price from $200 to >$1,000
- Introduced the company to OKRs, and helped implement them across all departments
- Created UserVoice’s first Customer Advisory Board
Skills & Responsibilities
- Worked with our CEO to develop UserVoice’s product vision and roadmap, worked across departments to communicate our roadmap, and provide training on upcoming releases
- Conducted generative research through regular customer interviews, both on-site and remotely, identified market opportunities, and worked with design and engineering to discover and validate solutions
- I got really good at saying, “No,” to help us focus on our key objectives
Head of User Experience

UserVoice

Jul 2009 – Jun 2014 (5 yrs)

San Francisco, California
I joined UserVoice as their first designer, and worked out of the cofounders’ San Francisco apartment alongside seven others. It was quite a change from the design studios I had been at before, to say the least! Over the course of my time we opened a proper office in San Francisco, and then opened a second office in Raleigh, NC. During my time at this role I lead a team of designers across two offices (San Francisco and Raleigh, NC).
- Lead design of new widget system, allowing companies to collect feedback, provide support, solicit ratings, and rank ideas directly in their apps and websites
- Created frictionless sign-up & sign-in system, resulting in an exponential increase of user signups
- Designed and launched an entirely new product: UserVoice Helpdesk, the first helpdesk solution to automate support requests with instant answers, saving small support teams hundreds of hours a month
Open Source Projects
- Typeset.css
- iOS & Android SDKs
Skills & Responsibilities
- Lead team of designers across two offices
- Information architecture, user flows and wireframes, and interaction design
- Front-end and Rails development (I eventually moved away from this work as our engineering team grew)
Senior Interaction Designer

Brick Design

Aug 2007 – Jul 2009 (2 yrs)

San Francisco, California
Founded by the same team I worked with at Pentagram, Brick is a multi-disciplinary design studio that creates comprehensive brand experiences. Working at Brick afforded me the opportunity to hone in on my interaction design and information architectural skills, while also being able to craft the building blocks of how we delivered websites and applications.
- Designed intuitive new UI and physical input interface for Memorex digital picture frames
- Created and maintained large-scale information architecture maps
- Helped run comprehensive usability studies both before and after website redesigns
- Designed and co-authored an open-source CMS, PHP library, and MVC framework
Open Source Projects
Skills & Responsibilities
- Project management, estimation, and client relations
- Interaction design and information architecture
- HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, and MySQL, with an emphasis on web standards through semantic markup, Microformats, and accessibility
Clients included AIGA, Beats by Dre, Cannon Design, City of Hope, Evolution Fresh, Explore.org, Fuego, Memorex, Microsoft, National University, and more.
Senior Interaction Designer

Pentagram

May 2006 – Aug 2007 (1 yr 4 mos)

San Francisco, California
Founded in 1972, Pentagram is the world’s largest independently-owned design studio. I joined Pentagram initially for a short-term project as a front-end developer for a major redesign of Stanford Law School’s website, and was soon offered a full time position as Senior Interaction Designer. Pentagram was one of the design studios I idolized during my studies and early career, and working there was an amazing experience.
- Created and maintained large-scale information architecture maps for multiple university websites
- Designed a large, multi-display exhibit for the grand opening of Cal Academy of Sciences’ Golden Gate Park location
Skills & Responsibilities
- Interaction design and information architecture
- Front-end development
Clients included California Academy of Sciences, Cannon Design, Stanford Law School, Sonance, Symantec, University of California, Riverside, and more.
Co-founder & Designer

rearviewWindow

Feb 2004 – Apr 2007 (3 yrs 3 mos)

Dallas, Texas
rearviewWindow was a boutique design and photography business serving both local businesses and international non-profit organizations.
- Designed and implemented the UI and install process for the initial version of SWIM (Smart Web Information Management), a CMS built with flexible taxonomies in mind
- Created the design language, navigation, and base templates for Brink’s internal intranet redesign
Open Source Project
- SWIM - Smart Web Information Management
Skills & Responsibilities
- Website and product design
- Project management
- HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP
Clients included Brink’s Inc., Integration Research, Baptist General Convention of Texas, The Damaris Project, Freedom Clothing, Smart Commons, Secured Path, Fleur de Vie, Gachet Coffee Lounge, Urban Dance Movement, and more.
Cultural Strategist

CityReach Austin

Jan 2003 – Feb 2005 (2 yrs 2 mos)

Dallas, Texas

CityReach was a consultancy that specialized in helping organizations identify and understand subcultures and their influences in target areas. While at CityReach, I helped perform city assessments throughout Texas, as well as catalyzing a series of community-building initiatives in Dallas’ urban neighborhoods.
Graphic Designer

Self Employed

Sep 1995 – Feb 2004 (8 yrs 6 mos)

Dallas, Texas
I started my career with a focus on graphic and print design, learning a lot about the print process by trial and error. Through building relationships with local printers, I quickly gained the experience necessary to ensure the print work I did with clients could be reproduced at the highest quality. I learned that how something is made is just as important, if not more important, to how it looked on your screen.
Just as having a deep knowledge of the printing process helped me design print collateral, I also focussed on learning how to write my own HTML and CSS to bring web designs to life. Cross-browser compatibility was a huge challenge during this time, so I focussed on learning and implementing web standards, all the while working in as many browsers as I could.
- Print design – including brochures, handbills, posters, and CD jackets
- Website design and development
- Identity and branding
Clients included Starbucks, Rhythm & Brass, Koch Entertainment, Emerging Church Network, and more.
Graphic Designer (Contract)

Nokia

Jun 1997 – Mar 1999 (1 yr 10 mos)

Irvine, Texas
At Nokia I worked with the marketing director and copy editors to produce collateral for American and Latin-American markets.
- Produced corporate brochures, technical information packets, and posters
- Conceptualized and designed marketing materials
- Oversaw press and color checks
- Designed trade show displays for Nokia’s Latin-American market