Employee Spotlight: Ashley Wiesner, Designer
What is your role at Neighborhoods.com, and what do you enjoy most about your work?
I am a designer here at Neighborhoods.com and I work on the UI for new features, A/B tests, and redesigns on both of our web products or one of our internal tools. What I enjoy most about this work, besides having the opportunity to work with many talented people, is being able to design solutions that enhance the experience of the products. As a design team, we are always thinking of new ways to keep users engaged and delighted by our sites, and we are always collaborating with other departments to make sure we are achieving the best possible solution. Another part I enjoy is having the time to learn new programs that make me a more well-rounded designer. Recently, I took up learning Framer, which is an interaction tool that makes for a better hand-off to developers. The fact that I was able to add that into my workflow with support of my team is awesome.
How did you arrive at your current position?
I like to think I’ve been practicing design since before I knew that graphic design was a career option. Growing up with entrepreneur parents, I always wanted to help small businesses brand themselves by creating flyers, newsletters, and posters for them. I studied marketing and management at Drake University. At the end of my junior year, I decided to tack on a minor for graphic design after learning more about it from a friend and realizing that it was the career path I was looking for. During the last year of college, I interned at two different nonprofits, which helped me gain design experience.
Soon after graduation, I knew that I needed more work on my portfolio, so I went to Chicago Portfolio School to dive deeper into the field of design. I worked several jobs to be able to pay rent and school bills: a barista, server, intern, and freelance designer. After I finished school, I landed a gig in advertising and worked on a lot of new business pitches while also assisting with many ad campaigns. Although I did get a lot of experience and variety in my work at the agency, I really wanted to focus on my UI skills since that is what found I am passionate about. I started looking at startup jobs and found Neighborhoods.com, which met all my qualifications for what I needed in a company: culture that suits me, growth in my field, and a company that values design.
What fascinates you about the work you do?
I am always fascinated about user behavior and what new features and tests they respond to positively and those they don’t. I’ve learned to never make assumptions for the user based on what I like and to always recognize these types of biases. Beyond that, figuring out how we can make the interactions the most delightful experience possible is something I’m passionate about, so I have been thinking about adding in refined micro-interactions, which are moments of communication that help users flow through the design and keep them engaged longer. This ultimately helps make an app or website feel like a journey filled with subtle, yet pleasant surprises. It’s all in the details!
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
The most challenging thing about what I do is teaching users how our site functions differently than our competitors. We don’t want to be just another real estate website, but we want to be familiar enough with those websites to capture some of those users and show them how our site is better. The concept of our site is to put neighborhoods first when searching for a home, and even though that is a much better way to shop, it is a totally new experience to most people. Another thing that can be challenging but rewarding is keeping up with tech – new prototyping tools, coding languages, design best practices, and trends. I am always trying to be aware of the fact that what works for one company may not work for us.
How do you stay motivated at work?
Besides getting my creative juices going by playing a riveting game of Volleypong™, a game that combines the rules of volleyball and ping pong, I stay motivated simply by trying to learn something new every day. Neighborhoods.com and 55places.com are websites that evolve constantly as we learn more about our users and their needs and wants. That is how I feel working as a designer, constantly improving my aesthetic, the tools at my disposal, and trying to gain understanding of how to use data to influence what I design. Self-growth is huge here so spending time learning about our industry or design is something I try to do often. This means I am never just crunching out half-baked designs; I have the luxury to think things through holistically and get input from my team and coworkers in other departments.
Favorite project you've worked on so far?
It is hard to choose one project that is my “favorite,” but if I have to it would probably be designing the Neighborhoods.com blog city pages. These pages are filled with well-written content for potential homebuyers looking for guidance on which neighborhood suits their lifestyle. For this project, I had the entire design process from start to finish: discovery, wireframing, designs, and QA. It was a lot of effort but I think the outcome was worth it. Now we are live in ten different cities and are publishing content specific to them.
How would you best describe the culture at Neighborhoods.com?
At Neighborhoods.com, I come into work and get to be on projects with smart, interesting, kind, and talented people. Everyone who works here keeps each other grounded and proactive in their work, while also making time to have fun. A principle we go by here at Neighborhoods is, “if it is to be, it is up to me,” which means that if you want to change the culture or start up something new, don’t wait for someone else to do it, organize it yourself! It’s a good reminder and is proven to be successful in things myself and my coworkers have organized, including volunteer events, rock climbing, bowling, movie nights, comedy shows, lunch and learns, beer pong tournaments, etc, etc.
Favorite area/perk of the office?
My favorite perk of the office is probably the kegs that we have always stocked with the best craft beer. I also am a big fan of the massage chair, which helps me relax and get focused.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I like to see comedy shows and bands, go thrifting, work on side projects, go to see art, draw, paint, play board games, and spend time with my friends. Lately, I have been trying to reteach myself piano, watercolor, and spend as much time as possible off technology since I am using it every day at work.
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