Cristóbal Almanza
I thrive in working with multidisciplinary teams with great talent.
I believe that design is important and requires participation across the board to be effective. My experience has taught me how to bring out the best in the teams around me in pursuit of excellence in the work we do.
“Managing: As the pinnacle of Human Achievement…
…The greatest list opportunity one can have (literally). Mid-to long-term success is no more and no less than a function of one’s dedication to and effectiveness at helping team members grow and flourish as individuals and as contributing members to an energetic, self-renewing organization dedicated to the relentless pursuit of excellence.”
—Tom Peters (The Excellence Dividend)
User Experience Design Manager
I manage and mentor the team of UX designers working with them from concept, storyboard, wireframe, prototype and QA new user experiences on all major mobile platforms. In my first year, I restructured the discovery program with improved workshops for ideation and innovation to create more successful products for large customers. I also facilitated workshops with leadership to generate a new company culture vision and process to lead the company with design thinking methodologies. This role regularly consults large-scale customers on UX strategy and design thinking to customize Phunware products to meet the needs of the end users
My Work Focus
- User Experience Strategy Consultation
- Business Strategy Sessions
- Process Implementation and Improvement
- Recruiting and Hiring
- Employee Onboarding
- Team Management
- User Research and Testing
- User Flows Maps
- Prototypes
- Leading Discovery meetings
- Collaborative Design Facilitation
- Creative Reviews
Information Architect - UX
The Information Architect role at Mighty Citizen (Formerly TradeMark) is the UX expert leading the strategy for the project to create attractive, engaging, and intuitive websites. I led discovery sessions and meetings directly with clients and UX team to understand business and project objectives.
I designed and presented wireframes, prototypes, site maps, and user flows. I also collaborated closely with the development team and clients through production and provided consulting and support. This role made me an expert of collaboration with teams of all kinds and helped me teach non-technical experts about how good design is essential.
My Work Focus
- Content Strategy Consultation
- Wireframes and Site Maps
- User Flows
- User Interaction
- Leading Discover meetings
- Design Facilitation
- Visual Design Consultation
- Writing Functional Specification
- Expert Reviews
Digital Advertising - Creative Manager
I also managed a team of 6 designers that served as an internal agency for all markets in the company. My role led the huge transitions into HTML5 standards out of Flash to responsive design.
My time as the creative manager has seen the most employee retention of all of our digital groups over two and half years. I mentored the team through the biggest technological shift in the last decade of digital advertising while improving our production turnarounds by 15%.
User Interface and Experience Lead
2013 – 2016 I oversaw the UI and consulted on the UX for NewsPublish, a white labeled custom setup of WordPress VIP. This system is the CMS for news websites in 48 markets across the country.
I also designed the NewsPublish branding but inherited the main UI design of the CMS. My work upgraded the system to be responsive and enhanced the UX and editorial customization of news layouts on regular cycles.
In the design process, I proposed wireframes and oversaw the process to the final user interface on the sites and apps. I worked directly with the content creators to meet the needs of the users, and balance it with the technical needs of the developers and journalists. The projects also answered to the executive stakeholders.