Theresa Charleston UX Portfolio

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

John Keats

With 25+ years in design, I’ve worked with companies of all sizes—driving millions in revenue, launching flagship startup products, and supporting charities pro bono. I specialize in simplifying processes, streamlining interfaces, and designing with both data and empathy.
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My heart beats for all things design and human behavior. To me, making simple and useful experiences based on real human need is the proverbial cat's pajamas. Speaking of pajamas, I seek only remote roles.

Speaking of cats, hiring me is hiring a pet lady of epic proportions so expect a few animal cameos in our Zoom calls.

MICHAEL FARMER, ART DIRECTOR
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LEARNING

^{"Theresa is creative, energetic, authentic, and dedicated to design that must meet the needs of the user to be successful.

She was not only a key contributor on both platform and product UX/UI design, but an essential resource in fully operationalizing UX and UI workflows, best practices, microcopy development, and tools and resources."}

BRETT KELLGREN, TECH LEAD
SPOTHERO

^{"Theresa kicks ass. She is one of the more creative, witty and detail oriented people I know. She kicks said ass through clean, simple research-influenced work that puts an emphasis on treating branding, visual design and user experience as a complete system. Speaking as a developer, she was a pleasure to work with, constantly impressing me with her technical understanding and willingness to work-through the many questions that inevitably arise from bringing designs to life.

She's good people."}

Skills

User Experience & Information Architecture Design

User Interface & Interaction Design

Native & Web Design

SaaS, E-Commerce, B2B, B2C

UX Strategy & Planning

Design Operations

Design Systems

Content Design & Copywriting

User Feedback & Testing

Data Analysis & Optimization Testing

Ideation Workshopping

UCD Research & Discovery

Agile & Design QA

Marketing & Brand ID Design

CSS & HTML

Photography

My job has an effect on the world and is an extension of my ethics. I’ve focused my skill set on causes I believe make the world a better place, such as promoting knowledge and positivity, animal welfare, health and wellness, and travel. I want to create a little joy because that’s what endures.

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Myers Briggs: ENTJ, The Commander - I’m a candid extrovert with a natural leadership style. I believe great leaders both teach and learn, and over the years I’ve discovered that listening more than I speak is one of the most valuable skills one can gain.
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Clifton Profile: Restoration, Strategy, Learning - I excel at untangling complex problems, crafting strategies to fix them, and continuously learning to optimize and improve.

Professional Traits

Mission

Rebecca Fair, CEO & Cofounder
Thresher M3

^{"Theresa played an integral role in creating our user experience and interface for our flagship product. She also designed our website. I was most impressed with Theresa's ability to listen to our users' needs and turn them into a functioning UI for which we consistently get compliments. Her results were particularly impressive because she did the listening remotely. She also patiently and effortlessly engaged across our team to working with the front end developers, head of product, data scientists and business development teams.

I would work with Theresa again anytime."}

Philosophy

A great experience is woven into every touchpoint of a product. A skilled UX designer balances attention to detail with an understanding of the bigger picture—knowing when to refine and when to let go to keep momentum. I believe a product is never truly “finished,” but sometimes it must ship so we can learn, adapt, and improve.

The Other

What do I do when I'm not face-down in a device? I create pet portraits, I enjoy archery, skiing, studying human behavior, volunteering in animal rescue and conservation, and walking my land with a coffee in my hand and my dog by my side.