Behind the practice
How I think, lead and design – and why it works
Behind the practice
How I think, lead and design – and why it works
01 WHO I AM
Kristie Collman
Director of UX Design • Product Design Leader
I lead UX and product design for enterprise organizations — bridging strategy and execution across distributed teams. I bring over a decade of enterprise design leadership paired with a player-coach approach: as comfortable setting direction in a stakeholder room as I am designing hands-on.
As AI accelerates how quickly we can create, I believe the value of design leadership shifts toward judgment — understanding what to build, what not to build, and how to make better decisions along the way.
That's the standard behind the work: intuitive, human-centered experiences, built with AI-enabled workflows, that improve usability, accelerate delivery, and drive measurable business value to impactful outcomes.
Today I lead UX Design at Bridgenext and partner independently through C Creatively.
Healthcare
Financial Services
Enterprise SaaS
Insurance
Transportation
B2C
B2B
Healthcare Financial Services Enterprise SaaS Insurance Transportation B2C B2B
02 HOW I THINK
I Bridge Strategy and Execution
I work at the intersection of business goals, customer needs, product strategy, and technical reality — turning ambiguity into a clear direction our team can act on to create outcomes that delight.
SIMPLIFY COMPLEXITY • CREATE ALIGNMENT • DESIGN FOR OUTCOMES
03 HOW I LEAD & Work
I believe the best work happens when people feel trusted, supported, and bring their ideas to the table. I try to model the environment I want to create—curious, collaborative, candid, positive, and a little playful. My role is to shape strategy, influence business decisions, stay close to the work while creating space for people to challenge ideas, ask questions, take ownership, and do their best work.
Lead
From project strategy through execution, either hands-on or directing global teams to move the work forward and deliver outcomes.
Alignment
Bring Design, Product, Business and Engineering together around the right problem, with a clear path forward.
Mentor
Develop designers, encourage growth, and create opportunities for people to stretch their thinking and capabilities.
Enable
Give people the context, tools, AI-enabled workflows and space to do great work.
04 What I do
Product Design
End-to-end design from discovery through delivery — for 0→1 products and mature platforms alike.
UX Strategy & Research
Translate user needs and business goals into a clear, evidence-based direction through traditional methods, best practices and AI-assistance.
Design Systems & UI
Scalable systems and workflows that improve consistency, accessibility, and delivery speed.
05 HOW I can help
Fractional / Embedded Leadership
Senior design direction for teams that need leadership, not just a designer.
Project-Based Partnership
Senior UX/Product Design support for a defined challenge—from product redesigns and UX audits to design systems.Strategic Consulting
Workshops, research, and roadmap support for teams navigating a complex challenge.
Creativity beyond the screen
Creativity beyond the screen
06 The human side
When I'm not designing digital things...
I'm an artist and maker, a wife and mum to my fantastic family — a practice that continues to shape how I think about composition, storytelling, and problem solving. As a creative inspired by nature, it’s wonderful to combine structure and form with dynamic flow and expression.
Growing up near the coastlines of Australia, New England and Charleston, my happy place has always been in the fresh open coastal spaces.
Let’s build something Meaningful
Let’s build something Meaningful
" I worked with Kristie over the last year and have nothing but praise for her. Kristie demonstrated a mastery of UX, using research, her experience, and her professional intuition to create engaging designs with the end-user in mind - no easy feat for a tech start-up! Kristie completed projects promptly while also being able to pivot when needed. Kristie proved to be a strong team player and worked collaboratively across the organization - she is an absolute joy to work with."
– Paul Quach
VP, Data & Analytics at Seekr Technologies
"I highly recommend Kristie! I have worked with her for over a year. She skillfully designed the website to launch a new non-profit foundation, Cold Feet Warm Hearts. Kristie is innovative, creative, and takes the time to understand your needs. She also helped with social media posts that were outstanding and delivered our message perfectly! She is a wonderful to work with and I will be doing more projects with her in the future."
– Christine Schuster
President & CEO, Emerson Health System
" We've worked with Kristie a number of times. She has consistently been dependable and creatively brilliant in leading projects ranging from signage for a new office, to trade show booths, to 100+ page strategy documents. I would strongly recommend Kristie for design and layout work and will undoubtedly hire her again!"
– Steve Gibbons
Internal Communications, Creative & Events, Cimpress & Vistaprint