Vanessa Sanchez
Senior UX Researcher & Designer
I lead end-to-end UX research and design for products in fintech, climate tech, health tech, blockchain and AI. 10+ years of experience across creative and tech.
Planet Texas 2050, UT Austin (2024-Present)
Civic Climate Platform
Translating 10 years of research into an accessible web library of tools and resources for Texas communities. Leading end-to-end research and design, conducted 36+ stakeholder interviews, delivering 40+ wireframes, IA, and content taxonomy.
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#ClimateTech #UXResearchAndDesign #Accessibility
MediLinker, UT Austin (2021)
Blockchain PHR App
Measuring consumer trust in a personal health records app via remote 1:1 usability testing with 9 participants. Identified critical trust barriers and usability issues that informed design recommendations for peer-reviewed published study on consumer adoption of decentralized health data systems.
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#Healthcare #Blockchain #PrivacyAndSecurity​​​
Samahdi Games (2018-2019)
Duke Farms Digital Guide App
Designing a mobile guide for 240,000 annual visitors of a nature preserve and sustainability research center. Averaged 14,000+ users. Reduced paper maps + staff fatigue. Raised bar for brand expression. Blueprint for their enterprise-scale solution in 2025 (Bloomberg Connects platform).
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#Wayfinding #ShippedProduct #UXResearchAndDeisgn​​
EY Tax Lab (2019-2021)
TaxGrid
Designing trusted interfaces for global cross-border tax processing. 500+ screens across 6 user views for a blockchain platform enabling secure withholding tax transactions, supporting a global demo with 12 organizations including HMRC, Citi, and JP Morgan. Entered commercial production in 2024.
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#EnterpriseFinTech #Blockchain #ComplexSystem
Genome (2018)
CMS for Game Data Analytics
Architecting a content management system under ambiguity. Transformed scattered requirements into 30+ high-fidelity screens for a custom CMS powering analytics, dashboards, and event management for a major entertainment brand—delivered in 6 weeks.
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#EntertainmentTech #RequirementsGathering #InformationArchitecture
UT-City CoLab, UT Austin (2023)
Austin Future Climate Report
Making climate science accessible to the public. Led visual design and content editing for the City of Austin's climate report, translating complex data into clear visualizations—garnering local news coverage and resulting in 3 additional UX hires for the lab.
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#ClimateData #ScienceCommunication #DataViz #PublicSector
AI Health Lab, UT Austin (2024)
ADHD App Study
Validating a product concept for underserved users. Led market research and product strategy for an NSF-funded AI-powered CBT app for women with ADHD, defining product direction and competitive positioning for early-stage validation.
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#HealthTech #MarketResearch #EarlyStage
EY Tax Lab (2021-2022)
Supply Network Risk Manager
Designing verifiable claims for ethical sourcing and ESG compliance. Prototyped interfaces for 7 user roles across 3 supplier tiers for a blockchain platform tracking forced labor risks, creating a unified design system that enabled a successful stakeholder demo.
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#ESG #SupplyChain #Blockchain #Enterprise
Human-AI Interaction, UT Austin (2023)
Emotion AI Interviews
Analyzing fairness concerns in AI-powered hiring. Conducted mixed-methods research with 9 mock interviews, designing custom data visualization reports to capture participant reactions—revealing concerns about bias and transparency in AI hiring systems.
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#AIEthics #HumanFactors #DataViz #EmergingTech