Experience Strategy
Helping teams define the problem, decide what the experience needs to do, and align around a direction before execution.
Hi, I’m Charlie, an experience strategy and UX leader.
Sometimes the work needs better UX. Sometimes it needs a better definition of the problem. Usually? It needs both.
I help teams bring more clarity, structure, and direction to digital work that’s gotten harder to move forward than it should be.
What I Do
I ask a lot of questions, usually because the work still needs to be defined or has gotten complicated enough that someone needs to slow down, sort out what matters, and make the path forward clearer.
A lot of my background is in healthcare and pharma, where the work tends to be dense, constrained, and full of competing needs. That experience taught me how to work through complexity, align people around what matters, and make better decisions about what the work needs to be.
How I Help
This is usually the kind of work I get pulled into.
UX Strategy
Working through the structure, priorities, flows, and tradeoffs that turn that direction into a usable experience.
Information Architecture
Creating clearer structures and paths through complex digital experiences so they make more sense to the people using them.
Experience Design Direction
Providing direction and critique so digital experiences stay usable and work together as things evolve.
UX & Experience Audits
Reviewing existing experiences to identify friction, missed opportunities, and what to do next.
Accessibility Consulting
Identifying accessibility issues and making digital experiences more inclusive and usable.
Case Studies
Here are a few examples of the kind of work I’ve led, usually when the challenge was not just execution, but figuring out what the work needed to be.
Fasenra HCP Website
A fragmented HCP site needed clearer paths, stronger mobile usability, and a structure that could hold together as the brand evolved.
Challenge
The site had accumulated inconsistent patterns and competing paths, making it harder for users to find what they needed and harder for the experience to hold together as the brand evolved.
What I Did
I led the UX and accessibility audit, working closely with teammates focused on content, SEO, site performance, and competitive review. My role was not just to identify issues, but to figure out what was actually getting in the way of a better experience. I stayed involved through implementation so the recommendations carried through.
What Changed
The findings helped shape the creative brief, and the resulting site had clearer user paths, stronger mobile usability, and a more consistent structure across the experience.
MyQorzo Launch
Cytokinetics’ first brand launch had to stay on track while the approval date, target audiences, and launch requirements kept changing underneath it.
Challenge
The launch had to account for multiple audiences, evolving campaign directions, and a timeline tied to FDA approval, all while introducing Cytokinetics’ first brand to market.
What I Did
I led the XD team and helped shape the digital experience across the launch. The work included an IVA, a broad email program, and six staged websites, all of which had to keep adapting as timing, target audiences, and stakeholder priorities changed. My role was to keep those pieces moving together without losing the larger experience.
What Changed
The team met the Day 0 and Day 1 launch dates, along with the website milestones that followed. The client reached out directly to agency leadership to recognize how well it all came together.
Fetroja AMR Warrior Experience
A high-visibility IDWeek experience had to translate Fetroja’s Trojan horse and warrior campaign into something interactive, personal, and worth sharing.
Challenge
We were tasked with turning a complicated idea into something that felt right for the brand. Doing that involved coordinating multiple technologies, vendors, and teams for a high-visibility event.
What I Did
I led the XD team and helped define the experience, partnering closely with the client, third-party vendors, and the agency’s brand and tech teams. A big part of my role was turning a complicated vision into something that could actually work across multiple technologies and teams on a fixed event timeline. I also worked closely with the AI-image vendor so the output matched what the client expected before we got to the conference floor.
What Changed
The experience connected strongly enough with attendees that the client brought it back three years running.
Not Quite a Case Study
Not all useful work fits neatly into a case study.
My team supported web work for several brands within the same pharma company, across two agencies in our network. When one of those agencies pitched another brand, I was brought in because we already knew the company’s CMS, third-party partners, and how the work actually got done.
Once we won the business, things changed quickly. The brand team wanted the agency’s development team to take on work that had previously gone through outside partners, so we had to figure out a new model. My team knew the platform and partner setup better than anyone else at the agency, so I led the ramp-up and helped get our internal teams, including development, ready to take on the work directly.
It worked. We launched significant site updates, and our team started taking on similar responsibilities across more of the company’s brands. That track record helped make the case for something bigger: our larger network later pitched for a broader role in website updates and CMS management across the company, with support from the brand team we’d been working with.
Let’s Connect
I’m available for fractional, advisory, and contract work with teams that need experience leadership.