Gayle Schwark, Ph.D.

I am a mixed-methods UX researcher with experience in both industry and academia. With over 15 years of experience in behavioral research, I have a track record of taking creative approaches to research and I have the experience to know when and how to be methodologically flexible to uncover valid, actionable answers to complex questions.

Please note: I recently launched this site, featuring one impactful project to start. I'm actively working on adding more of my past projects to showcase my extensive UX research experience. Stay tuned for updates!

University Research Portal
A DEI Initiative

  • Improved the user experience on a newly developed research application portal through a redesign informed by combination of:

    • Heuristic evaluation

    • Interviews

    • Focus groups

    • Usability testing

    • Simulated use

  • Insights and recommendations from this research led to implementation of 5 major (and multiple minor) updates to the platform, which resulted in:

    • Significantly increased user adoption and engagement

    • Increased faculty response rate to student applications by more than 3,000%!

    • Improved equality and inclusivity for historically underrepresented student populations in university research labs