Joshua Vaughn

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Josh's UX Portfolio

I am a User Experience Design Leader with over 20 years of experience simplifying software applications for companies including IBM, Informatica, Intuit, SAP, and Cisco. My focus is on eliminating unnecessary complexity, establishing design systems, and improving review processes to deliver higher quality products. Throughout my career, I’ve successfully led design initiatives by influencing and collaborating with cross-functional teams to drive change. I’m known for asking difficult questions and my passion for enhancing the user experience and improving product quality.

After 15 years in enterprise Cloud data management, I am seeking a design leadership role at a small-to-medium company where I can continue simplifying complex systems and driving user-centered design strategies. I am open to fully remote roles, hybrid roles within the San Francisco Bay Area, or fully on-site roles within the South Bay. I am particularly interested in opportunities that would merge my design expertise with my background in the music industry, though I am open to other industries in which I can lead impactful projects and foster innovation.

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D&UX Assessment Program

I managed IBM Software’s formal Design & User Experience (D&UX) assessment program which became a key measure of success for the business unit and its product teams. I recruited and trained over 350 specialized reviewers, simplified the assessment process for reviewers and product teams, and helped drive a measurable 10% year-over-year improvement in product quality across the $25B software business. D&UX assessments encouraged the responsible use of Watson AI by ensuring all AI-enabled features were aligned with IBM’s user-centered best practices.

Detailed case study coming soon.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data

I led the 20-person team designing core features of Cloud Pak for Data, IBM's integrated data and AI platform that enabled enterprises to modernize how they collect, organize, and analyze data and infuse Watson AI throughout their businesses. I established regular design team critiques and "four-in-a-box" meetings with the product marketing, development, design, and content teams to facilitate knowledge sharing and develop a shared vision of the platform. I also collaborated with teams who designed the previously standalone products contributing concepts to the Cloud Pak for Data platform, including IBM Knowledge Catalog and IBM Watson Studio, to ensure a consistent and unified experience.

Detailed case study coming soon.

Archipelago Design System

I led the design and documentation of the Archipelago design system for the next generation Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services platform, establishing new patterns for navigation, asset management, data visualizations, forms, tables, messaging, validation, and responsive layouts. I partnered with a team of UI developers to implement these design patterns as reusable React components.

Detailed case study coming soon.

Informatica Cloud

Originally a startup business unit focused on simple data integration use cases for Salesforce customers, I led the design of Informatica Cloud as it evolved into the industry's first integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS). Our design team introduced new development tools including a data integration mapping designer and business process modeler, embraced a new company brand, and dramatically improved the customer onboarding experience.

Detailed case study coming soon.

Quicken Health Expense Tracker

At the time, Intuit was best known for its Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax finance products and was exploring new opportunities in healthcare. I designed and documented features and design patterns for Quicken Health Expense Tracker, a SaaS application that helped people manage their families' medical expenses and health histories by downloading benefits and claims from participating insurance companies and organizing their healthcare information in one place.

Detailed case study coming soon.

SAP Business ByDesign

SAP is a global leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications based in Waldorf, Germany. At the time, SAP was preparing to launch its new Business ByDesign web application platform to replace its legacy R/3 client-server platform. I designed and documented several UI building blocks for the platform including enterprise search, find forms, input and value help, learning and help centers, and message handling.

Detailed case study coming soon.

Cisco 7960 VoIP Telephone

In the early days of my user experience career, I evaluated the usability of voice-over-IP products at Cisco including the Cisco 7960 desktop telephone. While the idea of an office desktop phone may seem quaint in 2025, at the time the Cisco 7960 was a revolutionary product! I helped conduct two usability studies of this phone which taught me valuable lessons about design, research, and mental models that are still relevant 25 years later.

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Josh's Music

I have played acoustic and electric guitar and sang backup vocals in several San Francisco Bay Area bands paying tribute to classic rock artists including David Bowie, Devo, Pink Floyd, Prince, Lou Reed, and Talking Heads.

My tribute bands have performed at independent music venues including Art Boutiki, Boom Boom Room, Brick & Mortar, Café du Nord, Club Fox, Fireside Lounge, Ivy Room, The Knockout, Peri's Tavern, Rickshaw Stop, Retro Junkie, and The Ritz.

Upcoming Performances

I currently play lead guitar and sing backup vocals for Suburban Robots, a tribute to Devo!

Our next gig is at Retro Junkie in Walnut Creek opening for Faith & Devotion: A Tribute to Depeche Mode on Saturday, August 23.

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After that, we'll be headlining 80's Night at Music City SF on Friday, September 5.

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Past Performances

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About Josh

Born and raised in Indiana, I attended DePauw University and earned a Bachelor's degree in psychology while DJing at WGRE 91.5 FM and performing in an acoustic rock duo.I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned a Master's degree in cognitive psychology, after which I moved to California for a user-centered design internship at Cisco Systems. I have worked in Silicon Valley ever since, including stints at Siebel Systems, eBay, PeopleSoft, SAP, Intuit, Informatica, and IBM.I live in San Jose with my girlfriend Shauna and our cats Piper, Pumpkin, and Zoey.