Open to new teams Product designer · Portland, OR

Hi, I’m Tricia. Systems thinker. Illustrator at heart.

I design data-rich web and B2B apps where every interaction fits the bigger system. And I bring an illustrator’s eye to getting teams excited about the idea before it ships.

See my work Say hello
Portrait of Tricia Johnston smiling, wearing a dark turtleneck and rust pinafore
7+years designing
BFA, Illustration
Data-rich apps
  • 7+years designing
  • BFA, Illustration
  • Data-rich apps
Where I’ve designed
  • Microsoft
  • Meta
  • Epiq
  • Axos
Enterprise admin tools · internal HR experiences · customer-facing sites · legal tech
Work

Projects I’m proud of

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Wireframe of the M365 FastTrack work: a deployment wizard with a step tracker, the setup site and an AI setup assistant chat panel
Microsoft 2023 – 2025 · Admin tools · AI · Design systems

M365 FastTrack

Empowering IT admins to confidently deploy Microsoft 365 products — through deployment wizards, a customer-facing setup site, and a brand-new AI chat assistant.

3 workstreams, one coherent system: wizards, the setup site and an AI chat
What shipped
  • Wizard guidelines
  • Setup site redesign
  • AI setup assistant
Read about the project
Wireframe of the manager transitions page: team sidebar, intro card, deadline alert, a table of people moving teams with feedback actions, and a help column
Meta 2022 – 2023 · Internal tools · HR · Notifications

Manager transitions

Facilitating seamless team transitions for enterprise employees — so a new manager never means starting over.

46% of employees had at least 2 managers in a single year
What shipped
  • 3 manager flows
  • Notification system
  • P0 feedback experience
Read about the project
Wireframe of the nonprofit hub: the redesigned Contact Us page with four help topics and a search, in front of the offers landing page
Microsoft 2021 – 2022 · Customer-facing web · Accessibility

Nonprofit hub

Redefining content and framework performance for an enhanced journey on the portal where nonprofits find Microsoft grants, training and partners.

$1.3M in revenue at risk if the hub missed the first half of FY22
What shipped
  • Contact Us + Azure pages
  • Responsive & a11y specs
  • Moray cheat sheet
Read about the project
Wireframe of the search builder: nested AND/OR criteria groups in full screen, with a compact builder modal in front
Epiq 2017 – 2021 · Legal tech · Complex UI

Search builder

A component revamp for the legal-solutions eDiscovery content management service — giving users the grouped, nested searches they’d been asking for.

2 mo from analysis to design build, with a remote team across two time zones
What shipped
  • Nested grouping
  • Drag & drop
  • Phase 1 popover
Read about the project
Process

How I work

Five exercises I tap into at any point in a project, in whatever order the work calls for. Pick one to see it in practice.

    2.

Discover

Before any pixels, I work with UX researchers, dig into past efforts, requirements and existing artifacts — and write down the questions worth answering.

In practice · Manager transitions, Meta

Data showing 46% of employees had two or more managers in a year framed the entire manager-transitions problem.

Synthesize

I jam with co-designers and cross-functional partners to turn what we learned into a handful of themes that guide every decision after.

In practice · Search builder, Epiq

Team jams distilled the search builder into four themes — functional, reliable, approachable and efficient — that kept scope honest.

Test designs

Lo-fi flows come first so the team reacts to structure, not styling. Then I explore layout, styling and interactions side by side.

In practice · Nonprofit hub, Microsoft

I tested five Contact Us layouts with the team before touching the rest of the site — that page set the pattern for everything else.

Review & improve

Design reviews with peers and partners, repeated as often as needed — and re-prioritizing honestly when constraints change.

In practice · Manager transitions, Meta

When a company re-organization hit, we re-prioritized P0 around performance-cycle feedback: notifications, feedback and a team status overview.

Finalize

Clear deliverables and guidelines so developers have what they need — responsive specs, annotations and cheat sheets where they help.

In practice · M365 FastTrack, Microsoft

For the deployment wizards, I delivered a page template marking required versus optional sections, aligned to the design system.
About

Drawn to design

A BFA in illustration taught me to work holistically — especially when it comes to socializing design concepts with my team.

I’m based in Portland, OR, and looking for my next role on a diverse, cross-functional team building B2B enterprise web apps, somewhere I can keep growing and help shape the design system.

What I bring

CoherencyA systems thinker who designs in coherence with design systems.
LeadershipGuidance and mentoring of team members.
CollaborationSeasoned in cross-functional team fluency.

My journey

  1. 2023 – 2025 · 2021 – 2022 Microsoft A repeat consultant, working closely with mature design systems.
  2. 2022 – 2023 Meta Finessed and polished my skill set in a fast-paced environment.
  3. 2017 – 2021 Epiq, Axos My sandbox, where I grew into a product designer.
  4. 2016 Certificate + freelance Certificate in Web Dev & Design; freelance illustration and web design.
  5. 2012 BFA in Illustration Specialized in graphic arts for visual communication and commerce.