Hello!
My love of trying new things has shown me all kinds of ways that design can work for good when it invites people in and sets them on a path towards growth. But just as often I've seen the opposite happen, when poorly executed design causes confusion and leaves people feeling stuck. My own draw towards learning new skills, software and tools, along with observation of the effectiveness of the tools and process of instruction, has shaped the way I design and the way I lead my team to create things that help others grow.
Good design should solve a problem, but it should also be an enjoyable experience for the end user. That's always my aim and I hope you will see that reflected in my portfolio pieces.
Speaking of enjoyable, when I'm not at my desk I love:
- - Adding new entries into my international atlas of ice cream (my forever frontrunner is Mitchell's ice cream in Cleveland, Ohio)
- - Learning how to grow vegetables in small urban spaces (I'm invested in the urban agriculture movement)
- - Exploring the tide pools of southern California (I'm always on the lookout for that elusive black sea hare)
If you'd like to connect, please feel free to send me an email or find me at Annie Michaels Liao on LinkedIn. I'd love to hear from you!
Gallup StrengthsFinder 2.0
My Top 5 Themes
Strategic – I can cut through chaos to avoid obstacles and find an effective path forward. I thrive in settings that require assessing complex situations and finding patterns and trends to solve a problem. This has served me well in helping take the organizations I’ve worked with from point A to B, Y to Z, or somewhere in between.
Maximizer – This theme is rooted in measurement, specifically measuring for excellence in myself and others. Accordingly, I am extremely energized by helping others flourish in their strengths, in order to turn something good into something great.
Individualization – I’m intrigued by the qualities each person uniquely brings to the table, and I intuitively understand people have different learning style preferences. This informs the way I design and facilitate training to incorporate multiple learning modalities.
Ideation – I have been invited into other people’s conference rooms and exec. meetings to help them move forward by generating new concepts or workarounds. I am endlessly fascinated with ideas and rely on my ability to rapidly generate potential solutions in my work.
Activator – I’m motivated to make things happen. For me, this theme is the culmination of all the others when I am prompted to take strategies and ideas and turn them into reality.