Faculty Portfolio · 2026

Alyssa N. Myers

Designer. Developer. Human-Centered Design Educator.

I am a multidisciplinary designer, developer, and educator whose work connects professional design practice with human-centered design education. My experience across UX, digital design, front-end development, animation, and creative leadership informs how I teach, develop curriculum, and help students move from research and ideas toward meaningful, testable solutions.

MFA Animation BFA Graphic Design BS Computer Science 9+ Years Professional Practice

Practice + Pedagogy

Professional practice informs how I teach.

My work exists at the intersection of design, technology, and human-centered problem solving.

Since 2017, I have worked professionally across digital design, e-commerce, UX, personalization, front-end development, and creative production. Today, I apply those same processes in graduate Human-Centered Design education at Liberty University. Testing, iteration, user research, prototyping, accessibility, and evidence-based decision making are not only concepts I teach. They are part of my ongoing professional practice.

That relationship between practice and teaching also guides my work in curriculum development and program assessment. My goal is to help students understand human-centered design as an iterative process and leave the program with stronger evidence of how they research, design, test, refine, and communicate their work.

Professional Practice

Selected UX + Digital Work

Designing through experimentation.

My current work at Signet Jewelers combines UX design, personalization, experimentation, front-end development, and performance analysis across large-scale e-commerce experiences. These projects demonstrate an iterative approach in which designs are tested with real users and refined using behavioral and business outcomes.

UX · Personalization · Experimentation

KAY Just For You

A personalized shopping experience designed to move beyond traditional category navigation and help customers discover relevant products through recommendation-driven content. Testing showed particularly strong engagement among returning visitors and demonstrated the value of beginning the shopping journey with personalized recommendations.

+80% Revenue per Visitor

+43% Conversion

+26% Average Order Value

Directional lift compared with overall site visitors during the measured experience.

UX · Guided Discovery · Personalization

Engagement Ring Finder

Designed an interactive guided-discovery experience to help engagement ring shoppers narrow a complex product assortment through a more approachable series of questions and personalized recommendations.

<5% drop-off after users began the original quiz experience, demonstrating strong completion once shoppers opted into the guided journey.

UX · Product Discovery · A/B Testing

Guided Engagement Ring Filters

Explored different approaches to guided product discovery directly within engagement ring listing pages, testing how question order and shopper intent affected interaction and purchasing behavior.

+7.3% RPV +6.8% AOV +0.4% Conversion

Directional results for the Partner-first experience.

Additional professional work includes digital design, e-commerce experiences, campaign design, email, front-end development, motion design, and creative work for KAY Jewelers, Signet Jewelers, Publicis Groupe, and independent clients.

Teaching

Human-Centered Design Education

Bringing professional practice into the classroom.

My teaching emphasizes the complete design process rather than the final artifact alone. Students are encouraged to investigate real problems, understand their users, make intentional design decisions, prototype solutions, gather feedback, and use evidence to improve their work.

ARTS 601

Prototyping: Ideas to Action

Subject Matter Expert + Faculty

DSGN 501

Human-Centered Design: Observations and Insights

Subject Matter Expert + Faculty

DSGN 625

Principles of User Experience for the Physical and Digital World

Subject Matter Expert + Faculty

DSGN 696

Human-Centered Design Capstone Project

Subject Matter Expert + Faculty

Previous university teaching includes Typography and UI/UX Design at The University of Akron and 2D Animation at Savannah College of Art and Design.

Program Leadership

Curriculum + Assessment

Strengthening the HCD learning experience.

As Program Director for the M.A. in Human-Centered Design, I contribute to curriculum development, program assessment, and ongoing course improvement. My work includes collaborating with department leadership and other Program Directors, serving as SME across four courses, reviewing courses for opportunities to improve instruction, and developing program-level assessment plans through Institutional Effectiveness and Research.

Curriculum Development · In Progress

Redesigning the Human-Centered Design Capstone

DSGN 696 · Planned Spring 2027 Implementation

I am currently leading a redesign of the Human-Centered Design capstone experience to strengthen iterative prototyping, critique, user testing, design decision-making, and professional presentation.

Define Plan Explore Build Improve Validate Refine Communicate

The approved direction replaces a largely paper-based sequence with a living process book and progressive prototype development. Students move from research and low-fidelity concepts through mid- and high-fidelity prototypes, formal user testing, evidence-based revisions, and a final portfolio-ready UX case study.

Research → Prototype → Test → Iterate → Communicate

The redesigned structure makes the student's design process and decision-making as important as the final artifact.

Program Assessment · 2025–2027

Using assessment to inform curriculum.

I develop and participate in annual Program Learning Outcome assessments for the M.A. in Human-Centered Design. The 2025–26 assessment evaluated students' ability to develop innovative, user-centered solutions through design thinking.

88.89% Usability

80.55% Originality

72.22% Functionality

Usability and originality met or exceeded the 80% program target, while functionality did not. Review of student work showed that many final prototypes remained static or conceptual, making functionality difficult to demonstrate. The assessment led to recommendations for clearer prototype expectations and stronger alignment between assignment instructions and evaluation criteria.

For 2026–27, I developed the next assessment around students' ability to identify real end-user problems using human-centered design processes and research in DSGN 625. Together, these assessments create an ongoing cycle of evaluating student learning and using those findings to guide program improvement.

Creative + Scholarly Practice

Animation · Research · Storytelling

Reflection

My MFA research and creative practice explored nostalgia, identity, memory, and storytelling through animation, culminating in the animated hybrid short film Reflection.

MFA Thesis Film · Savannah College of Art and Design

Research through animated storytelling.

I directed and produced Reflection from concept through final production, including story development, visual development, storyboarding, 2D and 3D animation, art direction, lighting, compositing, editing, and final visual design.

The film was presented as part of the SCAD MFA Graduate Screening Showcase and continued through a juried film festival circuit with national and international selections, finalist placements, and honorable mentions.

Story Development

Character Development

Final Film

Selected pages from the Reflection MFA thesis book

Research + Making

From research to visual narrative.

Developed as my MFA thesis at SCAD, Reflection connected written research with visual development and animated storytelling. The accompanying thesis work documents the research, creative development, production process, and final outcomes behind the film.

View Thesis Book (PDF)

Leadership + Service

Design in Service

Creative leadership beyond the classroom.

Cross Pointe Church

Director of Media & Production · 2019–Present

Lead media, broadcast, web, and visual communication, including development of the church's custom WordPress website, online ministry presence, branding, promotional materials, worship media, and media-team operations.

Professional + Academic Service

Additional service and consulting have included work with educational institutions, ministry organizations, independent businesses, and student organizations, extending my design and technical practice into community and educational contexts.

Continued Growth

Looking Forward

Continuing the connection between practice and education.

My continued professional and academic work is centered on the same goal: understanding people more clearly and designing better experiences in response.

I plan to continue developing the Human-Centered Design curriculum through assessment, course refinement, and stronger connections between research, prototyping, testing, and professional practice. At the same time, my ongoing work in UX, personalization, digital experimentation, and front-end development allows the methods and technologies I bring into the classroom to continue evolving with the field.