Hello!
I’m Amanda Cilek, a product designer based in Portland, OR. I am passionate about design for social good and enjoy transforming my creative energy into meaningful user experiences.
Currently I am a Principal User Experience Designer with Autodesk’s Education team focusing on empowering the next generation of students in 3D design and STEM. Previously, I honed my skills at a number of tech startups including the nonprofit Medic Mobile, where I helped build tools for healthcare workers in remote communities in East Africa and Nepal. I earned an MFA in Design from the University of Iowa in 2015.
When I'm not working, you'll find me hiking the beautiful Pacific Northwest, baking experimental vegan treats, and engaging in all sorts of creative pursuits including hand-made printmaking and ceramics.
Resume
Principal User Experience Designer, Autodesk 2023–Present
Senior Product Designer 2020–2023
Education team responsible for Tinkercad and Instructables products.
• Own the end-to-end product design process from user research to
ideation and prototypes to final specs and successful launch.
• Collaborate and communicate cross-functionally on new features.
• Plan, run, and analyze surveys, interviews, and user testing.
• Establish and own brand identity system and brand guidelines.
• Champion accessibility improvements and define best practices.
• Mentor junior designers as a manager and via mentorship program.
ideation and prototypes to final specs and successful launch.
• Collaborate and communicate cross-functionally on new features.
• Plan, run, and analyze surveys, interviews, and user testing.
• Establish and own brand identity system and brand guidelines.
• Champion accessibility improvements and define best practices.
• Mentor junior designers as a manager and via mentorship program.
Senior Product Designer, Cozy.co (CoStar) 2019–2020
Tools for landlords and renters to manage properties and payments.
• Helped transition Cozy's payment systems workflows after acquisition.
• Ran in-person focus groups to inform best user migration strategy.
• Assessed user pain points, ran usability tests, iterated on designs, and created prototypes with documentation for development.
• Led standardization of design system with focus on accessibility.
Interaction Designer, Medic Mobile 2017–2019
Nonprofit healthcare app connecting remote communities to care.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teammates across 13 countries to support core product development and strategic innovation.
• Used human-centered design to empathize with users, gain insights from site visits, and translate into intuitive experiences.
• Created prototypes and managed usability testing, defining testing parameters, planning questions and synthesizing feedback.
• Created data visualizations for dashboards and annual reports.
Senior Designer, Gambit 2016–2017
Small Portland-based digital creative agency (closed in 2017).
• Redesigned complex data-heavy client webapps to improve clarity.
• Conducted interviews with end users to understand pain points.
• Worked with a local events start-up, Doing, to design their new app from the ground up, from rough wireframe to workable prototype.
Senior Designer, Workgroups DaVinci 2015–2016
Iowa City-based startup; workflow management for creative teams.
• Led development of new brand identity and brand guidelines.
• Led redesign of company website and new product websites.
• Planned and conducted product usability tests and user interviews.
• Designed events collateral including booth, swag, marketing collateral etc.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Iowa 2015
Instructor of Record 2013–2015
• Taught intro Graphic Design courses. Wrote course curriculum,
lectured, facilitated group critiques and graded assignments.
lectured, facilitated group critiques and graded assignments.
Graphic Designer, Pearson Education 2010–2013
• Designed branding and marketing materials for educational services, corporate communications, and company events and conferences.
• Designed an interactive iPad learning app for K-12 students and created animated instructional videos and other educational content.
Digital Graphic Designer, Intermec 2008–2010
• Collaborated with a global web marketing team to manage, maintain and update web content and imagery across 14 global sites.
• Designed microsites, landing pages, email templates etc. and worked with distributed development team to build out designs.
Education
MFA in Design, University of Iowa 2015
• Graduated with Commendation, GPA 4.19
• Virgil M. Beall Fellowship
• Strategic Initiative Fellowship
MA in Design, University of Iowa 2014
• Paula P. Grahame Scholarship
• Len Everett Scholarship
BFA in Art, University of Iowa 2008
Minor in Business
LUMA certified practitioner of human-centered design
Issued Sep 2021