Testimonials
I’m proud to have received these recommendations on my LinkedIn profile.
I worked with Jenny for about three years. In that time, she always showed what can only be described as an exceptional level of intelligence and insight into user experience. The team we were on was in charge of a tool that was incredibly complex, with many different moving parts and a lot of different stakeholders, both internal and external. Jenny managed to do exceptionally well in navigating this complexity with ease and skill.
In addition to her ability to collaborate well with engineers, Jenny had a proactive approach in seeking improvements in both her process as well as the team's. She was also excellent at written communication, which was particularly helpful as our team spanned 3 countries and 4 time zones.
I would love to work with Jenny again in the future, and based on my own experiences, I highly recommend her for any organization that is looking for a dedicated, insightful, high-skilled, and capable Product Designer.
Will Olson
Engineering Manager
Colleague at Procore Technologies
Jenny is truly a unicorn who I had the great pleasure to work with on a strategic initiative at Mercy Corps. I witnessed first-hand Jenny’s unparalleled ability to understand, down to the core, a diverse and complex set of user needs and transform them into a masterful, seamless experience. She has the rare ability to work up and down, side to side and across teams partnering with engineering, product, users, and leadership to create a solution that is intuitive, delightful, and effortless. She approaches her work with a rare balance of humility and confidence and is typically the instigator of afternoon breaks for team coffee, ice cream or fresh air walks.
Emily Sinn
Director, Portfolio Integration Consumer Creation Ops
My manager at Mercy Corps
It is difficult to write a recommendation for Jenny without sounding hyperbolic. She is one of the best UX designers/product managers/project leads I have known in my 20+ years in the industry. I have worked with her in my capacity as both a designer and developer. I came, over the time of our relationship, to regard her as a mentor. I often ask myself, as a UX designer or product manager, “what would Jenny do in this situation?”
A short primer on Jenny’s awesomeness:
Jenny has imagination: she can visualize the entire problem/solution space, down to fine detail, in a way that I find humbling. If, as a developer, I suggest changes to Widget A, she knows how it will effect Interaction Z…far away in another part of the product. Working on her projects, I can always see BOTH the strategic forest AND the tactical trees.
Jenny does the research: she goes deep into the specifics of the problem domain. She ponders business problems and their ramifications. She centers the humans that the system serves, and observes their behavior.
Jenny empathizes: She puts herself into the users’ roles, without ever losing sight of the principle that she is not always her users. She studies their activities, imagines herself in their seats, and talks to them. (It is surprisingly rare to find designers who talk to their users!)
Jenny does the work: her designs and documentation go deep. They leave little ambiguity for engineers or junior designers, and where they do, she acknowledges the ambiguity and invites collaboration.
Jenny stands her ground: she has firm ideas about what will work, and — with all due love and openness — she advocates for it.
Jenny has no ego: for all that she is firm, she does not personalize criticism or feedback. She listens openly, and engages in honest conversation, always seeking improvement.
Jenny is an excellent human being: a good person with a huge smile, a true joy to know.
Paul Souders
Software Engineer and Designer
Colleague at Mercy Corps
Jenny is one of the best UX designers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. The structure and rigor she brings to surfacing and defining user requirements, as well as the facility with which she adapts those requirements to the technical limitations of a system set her head and shoulders above her peers, and make her an invaluable addition to a development team. When our team’s project manager role was suddenly vacated, Jenny stepped up to take on the brunt of those tasks in addition to her primary UX and product ownership duties. This included navigating communication with stakeholders, scheduling and timeline management, and prioritizing work to maximize the efficacy of a small team and minimize the impact on developers of administrative overhead, all while continuing to move forward on the design of a complex major feature release. Jenny’s design sensibilities are user-centric, aesthetically coherent, and specific. She can write user stories and acceptance criteria that more than clearly communicate feature specifications to developers, and has a keen eye when called on for QA and testing. Further, Jenny’s soft skills are beyond reproach: she is extremely receptive to feedback, active in maintaining a healthy team dynamic, and a driven self-starter. If you want a tireless advocate for good product design who brings to bear both the technical chops and unflagging work ethic to realize it, Jenny is exactly the person you want on your team.
Cameron McFee
Principal Engineer and Software Architect
Colleague at Mercy Corps
I worked with Jenny for a little over 2 years at Jive Software, and in that time I witnessed first-hand Jenny's attention to detail, ability to distill problems down to their core essence, and then transform those problems into beautiful and usable solutions. Jenny helped improve key parts of the Jive platform, create new features and capabilities, and also lead our design research activities. Jenny worked very well with others on the Design team, as well as others across the company, was positive and always eager to help others. I can't recommend Jenny enough, she was a fantastic member of my team and I hope we get work together again one day.
Ryan Vanderzanden
Product Designer and Creative Leader
My manager at Jive Software
While I've worked with a lot of very talented designers, I've never worked with anyone who could synthesize information as well as Jenny. She is truly gifted at concepting innovative usages, designing for complex information and data visualizations, and advocating for users. Her passion for leveraging her design skills for the good of humanity is unprecedented, and I won't be surprised if her future work solves major problems that users encounter all over the globe. If you have the opportunity to work with Jenny, I highly recommend you take it--even the most seasoned UX'er will learn something new.
Emily Mahood Bowman
Design Executive at General Motors
Colleague at Empirical UX Research and Design
I've had the pleasure of working with Jenny at Empirical since I started here nine months ago. During this time, I have found her to be both a great colleague and an inspiration in my own personal and professional pursuits.
For example, we had the opportunity to collaborate on a special project related to technology and disaster relief. She not only developed this concept herself, but took it from idea to reality through her own passion and dedication. Throughout the project, I've observed an admirable sense of leadership, creativity and open-mindedness that is rare to come across. She has always sought out feedback from others to improve her designs and prototypes, and clearly values incorporating both the input of her colleagues and the voice of the user throughout the design process.
Jenny also has an impressive ability to see her ideas through to the end and to stay focused on her goals, while remaining realistic and nimble. Jenny’s Curious Terrain Explorer’s Deck is a perfect illustration of her dedication and creativity (not to mention being a really cool and unique product!)
I’ve enjoyed working with Jenny and continue to appreciate her genuineness, positivity, integrity, and inquisitiveness. I have no doubt that she will bring an unmatched level of energy to any project or position she takes on – any organization will be lucky to have her as a member of the team.
Amy Santee
Career Strategist and Coach for UX Professionals
My UX research partner at Empirical UX Research and Design
I have been really impressed with Jennifer Marx' deep inquiry into the nature of place. The Curious Terrain Explorer's Deck that she created are a wonderful tool for opening a designer's eyes to the possibilities of a site.
When Jennifer lead my architecture students in an exercise to understand and record Portland's Lloyd District Rose Quarter, they really appreciated how the cards help them filter through the location's complex dynamics. And I appreciated how Jennifer could keep them engaged despite terribly cold, rainy weather. Her ideas and feedback inspired several students to design sophisticated graphics about the place. Because of our shared interest in place representation and thinking processes, I have enjoyed discussing ways to work with the cards.
It's wonderful that Jennifer was able to build on her UO thesis to refine such a beautiful commercial product, and then keep developing fun and educational applications. Whenever I travel I try to bring a few sets of cards to give as gifts because they are such a great example of what our school can foster. I'm eager to see what Jennifer's next project will be, as she has many capabilities.
Nancy Yen-Wen Cheng
Associate Professor of Architecture at University of Oregon
At Nancy's invitation, I led two experiential site analysis workshops for senior architecture students, served as a mentor to students completing their terminal projects, and participated in studio critiques.
Working with Jennifer is a brilliant excursion. Her attention to user expectations and creative excellence is unparalleled, as is her wonderful personality that accompanies her stellar mind.
James Rice
CEO of Fiction Tribe
My manager and creative director at CMD Agency