Barbara Denney

I have 15+ years of UX design and front-end development experience. For the past five years, I have had the privilege of working on design systems and I truly enjoy it. From helping to establish new systems to maintaining and evolving mature ones, there is always something new to explore. Lately, I have been diving into the world of AI, discovering how it can enhance efficiency and open new creative possibilities.

I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado and enjoy illustrating and running.

My Projects

Here are some of the projects I’ve worked on:

2023: Moving a design system component library from react to web components

  • Description: Assisted team with moving the entire component library from React to Web components as well as moving from Sketch to Figma.
  • Technologies: Figma, tokens/variables, project planning
  • Status: Complete

2021: Merging design systems

  • Description: At one point there were three design systems within the organization. We needed to combine these design systems into a single design system that was themeable so there could be a single-source-of truth.
  • Technologies: Sketch, Workshops, Design tokens, Accessibility
  • Status: Complete

2020: Establishing a new design system


Skills

Design Systems & UI Development

Scalable Component Libraries, Design Tokens, UI Kits, Pattern Documentation, Figma, Sketch, Material Design, Bootstrap, Static Site Generators (Jekyll)

Front-End Development & Prototyping

HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, React, Web Components, Git/GitHub, Axure, InVision, Mural, Interactive Wireframing, High-Fidelity Prototyping

User Experience & Interaction Design

UX Research, Usability Testing, Journey Mapping, Heuristic Evaluations, User Flows, Card Sorting,

Accessibility & Compliance

WCAG 2.1, Section 508 Compliance, Accessibility Audits

Agile & Product Development

Agile/Scrum Methodologies, Kanban, Sprint Planning, Cross-Functional Collaboration, User Story Mapping, Product Roadmaps, Requirements Gathering

Project & Stakeholder Management

Design System Governance, Documentation Standards, Component guidance creation


Education

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) – Computer Software Engineering Western Governors University

Associate of Science (A.S.) – Web Design & Digital Media Baker College


Professional experience

  • Staff UX Designer – VA Design System – Department of Veteran Affairs – 2022-Present
  • Senior Designer – CMS Design System – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – 2021-2022
  • UX Designer – Medicare.gov – Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – 2018-2021
  • Freelance UX Designer - Self-Employed - 2016-2018
  • Web Designer - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - 2015-2016
  • UX Designer - Innoppl - 2014-2015

Military experience

Network Administrator - United States Army - 2001–2005


Certifications

  • Advanced UX & Interaction Design Certification – Nielsen Norman Group
  • Project+ – CompTIA
  • Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) Web Developer – Certification Partners
  • Certified User Experience Professional (CUEP) – Texas Tech University
  • ITIL Foundation – AXELOS Global Best Practice

Professional development

  • Various Design Systems Workshops – Brad Frost, Nathan Curtis, Dan Mall
  • Accessibility & Inclusive Design Training – WCAG 2.1 & Section 508 Compliance