I am Samaa El-Sayed,

UX Specialist with 7+ years experience based in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area in Ontario, Canada.

Sweet spot Venn Diagram

I have a sweet spot for balancing human needs and business interests. I apply my curiosity to frame problems at a deeper level while designing beautiful, functional and intuitive digital experiences that can meaningfully impact people’s lives every day.


“The challenge is about taking things that are infinitely complex and making it simple and more understandable.”

My process

- Robert Greenberg

Discovering a complex problem and framing it into something simple and more understandable is the foundation of my design process. Whether the project calls for innovating within constraints, I always aim to apply a human-centered design approach that involves iterative sprints to pitch and deliver solutions that meaningfully impact people’s lives while keeping business interests top of mind.

My design process diagram

My work

Over the past 7+ years of autonomously leading experience design projects from discovery to implementation, I’ve honed my skills of framing problems at a deeper level with innovative ideas and solutions to balance human needs and business interests with continuous learning and improvement. Here are samples of professional and personal work demonstrating how I’ve applied the human centered design framework that enabled me to deliver beautiful, functional and intuitive experiences I felt meaningfully impacted people’s lives every day and well influenced the decisions of stakeholders of meeting their business goals.


An interactive math tool that allows tutors to help students overcome their challenges in math.

Mathify Digital Platform Wireframes


Role

I was the only UX Designer on the team who played a vital role in advocating user research into designing the desired experience for end-users that influenced the business decisions of stakeholders.

Goal

To provide a seamless and personalized digital learning experience in which students can access interactive classroom tools and live one-on-one math tutoring sessions.

A digital financial platform designed for children to manage their savings under the influence of a parent or legal guardian.

WealthWiz Digital Platform


Role

Since this is a side project I am passionate about, I am leading the experience design of conducting user research, defining the strategy and designing interaction and visual designs of this platform.

Goal

To provide a seamless and engaging experience to encourage children to budget wisely, reach their financial goals and educate them about the principles of money under the influence of their parents and/or legal guardians.

A mobile app that enables Toastmasters club members to engage in public speaking and leadership roles.

EasySPEAK mobile app


Role

As a club member who interacted with the web-based platform, I decided to design this new app where I led the research, ideation, experience design, interaction and visual designs of the prototype.

To provide a seamless user experience optimized for mobile devices for which users can access this platform anytime and anywhere.

Goal

Image of Rose, Thorn, Bud Exercise

My NDA work in Manulife

Due to confidentiality reasons, I am not authorized to showcase any of the projects I did in Manulife. I am more than happy to discuss during an interview how I applied the human-centered design framework in one of these projects.

In the meantime, you can read about my reflection that summarizes the 5 key learnings of leading these experience design projects.

Interested in reading MORE of my case studies?