Coen
Thornton

A UX researcher and service designer bringing clinical empathy, deep listening, and human-centered thinking to systems

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About Me

Designing systems
that care.

While practicing as a therapist I realized I was spending a lot of sessions talking about clunky UX. The very systems meant to help my clients were often letting them down. That's what brought me to UX research.

Thousands of hours of one-on-one interviews taught me to listen past the surface. Now I apply that to the places where services meet people. From service design in a neighborhood café to usability testing civic infrastructure, I've conducted end-to-end research in a variety of settings.

No matter the project, I bring clinical listening to qualitative exploration and empathy-driven framing to quantitative analysis.

Coen Thornton
Avg wait time, in minutes
0:00 3:00 6:00 9:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 Wait time 4:14 3:19 7:33 8:13 3:12 11:25 8:37 6:05 14:42 7:52 4:51 12:43 Mon–Thu Friday Saturday Sunday
Wait to order
Wait for drink
NYC Ferry app prototype screenshot
Service blueprint
IxDF Service Design certificate — Top 10% in class
NYC Ferry journey map
Analyzing bar flow at Solid State

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Case Studies

Service Design · 2025

Reducing Wait Times at Solid State Coffee

Long wait times were impacting customer acquisition and raising reputational concerns at Solid State Coffee — but the root causes weren't obvious. Mixed methods research across consumer interviews, wait time analysis, and contextual inquiry surfaced the real bottlenecks and shifted how the organization prioritized its operational redesign.

Contextual Inquiry 1:1 Interviews Mixed Methods Service Design
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UX Research · 2025

Removing Barriers to New Rider Adoption in the NYC Ferry App

The NYC Ferry app was failing to convert potential riders before they ever boarded. A self-initiated usability study using think-aloud protocol and emotional journey mapping across three core tasks revealed significant navigation barriers that were pushing new users toward other transit options. Findings informed a clickable prototype redesigning the app's core routing and scheduling flows.

Usability Testing Think-Aloud Protocol Journey Mapping Figma Prototype
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Contact Information

Want to talk? Good news:there's no co-pay anymore.

thornton.coen@gmail.com

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