Portfolio — UX Research & Service Design

About Me

Designing systems
that care.

I am a user researcher who defines and refines design solutions through the lens of my clinical mental health expertise and thousands of hours of patient engagement.

I've worked in behavioral health, human services, and healthcare systems for years navigating and coaching patients through challenging UI design and frustrating user flows before we could even start the therapeutic session. Working on the provider side of EHR systems I have had to resolve and rework my clinical workflow many times, as well as help to coach other clinicians on how to best overhaul theirs for increased efficiency. This was my start in UX design, watching myself and other clinicians struggle to navigate systems that were not built for optimal clinical work.

I am passionate about understanding people and their methods of navigating the world around them. Now I am coupling that passion with clinical expertise, system thinking, patient engagement understanding and design principles. If you are working to build intuitive systems in the areas of civic tech, behavioral health care, or health tech, I'd love to chat more.

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Case Studies

Solid State Coffee interior — counter and service space

Avg wait time, in minutes

Total wait time range, in minutes

Solid State Coffee — counter and ordering area

Service blueprint — current state mapping

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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User Persona

Rachel

Social Copywriter · 27–32

Occasional Rider Mobile-First Exploration-Motivated

“I would give up and find the answers on Google.”

Goals

→ Reach Red Hook & Greenpoint via ferry

→ Buy tickets in-app, not at terminal

Pain Points

→ App can’t answer “can it get me there?”

→ Terminal names don’t map to neighborhoods

Journey Map

Prototype Change 03

Neighborhood-first
terminal labels

Terminal names like “Stuyvesant Cove” left users with no geographic context — and no way forward.

3 of 5 participants couldn't confirm they found the right terminal even after completing the task

Before

ST. GEORGE

Ferry Terminal

After

ST. GEORGE

Staten Island

Ferry Terminal

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

Say Hello See the Work

CoenThornton,LMHC

Designing systems that care.

Reducing Wait Times at Solid State Coffee

Removing Barriers to New Rider Adoption in the NYC Ferry App

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

Designing systems
that care.