For me, design has always been about people. I’ve never seen it as pushing pixels or checking boxes—it’s about listening, noticing, and finding creative ways to make the complex feel approachable. My artistic inclination shapes that approach: I see design as both a craft and a canvas, where empathy and imagination work together to create something meaningful.
Over the years, I’ve worked across public health, tech, and nonprofit spaces, and no matter the project, I keep coming back to the same guiding principle: empathy and creativity can change the way we experience the world. Sometimes that looks like turning dense health data into a story people can actually use. Sometimes it means co-designing materials with communities so their voices shape the outcome from the start. And sometimes, it’s as simple as bringing cookies, coloring pages, or a little humor into an accessibility workshop to make it more engaging.
My role is part researcher, part facilitator, part storyteller—but always rooted in putting people first. At the end of the day, I believe the best design feels human. It’s inclusive, intuitive, accessible, and resonant. It gives people not just what they need, but an experience that reflects care, craft, and creativity. That’s the lens I bring to every project I touch.
Testimonials
“Carey is an excellent addition to any team. She is curious, intuitive, an active listener, and she goes out of her way to make other team members feel included. She genuinely has a heart for others and shows it daily in how she treats those around her.”
Loren Johnson, Director of Product Design @ MyCarrier
“Carey is an amazing UX Researcher with great attention to detail and is extremely organized. She has a vast toolbox of knowledge that she pulls from to adjust to many situations depending on what is needed. She is a very empathetic and personable individual, and a natural leader who makes everyone in the room feel welcome and heard.“
Mia Kozitka, Product Strategy Senior Advisor @ Evernorth
“As a critical team member, you helped guide the optimization of the Early Access Program, streamlining the interview and survey process. Your guidance helped us find a balanced approach for gathering customer sentiment using qualitative and quantitative data analysis to map out key priorities, identify trends, and build enhanced customer engagement opportunities.”
Mike Henderson, Product Design Lead for Advanced Engineering @ Ford
“Carey is a phenomenal UX researcher and an amazing teammate. She’s detailed oriented, proactive, energetic, and an excellent communicator. Her work is consistently top tier and she is always striving to find the optimal solution to challenges. As a copywriter, I valued her informed insights when developing content and my work greatly benefited from her diligent approach to everything she does!”
Laurent Che, Lead Copywriter @ LinkedIn
“During her time with Indy/Tispr – Carey made a long-lasting impact to our understanding and approach to our customers. She provided much needed perspective into the qualitative insights that drive our product development and her ability to synthesize and communicate those insights were extraordinary.”
Jason Luna, Senior Manager, Product Design @ T-Mobile
“I had the pleasure of working alongside Carey for a year and a half on Bushel’s research team. Carey is particularly skilled in qualitative methods and helped me grow immensely in this area of research. On top of her qualitative skillset, Carey often utilized a mixed-methods approach with her studies by implementing quantitative measures of the user experience to give clear benchmarks of progress and/or areas of improvement for our products.”
Andrew Perry, Senior UX Researcher @ AirGarage
“I had the pleasure of working with Carey while she was a UX Researcher on my team. I can’t speak highly enough of Carey. Her deep knowledge of UX practices, professionalism, and work ethic, impressed me at day one, and continued to impress me during her time on my team. I’ve worked with a lot of UX researchers, and have yet to meet one of Carey’s caliber.”
Charity Martin, Tech & Product Leader @ Ford
Carey Petersen
careypetersendesign@gmail.com
(229) 621-2725
Designed with WordPress
Carey Petersen 