Julie Saunders

Julie has over 25 years of experience in human-centered design, research and strategy. Her particular passion is for research, which is driven by a deep curiosity about people - their perspectives, behaviors, motivations and unmet needs - in order to conceive and design innovative experiences that improve their lives. She believes as design thinkers, the services and products we deliver should be balanced between delighting people and meeting business objectives.

Julie is an independent consultant and works with companies in the Web3, retail, and banking industries. She previously worked at Philips in their new product development department focusing on sleep technology and at Highmark Health where she established the team responsible for digital user experience and content strategy that supports their health insurance customers. Later she joined Highmark’s innovation group where she worked hand in hand with medical professionals and their patients to design new ways to improve healthcare experiences and to help people live their best lives.

Julie is an adjunct instructor at Carnegie Mellon University, where she received her MDes in Interaction Design in 2005. She teaches interaction design at HCII and design innovation at iii.