Today we’d like to introduce you to Franka Baly.
Franka, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I stumbled into the field of UX (User Experience) Design more than two decades ago when I answered an ad in the Houston Chronicle for a position as a Human Factors Engineer at Compaq Computer Corporation. I had graduated with a degree from the University of Houston in Sociology and was working as a Patient Advocate at MD Anderson, right out of college, until the death of my mother from breast cancer made it too difficult to continue doing the job I had grown to love. I didn’t actually know what Human Factors was, but I had all of the required skills in the ad and I’d always had an affinity for technology, so I thought, why not. When I got the call to go in for the interview, I was pleasantly surprised. I hit it off with the manager of the group, Cynthia Purvis, who I will always be grateful for taking a chance on me. That first job started me on an incredible career journey – working for some really great companies, with some very smart and talented people, surrounded by some of the most innovative technologies.
I fell in love with the fact that every day, I got to solve REAL problems for REAL people. It’s a career where at its core is all about empathy – probing and asking the right questions to understand the pain point of the person you’ve been asked to help. I love the fact that I get to be around futuristic technologies and have had the privilege of working on some terrific software development teams as part of the Agile process. Today I’m focused on helping solve problems for corporations and small business owners who have the task of building custom or enterprise applications. I love the challenge of using my experience to make a difference for companies who may not know how they can create a better user experience whether online or with the products they develop. Recently my work has led me to focus on Design Systems for a few different oil and gas companies. I’m so passionate about this work and my goal is to always make a positive impact for the clients I help, making it easier for them to do their work because I’ve done mine so well. I feel so fortunate that I get to do something I love and to show my amazing twin sons that being single mom did not diminish or deter me from pursuing my dreams or helping others fulfill theirs.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My first struggle came in 2008 after I became suddenly single, after the loss of my husband. I went from having support to going it alone with my twin boys, who were four at the time. I had to reprioritize their needs most times over the business so it was a difficult balance.
Then in 2009 during the Recession, I had to downsize my team and restructure my business as my clients dried up. I had to move out of my Downtown Houston office back to my home office – but it ended up being the best move I ever made. It was an opportunity to pivot and regroup as the technological landscape had once again changed. It was definitely hard and I wasn’t sure if I would ever have a successful business again.
My latest challenge was in 2018 as I realized that developing website and branding platforms for small businesses was becoming commoditized and my industry was changing due to this burgeoning time of technological growth. Every day someone is developing an app that can do what you were once highly paid to do. You had to look for new ways to show value and to differentiate yourself in what was becoming a very noisy online space. It was a really difficult year for the business and I considered closing my business for good as I felt burnt out by the feast and famine of that year. But on the other hand it was during that year that I would go back to my roots and focus 100% on UX Design instead of the branding and marketing that I had been focused on. Although I focus on UX in all of my work, I was now focused on helping a large corporate client develop a design system for their company.
FBUX Consulting – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am the Creative Director and a Senior User Experience Designer for my company. I oversee the development of all of our projects myself. In addition to pitching to clients and creating our proposals I also create personas, wireframes, workflows, as well as review copy and documentation for all of our projects. I’m not just focused on business growth but I also oversee the creation of the deliverables we ultimately give to our clients. This allows me to keep my skills fresh, relevant, and strong. I am a strategic thinker but I’m also great at executing and making sure that things get done.
One of our recent wins that we are so proud of is a redesign we completed in 2019 for a wonderful local company by the name of e2Log. They were told by their investors that the site needed to look better and several major features needed to be reworked because they did not provide the best customer experience. They also needed it done in a very tight timeline. What started as a reskinning project became a redesign. We were able to not only completely redesign the user interface to look better but we also created an experience that their customers would find significantly improved as they interacted with the portal. We received glowing feedback from the company which has given us such confidence and led us in a new direction. As of 2020, we have partnered to do custom application development with local software consulting firm AndTech Solutions. We are so excited by this endeavor and will be collaborating on several custom app projects this year.
I believe what sets us apart is our experience and our commitment to excellence. My longevity in my industry, my understanding of the entire customer journey, and my willingness to stay curious has kept me on top of my game. I’m also proud that everyone on my team, from my lead designer to my copywriter to my social media strategist has also been working in their craft for more than ten years. I think having great talent and experience around you makes you even better, plus a proven track record of results counts for a lot these days.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think that would have to be back in 2000 when I went to work for American General as the Associate Director and Community Manager of a new site called Red Apple Online. The project was the brainchild of John Graf who was Vice Chairman at the time. It was created as a direct response to the Columbine tragedy where 12 students were killed, along with one teacher. The goal was to create a safe community for educators and others who were on the frontlines of working with our children with the mission of preventing another tragedy like Columbine. I loved being a part of such a wonderful project with an incredible mission. As part of my role I utilized my UX design skills but I also got the opportunity to grow as a leader. It gave me an incredible opportunity to work with some of the most innovative technologies at the time, most of which were ahead of its time, from 3D virtual worlds to avatars and online communities. It showed me how I could merge my love of UX with a social cause. Even though the project did not survive, I saw what a powerful tool technology could be when used in the right way to connect people, this was prior to any social media and I credit it for keeping me on the path of continuing to be an innovator in my industry. Fast forward to 2020 and I’m more excited than ever about the future growth of my company and look forward to helping even more companies create amazing experiences for their customers.
Pricing:
- Custom UX design projects start at $12K
- Custom websites start at $5K
- Branding projects start at $3K
- Design System Development starts at $20K
Contact Info:
- Address: 21175 Tomball Parkway, Ste. 458
Houston, TX 77070 - Website: fbuxconsulting.com
- Phone: 832-384-8566
- Email: hello@fbuxconsulting.com
- Facebook: com/frankabaly
- Twitter: com/fbuxconsulting
- Other: com/company/fbuxconsulting
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