Roni Greenberg

I am designer and strategist devoted to balancing impact and joy – working to create meaningful experiences that improve peoples’ quality of life in substantial ways. I currently work as a Service Design Strategist at Kaiser Permanente.

I am trained in Human Centered Design, with primary work experiences working in Healthcare. I rely on my empathy and relationship building, analytical and thorough approach to synthesis, and strengths in visual design to identify real world issues, develop solutions, and communicate effectively to catalyze change.

With a background in industrial and product design, I have focused on designing for social and societal impact as a response to the pain in the world around me. While I love beautiful furniture and uniquely pretty objects, and I have chosen to dedicate my work to civic improvement and to pursue these aesthetic passions outside of work.

I was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. I attended a rather hippie Jewish preschool where we sang Beatles songs, did something called “chocolate meditation,” and had an annual day where we would exclusively eat beets and asparagus and see what happened on the other end. I like to think of that activity as my first root cause analysis. I credit my deep-rooted empathy and sense of responsibility to the world around me to the nurturing education I received in my early years.

Both of my grandmothers were professional artists, and my parents did everything in their power to expose me to fine arts and give me the means to pursue my artistic goals. Whether it is watercolor paintings or sketchbooks filled with different designs of texting phones, I have adored the satisfaction that comes from making something beautiful or interesting for as long as I can remember – leading me to pursue design in my studies.

My growth as a designer pivoted midway through my college career due to a significant injury. I herniated a disc in my back, went through years of physical therapy and ultimately got surgery. This experience shifted my perspective: while I was still driven by the desire to create striking visuals, my eyes were open to the impact a well-designed product or service could have in relieving my pain.

This experience drove me to push my understanding of who I am as a designer. I realized that one can create striking visuals throughout the design process while still being sure to solve important issues. Creating a well thought out service blueprint or experience requirement which catalyzes change can be just as rewarding as displaying art in a gallery. Even more so, when you consider who it helps.

These days, outside of work I like to spend my time lap swimming, painting & exploring new mediums for visual art, finding the perfect objects to decorate my home with, dancing around the house to my most recent musical obsession, or spending time in nature with my dog.

 Education

Northwestern University

M.S. Engineering Design Innovation (September 2020 - March 2022)

I spent the majority of the early to mid pandemic getting my Masters through the Segal Design Institute. I completed my thesis research project investigating cell phone addiction through the lens of mental health.

B.S. Manufacturing and Design Innovation (September 2016 - July 2020)

September 2016 - July 2020

I spent my undergraduate years in Evanston where I completed my undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, earning my degree in Manufacturing and Design Engineering.

Skills

Research

User interviews, workshop facilitation, ethnographic observations, focus groups, prototype testing

Design

Synthesis, service mapping, journey mapping, UX wireframing, Figma, storyboarding, data visualization, industrial design sketching, CAD

Design Work Experiences

Kaiser Permanente

Due to two major re-orgs, my time at KP was split between working in the Telehealth, Care Delivery & Technology Services, and Strategy & Experience Design departments.

Service Design Strategist IV

December 2024 - Present

  • Led experience design team (4 people) for national effort to improve mental health services, including: patient interviews, strategy decks, experience requirements, engagement with product teams, business stakeholders, and leadership.

  • Oversaw and led team (4 people) creation of omnichannel experience playbook, including: clinician and stakeholder co-design sessions, synthesis, detailed design requirements.

  • Led creation of team norms for collaboration, interviews, and project management for onboarding new team members.

Experience Design Strategist III

March 2022 - December 2024

  • Led clinician & patient interviews, co-design sessions, home visits/interviews, clinician & staff shadowing, and internal staff workshops.

  • Collaborated to craft and refine ideal-state experience requirements and/or playbooks used by product and engineering for range of services including: home video visits, inpatient video visits, omnichannel experience, E-commerce optical, pharmacy OTC.

  • Led creation of metrics for measuring video visit experience, designed internal dashboards for visualizing metrics for leadership, product, design teams), identified inputs needed to build dashboards.

  • Led solo experience design effort for national AI chatbot, translated omnichannel experience requirements into context of AI chatbot, facilitated workshops with SMEs, business stakeholders, and product teams to identify high priority use cases and solutions for chatbot.

Human Centered Design Intern

June 2021 - September 2021

  • Led the design of internal tool for storing and communicating research insights, communicated with developers to, partnered with other KP innovation teams to draft and submitted funding proposal to governance board.

  • Led 30+ interviews with staff working across the enterprise, conducted iterative UX testing and co-created with staff.

  • Worked to enhance internal telehealth team processes by improving service recovery and support for KP members and clinicians.

  • Planned design workshops for KP staff, created interactive workshop stimuli, and assisted in facilitation of workshops.

  • Conducted research into analogous services, recommended changes to service model based off findings.

Segal Design Institute

Design Coach

September 2020 - March 2022

Teaching Assistant for Graduate class: Design 401-3 “Human-Centered Design Studio 3, Service Design”, core class in M.S. Engineering Design Innovation taught by Professors Liz Gerber and Amy O’Keefe.

Teaching Assistant for Undergraduate classes: Design 320 “Introduction to Industrial Design Methods” taught by Professor Greg Holderfield, Design 297 “Visual Thinking for Design“ taught by Professor John Hartman, Design 380-1 “Industrial Design Projects” taught by Professor John Hartman, Design 350 “Intellectual Property and Innovation” taught by Professor Dan Brown, Design 386 “Manufacturing Engineering Design” taught by Professor Dan Brown

  • Offered guidance and grading for students’ deliverables, including: industrial design sketches, storyboards, pitch decks, Photoshop renderings, CAD models, and case studies.

  • Facilitated studio environment both in person and in Zoom classroom by leading discussions & activities and communicating student needs to the professor.

  • Held weekly office hours to provide additional academic resources for students.

  • Worked closely with Professors to develop project prompts and deliverable requirements.

Segal Design Intern

June 2019 - July 2019

I was placed in leadership positions on two NIH funded projects, ESPEED and DIY Diabetes Kit.

ESPEED was a project which started in the Feinberg School of Medicine, investigating ways to change hospital transfer protocol to speed up the stroke treatment process. Responsibilities included:

  • Led communication with the larger team, which included weekly meetings and daily email contact. Team was composed of neurosurgeons, neurologists, and nurses from Northwestern and University of Chicago medical centers.

  • Interviewed hospital staff and conducted site visits to understand their procedures.

  • Led collaborative workshop with hospital staff members to discuss the value of various proposed changes identified through extensive root cause analysis.

  • Analyzed and adapted existing process map, proposed changes to the stroke treatment protocol to increase treatment speed.

DIY Diabetes Kit was a project started in the Segal Design Institute, with the goal of developing take-home kits with diabetes equipment for adults recently diagnosed with type II diabetes. Responsibilities included:

  • Led communication with the research team, which included weekly meetings and daily email contact.

  • Conducted user research in the form of guided interviews and walkthrough of use.

  • Analyzed current construction methods for boxes in the kit, brainstormed alternative constructions to optimize durability and ease of use

Foresight Mental Health

Design & Marketing Intern

June 2018 - September 2018

  • Blueprinted the user experience of clinic space by planning the patient pathway.

  • Converted space into a functional clinic, designed use and interior of each room, rapidly iterating while balancing a minimal budget.

  • Incorporated proprietary prescription software and other tech devices into multiple exam rooms.

  • Facilitated medical network expansion to obtain patient referrals, efforts which led to over 75% of the clinic’s new patients.