WELCOME TO MY PORTFOLIO
Hiiii! My name is Merilee Benson and I’m a senior product designer with 20 years of professional design experience. My passion is creating meaningful designs and solving problems. I love being able to use both left & right sides of my brain.
User experience • visual design • research • ART • + everything in between
Recommendations
“Merilee is one of the greats when it comes to Product Design. It’s always a highlight in Product when you get to partner with someone talented, kind, and hard working, and Merilee is all of those things and much more. Her ability to take complex concepts and requirements, and transform those into intuitive designs always impressed me.
Our research covered dozens of teams at Pluralsight, with complex persona’s across internal stakeholders and external customers, yet Merilee drove clarity through the complexity and enabled us to ship powerful solutions.
Merilee also strikes the right balance of expertise and humility. She always seeks feedback and listens with intent, but she also knows where to listen to her intuition and make the best decision.
Bottom line, Merilee is a rockstar and anyone would be lucky to have her in their band!”
“Merilee is one of the most talented designers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Not only does she have an extraordinary eye and ability to bring beauty and function to every project she works on (and I’ve personally worked with her on a few), she’s just an amazing human being who is the personification of sunshine and warmth in every room she walks (virtually, but you get what I mean) into. Her level of communication - both professionally and inter-personally - are spectacular, and she’s just as much a team player and motivator as she is when she tackles immense projects on her own.
As icing on the cake, she also entered into our org-wide competition to design the logo for our internal annual design summit and won by an *actual* landslide.
This recommendation comes with absolute confidence and without reservation. I know she’ll be an incredible addition to any team. If you are looking for an actual rockstar of a designer, she’s the one. ”
“I’ve worked alongside Merilee Benson for over two years as her Manager of Product Design. In that time, I have seen her grow into a well-rounded Senior user experience designer. Her top talents are in visual graphic design and UI design, but today I would argue that she is a go-to team member to take on complex product challenges. She has tackled projects in information architecture, research, and targeted content design, to name a few.
I enjoy the opportunity to collaborate with her artistic side in the UX Team Newsletter. This strategic endeavor gives the organization visibility into the product design team’s continued contributions to the product. Merilee not only leads the charge here but every month designs eye-catching portfolio-quality content.
Merilee is a consummate learner which makes her ahead of the visual design curve and up for problem-solving any UX challenge. She is a strong team player, and I believe any company that acquires her will be fortunate to have her.”
“Merilee is a true gem in the field of product design. Her visual design skills are top-notch, consistently producing stunning and innovative solutions that captivate both clients and colleagues alike. Beyond her talent, Merilee’s humility and approachability shine through, making her not only a pleasure to work with but also an invaluable mentor for junior team members. What truly sets Merilee apart is her unwavering commitment to keeping the user at the forefront of the design process. Her meticulous attention to detail ensures that every aspect of her work is flawless, while her kind and empathetic nature makes her a compassionate listener who values every voice. It’s rare to find a designer who possesses both extraordinary talent and genuine humility, and Merilee is undoubtedly one of those rare individuals.”
“I’ve had the great pleasure of working directly with Merilee on several projects. She’s friendly, fun to work with, and the speed at which she ideates and produces designs is mind-boggling! Her work makes it clear that she has a deep understanding of product goals and customer needs. Collaborating is easy and natural with Merilee; she has amazing insights and she’s constantly aiming to improve the user experience.”
“Complimenting her crisp beautiful visual design and illustrations skills you will find deep thoughtfulness and care for the entire user experience process. Merilee brings a deep passion to all her work and loves to make those she works with shine. She is very capable with everything from discovery work, to user flows, to interaction design and of course super solid visual design.”
“I had the pleasure of working on the same, close-knit design team as Merilee, and I can confidently say that she is an exceptional product designer. Her meticulous attention to detail, stellar UI design, and her ability to always keep the user at the forefront of her work, really enabled Merilee to design, iterate, and deliver quality work. Merilee approached projects with an open mind, eager to learn from others, and incorporated feedback to improve her designs. She was always an active participant in design crits, both giving and receiving feedback and her participation and engagement created a collaborative environment where ideas flowed freely. On top of her top notch “hard skills,” Merilee is also a phenomenal human. Her humility, kindness, and compassion really sets her apart. Her gentle charm and easy humor makes it near impossible to feel anything other than welcomed and accepted. On more than one occasion, Merilee was willing to hop on a call and help me with problem, offering not only advice but also demonstrating and teaching me new skills that would be invaluable to my career. Anyone that has the opportunity to work with Merilee should absolutely jump at the chance to do so.”
“Oh Merilee, how I love you. This girl gets it done, but not without serious thought and attention. Merilee is my visual design counterpart on our UX team of 16 people. Her attention to detail is unparalleled. She’s an art director powerhouse with a deep deep knowledge of UX process and product design. She’s the unicorn everyone talks about.”
“I’m always excited when I get to work with Merilee on a project. She’s both an amazing visual designer and UX designer. I dove in with her on research, user flows, testing, design sprints, and other projects and saw her display those strengths in all. On the personal side, Merilee is incredibly kind, collaborative, and considerate. I have loved working with her.”
“Merilee and I were hired at Bluehost almost at the same time. I have always looked up to Merilee in her design process, her attention to detail, and great design aesthetics. She has been an example of patience when it comes to difficult conversations or situations. I love how passionate she is about the users and her projects. She championed storytelling through emails that she sent out on behalf of the Design team on monthly basis. Those emails clearly told the whole organization about the importance of taking care of our users and putting their needs first. I would recommend Merilee to anyone who wants a positive, always smiling, and talented designer on their team!”