Hey, I’m Em
I’m a Sr. Digital Product Designer making things move at WillowTree. Outside of design - I love hiking, traveling and spending time with my cat Scout.
With 7+ years of experience, I specialize in creating end-to-end experiences for delivery. I have a knack for painting the future vision of products & empowering my teammates.
Specialities: Design consulting, UX/UI design (cross-platform), rapid ideation, visual design and animation.
Styles: Modern, retro, or any
Industries: Fintech, fitness, or any
About Me
At my core
I’m a midwesterner who loves serious design work.
My passion is in building and delivering end-to-end experiences. I have extensive experience within the interaction design field, defining how experiences will behave, scale, and best fit user needs. I’m a strategic thinker and a brilliant collaborator at heart.
My Work
Day to day
I bring clear design solutions to teams building digital products.
I guide the development process from a strategic design standpoint to ensure that products are highly crafted while maintaining a simple and intuitive approach. I help stakeholders and development teams understand how designs will provide value, meet business requirements and support user needs.
Experience
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Current Role
Senior Digital Product Designer
Remote, US
WillowTree is a digital product consultancy that partners with Fortune 500 clients to deliver innovative and user-centered solutions.
As a Senior Product Designer, I help stakeholders and development teams understand how designs will provide value, meet business requirements and support user needs.
Currently, I’m leading design efforts for the My TELUS app, focusing on enhancing customer support and self-service features.
Client Partners: TELUS, Zumba, Mastercard, Sun Outdoors, Special Olympics, Vietnam International Bank, Electrify America, Edward Jones, IBM, Lidl + Additional Fortune 500 Clients. -
VXD / MXD Designer
San Francisco, California
Punchcut is a design innovation consultancy focused on future-forward products for tech industry leaders.As a Motion and Visual Designer, I contributed to projects for clients like StubHub, Samsung, and Fitbit. My role included designing and animating cross-platform screens that supported faster time-to-market for new features.
Using tools like After Effects and Principle, I delivered interactive prototypes and motion solutions, enhancing the visual identity of client products.
Client Partners: Stubhub, Samsung, Fitbit -
Digital Designer
Dallas, Texas
Fossil Group is a global design and innovation company known for its iconic watches and accessories.As a Digital Designer for Skagen, I developed animated assets for email and social media campaigns that drove engagement and increased click-through rates by 10% during key marketing pushes. I also contributed to the Mother’s Day 2019 watch collection, translating design concepts into production-ready assets.
My work combined creative storytelling with meticulous attention to detail, achieving cohesive and impactful campaign results.
Client Partners: Skagen, Fossil -
Graphic Designer
Minneapolis, Minnesota
CBX is a branding and design agency specializing in packaging, retail, and digital experiences for consumer goods companies.At CBX, I designed packaging graphics for prominent brands such as General Mills (Cheerios) and McCormick (Thai Kitchen). I collaborated with cross-office teams to create scalable Photoshop templates, improving workflow efficiency.
A key accomplishment was revitalizing the packaging for the popcorn brand Maddy & Maize, which gained recognition for its bold and playful visual identity.
Client Partners: General Mills Innovation Labs, McCormick, Purina, Hormel Foods, Maddy & Maize -
Design Researcher
New Bremen, Ohio
Crown Equipment Corporation is a leading global manufacturer of forklift trucks and material handling equipment.In this role, I conducted design research to present actionable insights to high-level stakeholders. I created data visualizations and infographics that supported decision-making across departments.
Additionally, I led on-site prototype testing with forklift operators and managers nationwide, informing design iterations that improved usability and safety.
My work contributed to more user-centered solutions for industrial environments.
Client Partners: Crown Internal Research & Design
Kind Words
“Emily Schaefer is a rockstar designer. She demonstrates a mind-boggling talent for visual design. Her web and iOS designs and illustrations have set our product on a winning path. She incorporates feedback from our clients well and is very collaborative. A huge win to note: While working with a very particular stakeholder, Em succeeded at getting buy-in on a branding direction she designed from scratch.”
— Maggie Wilson, Former Sr. Content Designer at WillowTree
“This feedback is long over due, but I wanted to share how helpful Emily was in a recent partnership initiative with Apple. We had the opportunity to help Apple progress their pre-sales relationship with Advance Auto, inviting all parties for a Design Sprint in our Durham office. Emily was the lead visionary throughout this process. Some designers can default to passively reacting to concepts handed to them by strategists. Not Emily. Not only did she take the initiative to physically drive down to the event and absorb as much context as possible, but she then lead the thinking and concept development for Advance's roadmap. The team was very impressed by the energy Emily brought.”
— Nate Wooten, Former Partner & VP, Commercial Strategy at WillowTree
“I'm happy to formally recognize Emily Shaefer as a winner of Catalyst Award in October/24. Her impact on our team shines through in so many ways, and it's wonderful to celebrate those contributions.
Emily, through your work on the My TELUS project, you've shown true leadership. You've taken ownership of the weekly check-ins and consistently championed Design Systems, helping raise the quality of work across the entire team.
Another thing that makes you stand out is how you support others. Your peers have shared how valuable your guidance has been - from sharing Figma examples and templates to helping new team members find their footing. This kind of partnership makes our team stronger every day.
Your approach to documentation and project organization is also quite thorough. You've created a model that helps everyone work better together, showing how individual excellence can lift the entire team.
Emily, thank you for bringing such care and dedication to everything you do. You embody what the Catalyst Award represents, and we're fortunate to have you as part of our team.”
— André Bernardi, Partner & VP, Design at WillowTree