School Projects
Here’s a look at some of the projects I worked on during my time at Arizona State University and what I learned from them.
This course dove into what makes an e-commerce business successful online, focusing on research, usability, planning, and design. Throughout the semester, I worked with Clean Eatz Kitchen as a case study and created projects like SWOT analyses, audience personas, empathy maps, keyword research, analytics, user journey maps, multi-channel marketing strategies, and wireframes.
What made the course especially engaging was that I was also working on Heat and Eat Meals with my family at the time. The lessons I learned weren’t just academic—I immediately applied them. I made changes to our site, like left-aligning text for better readability, reordering homepage sections based on user expectations, and making the checkout page more trustworthy. I also compared our work to bigger companies like Factor and noticed how customer complaints—like overly salty meals—could affect whether people wanted to eat their products daily.
Working through this course taught me that successful e-commerce is built on user-centered design and strategic research. Just as importantly, it taught me to see every project from two perspectives: as a business owner and as a customer. That balance has shaped the way I approach my work ever since, always asking, does this make sense to the user, and does it support the mission of the business?
This was the second and final course I took that focused on JavaScript, and my final project was a continuation of the website I built in GIT 417. For this version, I added new interactive features including a FAQ accordion, a daily specials photo carousel, and a “dinner and a movie” section that pulled real movie data from the TMDB API and displayed it on the site alongside an order online button. I also built a newsletter subscription section that used web storage to save sign-ups. If I had more time, I would have refined the visual design of these features.
See my project on GitHub:
https://martirose15.github.io/GIT-418-FINAL-PROJECT/
This course was even more challenging than my first JavaScript class. It’s not that I couldn’t learn the material, but the process of writing and debugging code didn’t give me the same sense of fulfillment as designing and improving the experience for users. I also wasn’t motivated to dive deeper into JavaScript because I found the number of different programming languages daunting, and I worried about investing in something that might eventually become less relevant. In the end, these courses helped me realize that my strengths and interests are better suited for other areas of tech—such as UX and UI design, SEO, content strategy, customer support, and data-focused work.
This course was my first introduction to JavaScript and how it can be used to make websites more interactive. The final project was to build a one-page website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I chose to create a new website for my parents’ restaurant, which gave me a chance to design something real and meaningful while practicing new skills.
I built my JavaScript based on the required features for the project, which included a contact form that validated inputs, a product display for viewing menu items, and a guessing game that rewarded users with a coupon. To keep everything clear, I organized my code into labeled sections and used ‘use strict’ at the top of my file to catch errors. I needed to use JavaScript for these features because it goes beyond the capabilities of HTML/CSS. For example, I was able to save user preferences for the dark/light mode button by saving their most recent choice to localStorage.
See my project on GitHub:
https://martirose15.github.io/GIT-417-GOM-WEBSITE/
Read about my project on Behance
Learning JavaScript for the first time was challenging, and while it was rewarding to see my code work, it also made me realize I did not want to pursue a career as a developer. Instead, this course helped me recognize that I am better suited for other areas of tech such as UX and UI design, SEO, digital marketing, technical writing, customer support, or data related roles. These are areas where I can still apply my technical background along with my strengths in usability, organization, and clear communication.
This course introduced me to entrepreneurship and gave me a foundation for understanding how businesses operate and how to evaluate their financial standing. For my final project, I studied McCormick & Co., which gave me hands-on experience analyzing a real-world business.
One of the most memorable lessons was Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle framework—starting with your “WHY,” being disciplined with your “HOW,” and staying consistent with your “WHAT.” That idea really resonated with me. At the time, I was helping with Heat and Eat Meals, and I realized our messaging needed to be clearer. I updated the website homepage to highlight our “WHY”: “We’re on a mission to make your day easier so you have time to do what you enjoy.” Making this change made the brand feel more authentic and aligned with its true purpose.
In this course, I designed a database for an online food ordering system with tables for customers, orders, payments, menu items, and fulfillment types. I used SQL queries to answer questions such as the average daily order volume, which menu items were ordered most often, and whether customers preferred delivery or pickup. For example, I wrote a query to count how many times each menu item was ordered and displayed the results in descending order to highlight the most popular items. Through this project, I saw firsthand how structured data can provide insights into customer behavior.
This course focused on using hierarchy, color, typography, and layout to design visuals that guide an audience’s understanding across different formats, from documents and presentations to photography and storytelling.
My favorite project was creating a laminated lanyard schedule for a multi-day music festival. I used a grid to organize performances by time, color-coded each stage for quick recognition, and emphasized the day of the week to help attendees orient themselves. This project showed me how clear visual hierarchy and intentional design choices can make information easy to understand at a glance.
This course was a great introduction to how user experience relates to animation. Not only did I learn the basics of Adobe After Effects, I also learned how the speed of motion—whether fast or slow—affects the way an audience interprets an animation. Small timing choices can completely change how smooth or jarring an interaction feels, which is critical in UI/UX design.
My favorite project in this course was creating a UI/UX motion prototype. I designed an added feature for Airbnb’s app that allowed users to filter by keyword. Using After Effects, I built an animated walkthrough that showed how the new filter could fit seamlessly into the existing interface. This project helped me see how storyboards, timing, and motion come together to create intuitive, user-friendly interactions.
I also enjoyed making this lower thirds project.
This course introduced me to the fundamentals of video production, from planning and pre-production through filming, editing, and distribution. I learned how to shoot with proper framing, lighting, and audio, and how to edit in Adobe Premiere Pro to combine raw footage with titles, sound, and transitions.
This course introduced the principles of writing, designing, and managing content for the web, with an emphasis on usability.
My favorite project was a usability test I conducted on The Weather Channel’s website. I recruited participants, designed realistic tasks in Google Docs, and observed their interactions through Google Meet screen sharing. The tasks included checking forecasts, finding pollen levels, and switching from Fahrenheit to Celsius. From these sessions, I saw where users got stuck — such as struggling to locate historical weather data or becoming frustrated by intrusive ads — and I recommended improvements like clearer labeling, adding a search function for articles, and reducing pop-ups.
This project taught me how to structure a usability study, create effective tasks, and observe user behavior without interfering. I also learned how small oversights in labeling or layout can cause real frustration, and how structured testing uncovers problems designers might not see on their own.
This course was my first introduction to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, where I learned how to create and edit raster and vector graphics for print and web. I practiced techniques like photo editing, color correction, typography, and vector illustration.
This course introduced me to the basics of Adobe InDesign. I learned how to design for print and apply principles of layout and typography.