About | Marie Kieckbusch

What I Do

Designing flows, journeys, and digital + physical experiences that feel intuitive, meaningful, and user-centered.

Synthesizing behavioral science, psychology, and design thinking to shape better workplaces, culture, and organizational systems.

Building frameworks, research practices, and design divisions that scale across teams, content, and touchpoints.

Mentoring designers and leaders, translating complex ideas into actionable insight, and helping people navigate change.

Always learning, always adapting. Because people change, organizations change, and design should help us navigate both.

My Journey

My career has taken me through many landscapes:

I began my professional journey designing clean, thoughtful websites and visual interfaces. I learned the fundamentals of layout, usability, and how design sets the tone for communication and trust. Over time, I evolved into interactive design, where I discovered that design isn’t just about visuals — it’s how things behave, how people move through them, and how experiences unfold.

As I stepped into leadership roles, I began guiding teams, mentoring others, and recognizing that impactful design (and meaningful work) comes from collaboration, empathy, structure, and shared vision. That realization led me to focus on UX architecture and organizational experience, integrating design thinking with behavioral and organizational psychology to shape employee experiences, build systems, and foster growth at scale.

Along the way, I served on the advisory board for the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), helping shape their UX curriculum and mentor emerging designers — a fulfilling way to give back to the design community and invest in the next generation. I also pursued formal training, earning a professional certification from the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g), which deepened my expertise in usability and experience design principles.

This journey shaped my core belief: design is more than visuals, it’s systems, people, empathy, and strategy. And that belief guides everything I do.

How I Work

Empathy first: I start with real people — their needs, contexts, hopes, and challenges. Design must serve people, not just metrics.
Systems thinking: Products, services, and organizations don’t exist in isolation. I map ecosystems to ensure design connects across touchpoints and contexts.
Research-informed design: I lean on human insight, behavioral data, and real stories to inform decisions. Design grounded in evidence makes for stronger outcomes.
Scalable frameworks: I build structure, standards, and processes so design can grow without fracturing — across teams, content, and experiences.
Continuous growth: The world evolves quickly. I stay curious, keep learning, and keep evolving through courses, reflection, creative exploration, and iteration.
Human-centered leadership & coaching: I see design as craft and leadership as opportunity—to uplift, guide, and help people and teams thrive.