Led the strategic product architecture for a cultural preservation platform for the Miccosukee Tribe. This initiative focused on building a secure digital infrastructure to digitize oral traditions while maintaining strict data governance and privacy protocols to respect cultural caution toward documentation.
The biggest challenge wasn't technical. It was trust. The Miccosukee Tribe had historical reasons to be cautious about outside documentation of their culture. The platform needed to give the tribal council full control over what was shared, who could access it, and how sensitive cultural knowledge was stored. I worked directly with tribal leadership to make sure every design decision respected their sovereignty and values.
With elders holding most of the oral traditions and younger members scattered across the country, the language was at risk of disappearing within a generation. The app needed to make daily language immersion possible from anywhere, without requiring written records that the community wasn't comfortable creating.
I conducted deep-dive stakeholder research to define the primary User Archetypes for the platform. By mapping these roles to specific System Governance requirements, I identified the unique technical constraints and access levels needed to support both the tribal diaspora and the onsite cultural educators.
The wireframe phase focused on the Information Architecture of linguistic assets. I mapped out the interaction states for a Multimedia Pronunciation Library, ensuring that users can access high-fidelity audio samples to bridge the gap between written and spoken traditional language.
To maintain a persistent state of clarity across 33 interaction flows, I architected a semantic typography system. Rather than styling based on visual preference, roles were assigned based on information priority nodes—ensuring the 'handshake' between system data and user cognition remains seamless.
Every asset is engineered as a State-Aware Component. By treating icons and triggers as modular logic blocks, the interface scales dynamically based on real-time session data—reducing cognitive load by only surfacing the logic required for the active state.
Mapping the state-machine logic. To ensure absolute platform reliability, I developed 33 comprehensive interaction flows that account for every user transition, authentication handshake, and data retrieval state. This holistic map was essential for validating the system's robustness before moving into high-fidelity component implementation
The platform was presented at the Gathering of Nations and contributed to language preservation efforts across 40+ Native American languages. By putting data sovereignty and community trust at the center of every design decision, the work demonstrated how technology can serve indigenous communities without exploiting them. This remains one of the most meaningful projects of my career.
The final renders showcase a playful yet structured learning experience that helps kids build confidence in Indigenous language skills. The redesigned dashboard, practice flows, and reward system create a clear path from daily engagement to long term mastery. Each screen emphasizes accessibility, cultural respect, and sustained motivation.
The project was presented at KU Design Week and later brought to the Gathering of the Tribes, where it informed broader conversations around Indigenous language preservation. The work contributed to efforts supporting the revitalization of multiple Native American languages by offering a culturally grounded, extensible design approach that communities could adapt to their own needs.