2025 © Tracy L. Kretz / tracy@kretzcreates.com

Design Leadership

Graduate Studies · Process & Exploration

My graduate work is where I push on process, not just polish. Each project begins with human-centered design: understanding people, context, and constraints before I ever decide what something should look like.

I use strategic frameworks, research, and journey mapping to move from ambiguity to form. That often means mapping current experiences, surfacing tensions, and reframing the problem before exploring what a future state could be. From there, I translate insights into visual systems—concepts, narratives, prototypes, and communication tools that help others see what might be possible.

The projects featured here are conceptual by design: they test ideas, methods, and storytelling structures. The development decks linked in each tile show the work underneath the work—how I use diagrams, story frameworks, and speculative scenarios to connect audience empathy, strategy, and visual execution.

Together, they represent how I think as much as what I make: human-centered, systems-aware, and always grounded in the lived experiences of the people the design is meant to serve.