Paige Townsend's professional headshot

Hello, I'm Paige Townsend!

4th year Informatics major at UC Irvine specializing in HCI.

About Me!

I'm a 4th year Informatics major at UC Irvine specializing in HCI. I love learning about user experience design and web development, and I'm particularly interested in creating accessible and inclusive digital experiences.

Researching with Professor Stacy Branham and Professor Jennifer Wong-ma at INsite Lab and previously working with DASH (Digital Accessibility Support and Help) has given me plenty of opportunities to learn about WCAG principles, ADA regulations, and inclusive design practices. I'm also a grader for Professor André van der Hoek's SWE 121 course, where I hold office hours to help students with application and interaction design.

Outside of academics, I enjoy musical theatre, collecting Legos and Peach Riot figures, and traveling with friends and family. I have spent a lot of time exploring new interests through my positions in Hack at UCI and VenusHacks as well as various radio experiences with KUCI.

Paige Townsend in front of rose garden in San Jose, CA

Projects

Screenshot of the Clarity Coach dashboard

Clarity Coach

UX Research and Design | UCI Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship | Aug 2025 - Present

A professor-facing accessibility tool that detects and flags inaccessible language in real time, helping instructors communicate more clearly and supporting blind and remote students through more inclusive lecture delivery.

Research: A paper on this work has been submitted to the ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium and is currently under review.

Case Study

Prototype

Screenshot of the Kain Na! home page

Kain Na!

UX Designer | FUSION ICS Project | Dec 2025 - May 2026

A community-driven Filipino recipe platform that celebrates cultural heritage through food, pairing authentic dishes with family stories, regional context, and ingredient guidance to make traditional cooking accessible to home chefs everywhere.

Overview

Prototype

Screenshot of the Quizlet redesign with the student verification feature

Quizlet Redesign - Student Verification Feature

INF 131: Human-Centered Design | Winter 2024

A reimagined Quizlet experience that introduces a student verification layer to elevate credible study sets, strengthen trust in search results, and create a more efficient, reliable path for learners to find accurate content.

Case Study

Prototype

Selected Experience

View my full resume (PDF)

UC Irvine Department of Informatics

SWE 121 Grader | Sept 2026 - Present

  • Grade multi-week application design deliverables for 77 students, applying structured rubrics across homework, design studio projects, and exams
  • Collaborate weekly with the course TA and fellow readers to align grading rubrics and resolve scoring inconsistencies across design studio submissions
  • Hold office hours to support students on application and interaction design concepts, including structured decision-making frameworks (e.g., GACIOD matrices) and interactive system requirements
INsite Lab

UX Research and Design Intern | Interdisciplinary Research Fellow | Aug 2025 - Present

  • Design an interactive dashboard to reduce inaccessible language in lectures for blind and remote learners
  • Collaborate with a PhD student to translate ML-flagged deictic phrases into accessible visual feedback
  • Lead user research with professors to identify accessibility needs and create Figma wireframes and mockups
Digital Accessibility Support and Help (DASH)

Digital Accessibility Consultant → Supervisor → Project Manager | Sept 2025 - Sept 2026

  • Led and mentored a team of 10+ consultants, setting the standard for WCAG-aligned remediation across 42 courses and 44 faculty members
  • Coordinated 156 consultation sessions supporting 133 faculty members, scoping requests and prioritizing workload across the team
  • Supported faculty trainings on YuJa Panorama and accessibility workflows (assisting with Q&A and hands-on practice) to improve adoption of inclusive teaching practices
FUSION ICS Project

UX Designer | Jan 2026 - May 2026

  • Conceptualized and pitched a website concept to a cross-functional team
  • Collaborated with 4 designers on user research and UI design to connect Filipino Americans to their heritage
  • Conducted user interviews to inform the design of a culturally focused cooking platform centered on family recipes
Hack at UCI & VenusHacks

Hack@UCI Corporate Co-Director | Nov 2023 - Present

  • Manage relations and communication with 80+ sponsors to fundraise $12,000+ for events with 400+ participants
  • Mentor 8+ new organizers and standardize sponsorship processes through documentation and outreach pipelines

VenusHacks Co-President | July 2024 - July 2025

  • Directed an organizing team of 40+ students for UCI’s only women-centric hackathon with 200+ participants annually
  • Oversaw a budget of $10,000+, including corporate fundraising, university allocations, and grant management