Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2022
  4. arrow_forward_ios 12
  5. arrow_forward_ios Kathy Beymer

Kathy Beymer

8 December 2022

UTS graduate Kathy Beymer is designing your day-to-day experiences.

Find out more

Graduate Diploma in Design

Kathy Beymer might now be a career-long user experience (UX) designer and the founder of craft website Merriment Design, but as an undergraduate university student, she’d never really thought about pursuing a creative career.

Instead, she graduated with a psychology degree and landed a job in the technology team at Andersen Consulting — better known today as Accenture — in Chicago. Here, she found herself trying to figure out how to make user-facing applications more useful to actual human beings. 

“I was really interested in how we organise and design an application, a website, whatever it is, so that it works for people and it’s useful and usable,” she says.

“I quickly discovered that design really affects the whole mood of what you’re working with. You can have two products that do the exact same thing, but it’s really the design that makes the product special.”

An international qualification

Beymer didn’t know it at the time, but this was her first introduction to UX design — and she was hooked. She started looking into postgraduate study as a way to fast-track her learning, as well as to formalise her design experience.

The UTS Graduate Diploma in Design soon caught her eye.

“It was actually the design of the UTS website that led me to it, because compared to other schools at the time, it was more technically advanced,” she says. 

After arriving in Sydney, she was gratified to discover that the course was everything she’d been hoping for.

To begin with, it was taught by design practitioners whose professional insights helped students draw the link between learning and practice.

And the teaching staff had no qualms about pushing students outside their comfort zones — not only was Beymer immersed in the world of design, but she was constantly challenged to think about design from multiple perspectives.

Kathy Beymer profile

I had a little bit more of a strength in interaction design because that’s the job I’d been in, but the program had me doing projects in costume design, interior design, I did a film design project, book design, web design, marketing, so you were doing the same design process, but you had to apply it in different ways.
 

“When you’re not a designer, and I’d never studied design before, it can feel very magical, but I learned that there really is a process and a structure and design thinking behind it all.”

From design theory to design practice

At the end of the graduate diploma, Beymer headed back to the US and to her job with Accenture, but the design world was calling. Before long, she moved into an agency role at Chicago-based Giant Step, which was later acquired by industry giant Leo Burnett.

At the time, the digital revolution was picking up speed, which meant that Beymer’s skills were in high demand as companies took their brands online. She worked with everyone from United Airlines to Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, applying her UTS learning to the ever-changing challenges of the digital realm.

In 2008, she moved from Leo Burnett to a boutique agency called Designkitchen and then into freelance work, where she’s been ever since. Today, she juggles UX work for clients like Northwestern University with her passion for crafting, which she’s poured into establishing Merriment Design.

At Merriment Design, she delivers ‘handmade-not-homemade’ designs for big brands like LEGO, Disney, VELCRO and more. Her work has been featured on everything from Rachael Ray Everyday Magazine and on HGTV to Time Out magazine, the BBC Morning Live show, and HuffPost.

But, while handmade Christmas baubles, unicorn birthday bunting and sew-your-own pencil cases may have little in common with site maps and usability testing, Beymer sees a clear link between her creative and professional lives.

“I really like making things that are useful and usable and also special and clever,” she says.

“Both aspects of my work are about putting people at the centre of design and trying to think about who’s going to use this, what problem could this solve or how could this bring them a little joy?” 

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to Testimonials

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility