I’ve spent the better part of two decades at the intersection of design and technology, trying to make products that feel genuinely human.
These days, that passion lives most visibly in Design Better, a media company I co-founded with a community of nearly 250,000 designers and technology professionals worldwide, with subscribers on design teams at most of the Fortune 500. Talking with brilliant people about how great work gets made is something I’d do for free. Don’t tell my co-founder.
I built the UX practice at Mailchimp from the ground up, back when the team was small enough that everyone knew everyone. By the time I left, more than 15 million people were using something my team helped shape — which still feels a little surreal. I went on to lead research at InVision, studying how design teams at places like Netflix, Spotify, and Google actually do their best work, and what gets in the way.
When COVID-19 hit, I joined former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden at Resolve to Save Lives. My team built tools to support epidemic response efforts at the WHO, Africa CDC, and public health departments across the U.S. It was the most meaningful work I’ve ever done, and rather stressful.
I’m also the author of Designing for Emotionand have advised the White House, the U.S. Department of State, and hundreds of companies, from early-stage startups to Fortune 500s, on how to build better products and stronger design cultures. I’ve spoken at over a hundred conferences on five continents, which means I have a lot of opinions about airport lounges.
Organizations I’ve Helped
- FirstMark Capital
