Hi, my name is Joanna
I’m a UX/UI Product Designer with over 7 years of experience working across product, brand, and systems design. I’m deeply passionate about design—not just as a craft, but as a way of making people’s lives a little clearer, calmer, and more connected. I love translating complexity into intuitive, human-centered tools that actually work for real people.
I’m especially drawn to challenges that require systems thinking, ethical intention, and collaborative dialogue. Whether aligning with engineers, facilitating stakeholder workshops, or co-creating with users, I bring a deep commitment to clarity, communication, and community. I also love turning data—from patterns to pain points—into meaningful insights that move us toward solutions with both emotional and functional resonance.
As a senior collaborator, I care about mentoring designers, stewarding cross-functional clarity, and guiding product direction where vision and user needs intersect. I bring end-users delight by designing for clarity, transparency, reliability, and accessibility—so they feel empowered and supported in their daily lives.
Outside of work, I paint, meditate, play music, facilitate T Groups, and spend time in nature. These practices remind me that design, like life, is about presence, nuance, and honoring the whole.
I design intuitive systems at the intersection of data, user behavior, and emerging tech.
As a designer, I work at the intersection of technology, people, and creative expression. I specialize in UX/UI design with a focus on accessibility, scalability, IA, ergonomics, and usability—crafting intuitive experiences for users across diverse abilities and backgrounds. I’m particularly inspired by emerging tools like AI, that helps deepen insight, streamline workflows, and accelerate outcomes that matter.
My design work spans blue-sky strategy, greenfield innovation, and brownfield refinement—across platforms like mobile, tablet, VR, AR, AI-driven systems, and enterprise software.
Industries I’ve supported include:
Transportation
Neurosurgery & healthcare
Cybersecurity
Flight navigation
Financial intelligence
Digital media & storytelling platforms
Entertainment
At the heart of every project is a simple aim: to create tools that are intuitive, resilient, and grounded in the real-world needs of users.
Through collaboration, research, and systems thinking, I help organizations shape technology that not only works—but builds trust.
Clients i’ve worked with
UX, Information Architecture, and Content Modeling Expertise
My foundation in UX design is rooted in structure, story, and the psychology of clarity. I bring a deep understanding of how people navigate information—physically, cognitively, and emotionally—and use that awareness to design flows and frameworks that feel intuitive, supportive, and aligned with real user goals.
Whether I’m mapping a multi-path onboarding flow, creating a navigation system for a complex product, or restructuring page hierarchies to reduce friction, I focus on helping people get where they need to go—confidently and without confusion.
I often lead stakeholder research exercises to align teams around user needs and business strategy. From card sorting and now/next/never roadmapping to persona development, service blueprinting, and journey mapping, I use these collaborative methods to surface insight, build empathy, and co-create direction. These practices not only inform design decisions, but also foster shared ownership and deeper cross-functional clarity.
I'm also passionate about content modeling and taxonomy: translating messy, abstract information into structured, scalable systems. I’ve worked on cross-functional teams to co-create content schemas, metadata frameworks, and modular content systems that allow for reusability, governance, and clear authorship across large and evolving products.
To me, UX is the invisible architecture of trust—and good IA is what holds complexity with grace. Together, they shape not only user experience, but how teams understand and build toward shared goals.
UI and Design Systems Expertise
I specialize in building design systems that scale—creating cohesive, flexible ecosystems that reduce technical debt and empower cross-functional teams. My approach is grounded in clarity, consistency, and care: designing not just components, but the conversations, guidelines, and trust structures that help them thrive.
I’ve led the creation and maintenance of design libraries across multiple platforms, always with a focus on accessibility, usability, and long-term sustainability. I advocate for systems that support real workflows—balancing visual coherence with engineering constraints, and ensuring that tokens, patterns, and documentation evolve alongside the product.
My design systems work includes:
Defining foundational design tokens (color, type, spacing, motion)
Creating scalable component libraries in Figma and aligning with frontend frameworks
Auditing and reducing UX debt across features and flows
Partnering closely with engineering to align naming, behavior, and implementation
Facilitating documentation and adoption through onboarding, trainings, and live office hours
Prioritizing accessibility and inclusive design from the system level up
I see design systems as living, breathing expressions of a product’s soul—and believe they should evolve with intention, in dialogue with real user needs and team dynamics.
Cross-Functional Strategy & Stakeholder Education
I believe that great design doesn’t stop at the interface—it lives in the conversations, decisions, and documents that shape what gets built. I often work with stakeholders across product, engineering, marketing, and leadership to bring alignment and clarity to complex challenges. Whether I’m facilitating collaborative workshops, mapping user flows to business priorities, or crafting strategic decks that bring stakeholders on the journey, my goal is to create shared understanding and momentum.
I regularly create documentation, frameworks, and visual narratives (yes—PowerPoints too) that help teams orient around a common purpose and make informed, user-centered decisions. I see education as part of design leadership: helping teams understand not just what we’re building, but why—and how that serves both our users and the long-term health of the business.
Projects
01
Surgical planning with immersive clarity and trust.
Surgical Theater is an advanced visualization platform that integrates 3D imaging, virtual reality, and surgical planning tools to support neurosurgeons in making more precise, informed decisions.
By uniting diagnostic data into immersive, navigable environments, the platform transforms how surgeons, patients, and care teams engage with complex anatomy—turning medical uncertainty into shared understanding.
This project reflects a shift from siloed expertise toward collaborative, systems-based care—where technology becomes a conduit for trust, precision, and better patient outcomes.
02
Commercial flight optimized for safety, efficiency, and accuracy.
FPO “Flight Profile Optimization” is a tablet-based application developed with Collins Aerospace to help pilots make faster, safer, and more informed in-flight decisions. It replaces fragmented tools with a unified interface that brings essential flight data into a single view.
FPO is built not just for performance—but for presence. It supports pilots in navigating complexity with clarity, enhancing both individual decision-making and systemic flight safety.
03
Cyber resilience for an interconnected age
Resilience is a cybersecurity platform built to help enterprises quantify, manage, and insure against cyber risk. It integrates technical telemetry, threat intelligence, and insurance analytics to provide a unified, dynamic view of an organization’s cyber posture.
Designed for today’s interconnected systems, Resilience doesn’t just mitigate risk—it enables adaptive response across technical, economic, and human layers, helping teams move from reactive defense to integrated resilience.
04
Wealth Management that is dynamic and human-aware
WealthFeed Catalyze AI is a platform that uses artificial intelligence to reimagine how individuals and institutions manage financial strategies. From individual investors to enterprise firms, it enables smarter, more transparent decision-making rooted in real-time data.
Catalyze isn’t just about speed or scale—it’s about crafting financial tools that are responsive, inclusive, and aligned with long-term human and economic well-being.
05
Cinematic Nostalgia Meets Social Play
Cinenerdle is a daily online movie game for film lovers who find meaning in memory, pattern, and play. Each puzzle invites users to recognize scenes, share insights, and celebrate cinema as a living archive of culture.
In a time of constant distraction, Cinenerdle creates space for shared attention, cultural connection, and communal joy—reminding us that story is one of our oldest technologies for belonging.
Design with intention.
In today’s interconnected world—where humans coexist with machines, nature, and one another—we have the opportunity to design technology that fosters connection, curiosity, and play. By thoughtfully integrating design into everyday life, we can build a future where innovation becomes a bridge: connecting us to ourselves, each other, and the world we belong to.
I see design as a relational practice. I build tools that are intuitive, inclusive, and quietly powerful—products that integrate into people’s lives with respect and purpose. When guided by care, innovation becomes more than progress—it becomes a way of creating meaning.
Design Principles
Between function and feeling, present and future, user and world.
Design connects people to purpose. I use research to align product goals with real human needs—emotional, functional, and cultural. Through user research, I listen for what matters most, then build products that are emotionally and functionally aligned with people’s lives.
Design as the bridge
Clarity comes from listening.
Every design decision begins with listening. Data—qualitative and quantitative—guides clarity, usability, and form. I let qualitative and quantitative data guide visual and interaction choices—ensuring that design not only looks good, but supports how people actually think, feel, and move.
Research as insight
Behind intuitive experiences is thoughtful architecture.
Information architecture and backend logic are where clarity begins. Structure makes experiences feel intuitive. I work hands-on with content modeling, IA, and systems thinking. I often map user flows and behaviors to backend logic and product frameworks—making complexity feel effortless.
Order from chaos
User research doesn’t stop at usability
Emotions tell us what’s working. I tune into frustration, hesitation, and delight—because trust isn’t just logical, it’s felt. I pay attention to nervous system cues, frustration patterns, and subtle hesitations—because friction isn't just functional, it’s emotional. Trust is a design outcome.
Emotions is data
Functionality is not enough—people need to feel at home.
I shape flows that not only work—but welcome—by attending to emotion, tone, and ease. I explore not just what works, but what welcomes. I look for moments where users feel confident, curious, seen—and where they drop off or disconnect. This informs how I shape tone, affordance, and flow.
Foster belonging
Complexity needs clarity, not just novelty.
New tech should empower, not confuse. I help users understand what’s happening—and feel in control—with transparency and care. When working with emerging technologies (AI, NLP, predictive systems), I prioritize transparency, language design, and user trust. I ask: how does this help people make better decisions or feel more capable?
Innovation add clarity
Every choice carries weight—culturally, behaviorally, ethically.
I use research to surface assumptions, reduce harm, and prioritize inclusivity and ethical clarity. I believe inclusive design begins with who we ask, how we listen, and what we prioritize.
Design w/ awareness
Build with, not for.
I co-create with users and teams. From story gathering to prototyping, I believe in designing with, not for. I involve users early and often—through co-creation, story gathering, and iterative feedback. I also facilitate internal team conversations to align business goals with lived human needs.
Collaborate early
Services
UX/UI Design
Website Design
Brand + Art Direction
Locations
San Francisco, CA (Remote)
Other References
Clients
Toyota, Philips, ABM, Collins Aerospace, Surgical Theater, Envase, Catalyze, Insight Software, Resilience Cybersecurity, FuelCycle, Cinnerdle, Catalyze, Envase, Insightsoftware, Visualise, Peoplegrove, Cinenerdle, Ochre Graphics, StaticCMS