Design management and strategic system thinking
I managed a team of 9 designers responsible for the ads reporting products - 5 products across 3 pillars, including the Ads Manager reporting table. This surface is a core surface for Meta’s business, contributing at the time for over 75% of the company’s revenue. My team successfully delivered in 3 aspects with this product - developing continuous features according the product backlog; developing a Reporting Strategy in 2021/2022 that would streamline and modernize the product over multiple years focusing on the concept of increasing clarity and actionability from insights. The third aspect was to develop new methodologies and processes to deliver the same quality of insights with less data, respecting increasing privacy concerns and regulations in the industry.
Design leadership and execution for Meta’s Measurement Foundations Pillar
I started as the only designer on the Measurement Foundations team, supporting the entire pillar with design work. In two years, I designed the first experience that visualizes the entire metric calculation pipeline, reducing the time to respond to issues from days to minutes, and also a metric creation process and portal that standardize the experience across the entire company. In partnership with the user research team, I ran the first ethnographic study of the metrics creation process. It revealed the end-to-end picture of this process for the first time and evidenced risks that have influenced product roadmaps and process changes. But the most important outcome has been to establish design as a valued discipline in this highly technical space, with the creation of a permanent team of about 10 people including Product and Content designers, UX researchers and managers.
Creative direction for the GE Healthcare design system
I joined the Healthcare platform team with the mission of expanding and improving the design system, which had low adoption by other teams due to small use-case coverage. Despite limited resources, I delivered a new color palette that introduced a mid-light variation to the basic bright and dark versions, connected the design system to the overall GE digital library making it more visible and accessible across the enterprise, created a contribution model to accelerate pattern creation and coverage, and modernized the UI iconography system by creating a set of guidelines and design cues that teams could use to build their own sets. The color palette influenced the direction of the overall Predix design color scheme and the iconography guidelines were adopted by the overall GE corporate system, affecting all businesses.
Design Management for the Local Knowledge organization at HERE Maps
I joined this unit with the mission of consolidating the experiences and producing a cohesive strategy for teams in Boston. The ultimate desired outcome was to increase the output quality and integration with the Berlin-based teams. I was able to integrate design, product, and engineering by addressing long-standing process issues, optimizing sprint planning, and rethinking how design informed this process. The integrated unit developed more purposeful products, informed by the Local Knowledge strategy that the three disciplines developed together. The small team contributed to the iOS and Android HERE apps and developed a completely new concept for the tourism industry, HERE Guides, before the unit was shut down due to changes in business priorities.
Design execution and transition to design management
Over a period of 3,5 years I participated in the redesign and growth of Maps.nokia.com in many different roles. I designed the first public transit routing system, had a stint as a product owner for the navigation team (delivering real time traffic implementation), and later became the design lead and manager of all web experiences, including the mobile site and Prime Places. As a design manager, I oversaw the successful implementation and launch of the new spin-off brand HERE Maps, inaugurating a new phase for the company, no longer bound to Nokia products.
Perimeter and Inclusive Massage East Bay are led by individuals who are approaching the world of eco tech for disaster management and massage therapy from unique perspectives, true to their visions of social impact. Over the last 3 years I have provided them with pro bono design support, including creation of visual identities and style guides, execution and review of design work, and also product and business strategy consultation. Their success is a tremendous source of pride and joy.
As a young designer, I marveled at the great modernist designers who could design anything from small graphics to buildings. Charles Eames and Massimo Vignelli were my north stars. What I learned from them is to trust the design process and to relentlessly pursue clarity through intentional design decisions. This has been the common thread across the different design domains (industrial, graphic, and interaction) and multiple industries (location, healthcare, fintech, social impact and ads business) in my career.