About Copy

Classic

Over 20 years of experience in crafting rich user experiences on a wide range of B2C and B2B products, industries, and platforms for both start-ups and Fortune 100 companies. Strategic thinker and a natural problem solver with the ability to consistently produce elegant and effective solutions.

Able to solve complex design challenges by utilizing user-centered principles, design thinking methodologies and a strong sense of user empathy, to craft a rich end-to-end experience which engages, delights, and provides real value to the user.

Well versed in the fundamental principals of design and technically skilled in a wide array of disciplines, ranging from traditional print design to time-based media, 3D animation, interaction, and experience design for mobile and web.

Classic

November 2016 - Present | Mountain View, CA

Currently managing and leading the end to end experience of Product-Based Businesses for QuickBooks Online. Also collaborated with the QBO First Time Use team working on user onboarding and helping redesign the QuickBooks Online dashboard.


Classic

March 2016 - Present | Palo Alto, CA

Managing the user experience design team at Reinvently, a mobile design and development agency based out of Palo Alto. I’m also the lead UX/UI Product Designer who contributes by being the main point of contact with clients to better understand their business objectives, target users, and product opportunities.


Classic

September 2014 - Present | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the Head of UX at Gyft, a mobile e-gift card platform acquired by First Data in 2014. The Gyft card platform spans across B2C, B2B, and SMB with multiple offerings across each sector. I currently lead and manage a team of UX/UI designers, and work closely with the executive team to align and coordinate business objectives with user experience strategies. Also led as the lead hands-on product designer for iOS, Android, and the R&D teams at Gyft.

My role also consists of working closely with Product, Head of Engineering, and the VP of Marketing to evolve and constantly improve our Agile process to help foster innovation, and coordinate a seamless pipeline of projects across multiple product, platforms, and channels. Part of my work also involves building and nurturing a strong design culture to help our products evolve with a user-centered design perspective in mind.


Classic

January 2014 - September 2014 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the Senior Design Lead on LinkedIn’s Subscription & Payment teams. The role consisted of leading and managing a team of designers to improve and optimize the user experience for LinkedIn Premium members on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Led the redesign for the payment flows across all of LinkedIn products and services with a revenue of over a billion dollars per year.Worked closely with researchers and customer support teams to identify weaknesses across the funnel, and collaborated with product managers to improve metrics and exceed business needs.


Classic

October 2012 - December 2013 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the lead Principal Visual Designer for GoPayment in the Payments Division at Intuit. The role consisted of learning from user research and strategizing payment solutions across an ecosystem of platforms with a cross functional team.

Contributed by iterating on wireframes and creating the end-to-end visual design specs for GoPayment on iOS and Android. Collaborated with other design leads and helped establish several cross-platform visual design patterns and animation libraries. Also closely managed and mentored 3 direct reports as part of a separate R&D team.


Classic

September 2010 - October 2012 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the lead Staff Visual Designer in the Design Innovation Group at Intuit. DIG is the central user experience team which executes high profile projects, for a wide array of company focused initiatives which impact all of Intuit.

The majority of the work consisted of designing unique and delightful mobile user experiences which engage users and effectively delivers business results. Collaborated with cross-functional teams and led the design effort for QuickBooks Desktop, and re-imagined a 20-year-old product for both touch and mobile.


Classic

February 2009 - April 2010 | Marina del Rey, CA

Worked as a Senior Art Director at Wiredrive in Los Angeles. Wiredrive is an online media sharing site for uploading, managing, and presenting digital files. The company mainly caters to video production houses, special effects studios, and interactive ad agencies.

The position consisted of leading the marketing team, designing the UI for mobile and web applications, and creating collateral used for promotions, tradeshows, and the company website. The role also comprised of designing custom branded user interfaces for numerous Wiredrive clients.


Classic

June 2007 - January 2009 | San Diego, CA

Worked as an Art Director at LJG Partners in San Diego. The full service ad agency serves the greater southern California region, specializing in web design and development for the real estate and service industries.

The role consisted of leading the direction for creating visual experiences through interactive web and new media projects from concept to completion. A key component of the position includes reviewing the initial creative briefs and developing ideas with support from the creative director and upper management team.


Classic

January 2007 - June 2007 | San Diego, CA

As Senior UI Designer the position consisted of creating the UI for over 20 Flash based widgets and apps for the original Chumby. The Chumby was a touch screen device which allowed users to connect to their Wifi network and download Flash apps and widgets.


Classic

December 2004 - December 2006 | San Diego, CA

Worked as the Senior Designer at Nik Software, Inc. developers of award-winning plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. Responsibilities included managing multiple projects, coordinating a team of designers, and leading the art direction for both the UI and the corporate branding strategy.

Designed marketing materials and web content for Nikon Capture NX, U Point Technology, and the entire Nik Software product line. Coordinated with a team and developed the graphical user interface for the next generation of Nik Software products. Led numerous projects from start to finish in all phases of user interface, packaging, print, web, video, and trade show media.

User Experience

Experienced in solving complex design challenges by utilizing user-centered principles, design thinking methodologies and a strong sense of user empathy, to craft a rich end-to-end experience which engages, delights, and provides real value to the user.

Journey Maps

Sketch 95%
Design 80%

User Experience

iOS Apps
Design
Marketing
Strategy 95%
Design 80%

Mobile/Web App UI/UX

Experienced in designing detailed low/high fidelity end to end wireframes and creating pixel-perfect assets along with detailed specs for iOS and Android devices. Highly proficient and knowledgeable with responsive web design, iOS design patterns, and Google Material Design.

Sketch 95%
Design 80%

User Experience

iOS Apps
Design
Marketing
Strategy 95%
Design 80%
Strategy Planning

We have a number of different teams within our agency that specialise in different areas of business so you can be sure that you won’t receive a generic service and although we can’t boast years of service we can ensure you that is a good thing.

Strategy 95%
Design 80%
Marketing 70%
Development 90%
Strategy Planning

We have a number of different teams within our agency that specialise in different areas of business so you can be sure that you won’t receive a generic service and although we can’t boast years of service we can ensure you that is a good thing.

Strategy 95%
Design 80%
Marketing 70%
Development 90%
Strategy Planning

We have a number of different teams within our agency that specialise in different areas of business so you can be sure that you won’t receive a generic service and although we can’t boast years of service we can ensure you that is a good thing.

Strategy 95%
Design 80%
Marketing 70%
Development 90%

Classic

June 2000 - June 2004 | New York, NY

Graduated with a BFA in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design in New York City. The program was based on an inter-disciplinary study of time based media, motion, game, interaction, and web design.


Classic

June 2000 - June 2002 | New York, NY

Minored in the Communication Design program which concentrated on art history, design. Studied and explored drawing, painting, typography, information architecture, and color theory.

Classic

Design Patent #1710023 | Intuit 2016

Guided Setup Illustration: The setup guide uses dotted line illustrations and an animated UI to progressively build as the user completes each step in the process.


Classic

Apple | 2015 Best New Apps

The Gyft iOS mobile app was featured under Best New App on the App Store homepage for the summer months of 2015.


Classic

American Heart Association | 2013 Fundraising Record

Worked on an interdisciplinary team to produce a web app that helped AHA break a one-night fundraising record by over 20% from the previous record. The concept was based on merging a social experience and emotional design to persuade donors to help exceed the fundraising goals.


Classic

Apple | 2011 Rewind

GoPayment for the iPad was launched in the iTunes App Store and maintained a 4.5 star rating from its initial launch. Apple awarded Intuit GoPayment as one of the Top 5 Business iPad Apps for 2011.


Classic

Google | 2011 Keynote Featured App

Intuit GoPayment for Android was chosen by Google as one of its showcase apps during the Google IO conference in 2011. It was also one of the first apps ever released for the Android tablet.


Classic

Behance | 2010 Animation

An animation completed for a client was featured on Motion Served which is a curated extension of the Behance Network for Motion Design.


Home

Core Expertise

Product Design


Able to identify, research, strategize, and ultimately deliver design solutions that meet business and user goals.

User Experience


Well versed in methods of transforming complex design problems into an intuitive, delightful, and holistic user experience.

User Interface


Able to plan and execute pixel perfect design systems based on Atomic Design principles which can scale over a wide range of platforms.

Motion Design


Experienced in creating UI animations for prototypes, and using motion design to express a visual story for a particular brand or product.

3D Animation


3D generalist with proficiency in modeling, lighting, rigging, and animating in 3D space.

Branding


Experienced in branding strategies to evoke the right emotions and allow people to have a positive connection to a brand.

Let's have a discussion


Contact Michael

About

IBM -

August 2021 - Present | San Jose, CA

Design leader in the Data & AI organization at IBM supporting Watson Knowledge Catalog and CloudPak for Data. The role consists of aligning product strategy with cross-functional partners, managing and mentoring high performing teams, and driving innovation and delivering exceptional user experiences across the organization.


SoundHound AI -

April 2019 - April 2020 | Santa Clara, CA

Led a team of designers and researchers while working closely with the VP of Product and PM teams on our B2C apps. SoundHound the music discovery app which utilizes music recognition technology to identify songs, and Hound a voice-powered assistant built on the Houndify Voice/AI platform.

I joined the team and helped operationalize the design process, integrated tools into our workflow, built relationships with other teams, and established a design system to provide consistency for our users and improve efficiency between design and development.

Provided analysis and recommendations for voice UI presentations to partners such as Daimler-Mercedes, Hyundai, MasterCard, Visio, Sonic, and others. These companies sought guidance from our team of VUI experts to craft best in class voice experiences across a wide range of IoT devices and platforms.


Propy - Head of User Experience

April 2018 - April 2019 | Palo Alto, CA

Head of User Experience at Propy, a real estate start-up focused on blockchain technology and property transaction management for brokers and agents using cryptocurrencies. Managed and led a team of 10 product designers, content strategists, consultants, and the marketing design team to define and establish the Propy brand and re-imagine the Propy transaction platform.

Gained a deep sense of knowledge for blockchain technology and learned a great deal about Ethereum smart contracts, transaction management, and real estate in general. During my time, I coached and mentored the team while also contributing as a hands-on lead designer across all platforms.

Worked closely with the founding team, CTO, product leads, and the dev leads to help set the vision, define the product roadmap, and execute on rapid design deliverables. I also worked extensively on establishing a design system and a style guide for all of Propy’s products and services. I also led the branding strategy and user persona research by working closely with the marketing team and content strategists.


Intuit - Principal Design Strategist

November 2016 - April 2018 | Mountain View, CA

Led a team of product designers, researchers, and content writers on redesigning the QuickBooks Dashboard, which is the homepage accessed by millions of small businesses across the world daily.

Our interdisciplinary team worked with five other groups over four months and contributed to a successful launch, which dramatically improved the quality of the dashboard for our customers. The redesign effort provided significant lift across all key metrics and become the single most substantial increase in new user and revenue growth in QuickBooks 30+ year history.

Led a cross-functional team working on the end to end experience of Product-Based Businesses for QuickBooks enterprise customers. Developed best-practices across the organization for B2B custom integrations between QuickBooks and 3rd party vendors with complex systems and challenging technical constraints.

Spent time on the central design system teams heavily involved with defining guidelines and design principles with a group of visual designers to help establish a design system across the Intuit product ecosystem.


Reinvently - Head of User Experience

March 2016 - 2019 | Palo Alto, CA

Managing the user experience design team at Reinvently, a mobile design and development agency based out of Palo Alto. I’m also the lead UX/UI Product Designer who contributes by being the main point of contact with clients to better understand their business objectives, target users, and product opportunities.


Gyft - Head of User Experience

September 2014 - February 2016 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the Head of UX at Gyft, a mobile e-gift card platform acquired by First Data. The Gyft card ecosystem spans across B2C and B2B with multiple offerings across each sector. Lead and managed a team of UX/UI designers, and reported directly to the CEO and CTO to align and coordinate business objectives with user experience strategies.

Worked closely with Product, Head of Engineering, and the VP of Marketing to evolve and continuously improve our Agile process to help foster innovation and coordinate a seamless pipeline of projects across multiple products, platforms, and channels. I also helped nurture a design culture to improve our process and elevate user-centric principles.


LinkedIn - Senior Lead Designer

January 2014 - September 2014 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the Senior Design Lead on LinkedIn’s Subscription & Payment teams. The role consisted of leading and managing a team of designers to improve and optimize the user experience for LinkedIn Premium members on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Led the redesign for the payment flows across all of LinkedIn products and services with a revenue of over a billion dollars per year.Worked closely with researchers and customer support teams to identify weaknesses across the funnel, and collaborated with product managers to improve metrics and exceed business needs.


Intuit - Principal Visual Designer

October 2012 - December 2013 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the lead Principal Visual Designer for GoPayment in the Payments Division at Intuit. The role consisted of learning from user research and strategizing payment solutions across an ecosystem of platforms with a cross functional team.

Contributed by iterating on wireframes and creating the end-to-end visual design specs for GoPayment on iOS and Android. Collaborated with other design leads and helped establish several cross-platform visual design patterns and animation libraries. Also closely managed and mentored 3 direct reports as part of a separate R&D team.


Intuit - Staff Visual Designer

September 2010 - October 2012 | Mountain View, CA

Worked as the lead Staff Visual Designer in the Design Innovation Group at Intuit. DIG is the central user experience team which executes high profile projects, for a wide array of company focused initiatives which impact all of Intuit.

The majority of the work consisted of designing unique and delightful mobile user experiences which engage users and effectively delivers business results. Collaborated with cross-functional teams and led the design effort for QuickBooks Desktop, and re-imagined a 20-year-old product for both touch and mobile.


Wiredrive - Senior Art Director

February 2009 - April 2010 | Marina del Rey, CA

Worked as a Senior Art Director at Wiredrive in Los Angeles. Wiredrive is an online media sharing site for uploading, managing, and presenting digital files. The company mainly caters to video production houses, special effects studios, and interactive ad agencies.

The position consisted of leading the marketing team, designing the UI for mobile and web applications, and creating collateral used for promotions, tradeshows, and the company website. The role also comprised of designing custom branded user interfaces for numerous Wiredrive clients.


LJG, Inc. - Art Director

June 2007 - January 2009 | San Diego, CA

Worked as an Art Director at LJG Partners in San Diego. The full service ad agency serves the greater southern California region, specializing in web design and development for the real estate and service industries.

The role consisted of leading the direction for creating visual experiences through interactive web and new media projects from concept to completion. A key component of the position includes reviewing the initial creative briefs and developing ideas with support from the creative director and upper management team.


Nik Software - Senior Lead Designer

December 2004 - December 2006 | San Diego, CA

Worked as the Senior Designer at Nik Software, Inc. developers of award-winning plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. Responsibilities included managing multiple projects, coordinating a team of designers, and leading the art direction for both the UI and the corporate branding strategy.

Designed marketing materials and web content for Nikon Capture NX, U Point Technology, and the entire Nik Software product line. Coordinated with a team and developed the graphical user interface for the next generation of Nik Software products. Led numerous projects from start to finish in all phases of user interface, packaging, print, web, video, and trade show media.

Parsons School of Design - BFA Design & Technology

June 2000 - June 2004 | New York, NY

Graduated with a BFA in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design in New York City. The program was based on an inter-disciplinary study of time based media, motion, game, interaction, and web design.


Parsons School of Design - AAS Communication Design

June 2000 - June 2002 | New York, NY

Minored in the Communication Design program which concentrated on art history, design. Studied and explored drawing, painting, typography, information architecture, and color theory.

Patent - Display Device with an Animated User Interface

Design Patent #1710023 | Intuit 2016

Guided Setup Illustration: The setup guide uses dotted line illustrations and an animated UI to progressively build as the user completes each step in the process.


Best New App in iTunes App Store

Apple | 2015 Best New Apps

The Gyft iOS mobile app was featured under Best New App on the App Store homepage for the summer months of 2015.


American Heart Association

American Heart Association | 2013 Fundraising Record

Worked on an interdisciplinary team to produce a web app that helped AHA break a one-night fundraising record by over 20% from the previous record. The concept was based on merging a social experience and emotional design to persuade donors to help exceed the fundraising goals.


Apple Rewind App Awards

Apple | 2011 Rewind

GoPayment for the iPad was launched in the iTunes App Store and maintained a 4.5 star rating from its initial launch. Apple awarded Intuit GoPayment as one of the Top 5 Business iPad Apps for 2011.


Google IO Conference

Google | 2011 Keynote Featured App

Intuit GoPayment for Android was chosen by Google as one of its showcase apps during the Google IO conference in 2011. It was also one of the first apps ever released for the Android tablet.


Featured on Behance

Behance | 2010 Animation

An animation completed for a client was featured on Motion Served which is a curated extension of the Behance Network for Motion Design.