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CASE STUDY

B2B APPS DESIGN DIRECTOR

RESULTS

  • My leadership increased ARR by +$41M for top SaaS apps.
  • Directed, mentored & grew a global design team from 3-13.
  • Led transformation product branding, usability, & time to value 4x with AI & reusable patterns.

CHALLENGE & ROLE

PRODUCT DESIGN DIRECTOR
  • Use design + research to collaboratively increase business & user value of all apps
  • Build & direct remote product design with design system & research
  • Transform Top 40 apps into awesome & usable revenue generators

ANALYSIS

  • Spearheaded cross-functional workshops with PMs, Engineers, Marketing & Support
  • Identified key problems with siloed products, well engineered, but NOT designed

ACTIONS

  • Introduced proper user research & design process & design system components
  • Directed, mentored, and grew globally remote design team to apply research, design systems, and UX proces to all products
  • Developed UX strategy & tactics to consistently improve usability, accessibility, achieve $41M more ARR

Bill worked for me as a great leader of multiple teams across our app portfolio. Bill helped define our business-outcome focused designs, implemented strong processes to ensure productivity and quality, and championed the use of reusable design patterns, our design system, the use of AI, and accessible interfaces. I would definitely recommend Bill as a UX leader.

Mary Lieser

VP/Head of UX, Appfire

I had the privilege of working under Bill at Appfire. He had huge impact on my career, mindset, and overall design culture. I often refer to him for how good mentorship and leadership can drive an organization: 1. He leads with deep empathy, clarity and trust. Always thoughtful guidance and open feedback. 2. He's a strategic thinker, innovator, and a cross-functioning collaboration guru. 3. He's a champion of design systems, reusability and scalability. Our solutions stand the test of time. Every organization needs a person as driven, dedicated, and human, as Bill.

Mihai Tocitu

Principal Product Designer, Appfire

I was fortunate to work with Bill for over three years. He is an outstanding professional and a remarkable, true leader. He always guides his team with clarity, empathy, and vision. As a strategic team player, he creates a collaborative environment where people feel empowered to contribute and grow. Bill's knowledge, professionalism, and leadership style make him an invaluable asset to any organization.

Marcin Nowak

Senior UX Manager, Appfire

I collaborated with Bill on several projects at Appfire, and every time I was struck by his depth of knowledge and expertise in UX. He brings creative, well-thought-out solutions to even the most complex challenges and does so in a way that feels approachable and collaborative. He's supportive, easygoing, and genuinely invested in driving the best outcomes. A true leader in his field, I wish I got a chance to work with him more!

Piers Morgan

Creative Director, Appfire

Details? Read the design story

  • product design director
  • B2B Apps
  • 40+ Apps
  • bus strategy
  • cross-platform

RESULT

HIGHER QUALITY PROCESS YIELDS HIGHER QUALITY PRODUCTS

  • My leadership increased ARR by +$41M for top SaaS apps.
  • Directed, mentored & grew a global design team from 3-13.
  • Led transformation product branding, usability, & time to value 4x with AI & reusable patterns.
  • Drove better UX results (avg 55% for CES/CSAT/Usability tests) for Atlassian, Microsoft, Salesforce, & monday.com apps.

THE CHALLENGE
& ROLE

PRODUCT DESIGN DIRECTOR

  • Use design + research to collaboratively increase business & user value of all apps
  • Build & direct remote product design with design system & research
  • Transform Top 40 apps into awesome & usable revenue generators

ANALYSIS

OUT-OF-THE-BOX REDESIGN OF INCONSISTENT, SILOED APPS

Gap & Value Analysis:
  • Collaborated with C-suite management, Operations, Support, Finance, Legal and product to research the problems and led ideation and strategy sessions to chart a path forward.
  • Spearheaded cross-functional workshops with PMs, Engineers, Marketing & Support
  • Identified key problems with siloed products, well engineered, but NOT designed
  • Methodically identified common problems with onboarding, lack of standards and lack of research


Research: Personas, Context & Tasks
  • Led persona analysis. Led the research to collect and analyze customer information to produce and stack rank the key personas.
  • Managed the stack-ranking of key tasks for each persona with business value, feature, time, and effort analysis.
  • Conducted Pre-mortem & established how to measure progress (what would success & failure look like?)

ACTIONS

BUILDING, MENTORING & COACHING DESIGN / RESEARCH TEAM

  • Once my analysis workshops produced a set of consistent problems across all apps, I introduced proper user research & design process & design system components
  • Directed, mentored, and grew globally remote design team to build up research, design systems, and product design to address all needs
  • Translated C-level guidance & business goals to UX strategy and tactics that consistently improved product usability, accessibility, to achieve better Revenue each year (ARR $)
  • Mentored design and broader team on research methods, rapid prototyping & design methodology.

Cross-organizational Contributions
  • Made significant contributions to the Design System, UX Writing, and Accessibility, including architecting many valuable reusable patterns
  • Served as design director and main point of contact for vendors such as Atlassian & Monday.com influencing their platforms, as well as Appfire's company branding, marketing, messaging, product videos, & web site.
  • Managed and mentored a number of AI-focused projects to connect and automate to put more power in the hands of all users.
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