Write something

I'm still here, the pandemic didn't take us all. I'm back.

It's been a while, so it probably wouldn't hurt to write something. Time and time again, I find myself online, in a constant state of putting things out there inconsistently.

I'm setting up a new home computer, the first in many years. This season of change had me finally migrate to a new password manager (Apple Passwords), and begin severing they ties with the OS agnostic ecosystem I built myself into years ago. It was humbling to see how many of these sites, which once held my login information, have changed or ceased to exist.

Seeing my old and stagnant Tumblr accounts -- marcsist for people and Product of Failures offered a moment of retrospection. Despite the comeuppance in my professional life thus far in Germany, it seems I didn't let it change me too much. I still get excited about those things and ideas.

What did change

Since my last update — checks notes — 1140+ days ago, I’ve been promoted to Director of Product Design at Phrase. For just over a year, I’ve led the Product Design department, overseeing product design/UX, content design, UI and design systems, and the research that supports them.

Oh, and we have AI now!

The Big Year

Design leadership is an incredibly complex and rewarding challenge. As a standalone department in product, the change it has brought has been palpable.

Two years ago, product design was mainly a role serving our organizations numerous Product Departments. In becoming our own department, we seized each opportunity to push the "design toolkit", taking on a bunch of new DeSiGnY initiatives that were harder to swing in the previous setup;

1. We established a 'research program' to enable faster iteration and broader samples for user research.
2. Overhauled our Research System to be cleaner, simpler to adopt, and populated with more actionable observations and insights. Our cryptic and witty insights like 'different people different needs' will be missed.
3. Design system adoption across the legacy surfaces of our platform.
4. We acted as a conduit for platform initiatives, connecting product experiences through shared patterns and insights; we shifted from a pay-per-product to an entire platform package with usage-based pricing. A major shift in our product offering!
5. Becoming AI designers. With this intention, we dove into new workflow improvements and experiments to speed up our own work, automate tedious parts of design and research, and shipped a few new AI-powered capabilities to boot.

I’m incredibly proud of my team. They stay driven and consistently exceed expectations, no matter the challenge. The team is a force.

Looking ahead

As I’ve done many times before, I’m resolving to write more this year. Here’s what I’m looking forward to in 2025:

• Our most impactful design year yet – We’re on the verge of something big that I’m really excited about. It should lead to some great product design moments!
• More skiing – I made the most of Austria last year, and I plan to do it again. Plus, I’m heading back to New Mexico.
• Sightseeing and day trips around Germany – I’ll be taking advantage of my flexible work setup.
• Bikepacking, overnighters, and tours – Making the most of good weather and staying active.
• Cooking – Masterclass has inspired me already this year. I got a little lazy toward the end of 2024, but I’m back in the kitchen.

Hope to write again soon.

Thanks for reading, say hi