About
I design digital products that feel thoughtful, expressive, and grounded in real constraints.
I am a New York-based creative digital designer focused on helping startups and product teams transform complex ideas into interfaces that users understand and enjoy. My work balances structure and experimentation, anchored in user insights and business priorities.
Currently open for
Q3 and Q4 product design collaborations
Ideal partners are product-led companies looking to clarify their core experience, ship a strategic redesign, or bring more cohesion to a growing suite of interfaces.
Based in Brooklyn, collaborating remotely across the US West Coast, Central Europe, and selected APAC time zones.
A story shaped by curiosity and collaboration.
I grew up sketching interfaces in the margins of my notebooks—imagining new ways to navigate music libraries, social feeds, and productivity tools long before I knew what UX design was called. That curiosity eventually turned into a formal design education and a career working inside product teams where constraints are real and shipping is non-negotiable.
Over time, I became fascinated by the systems that sit behind beautiful interfaces: design tokens, component libraries, content frameworks, and motion guidelines that make complex products feel coherent and alive. This led me to focus on projects where I could contribute both individual screens and the underlying design language that supports them.
Today, I collaborate with teams who value thoughtful, opinionated design but also need a partner who understands trade-offs and can move at the pace of the business. I bring structure to ambiguity, ask difficult questions about what truly matters, and stay close to engineering and product through every iteration.
Core values
- Clarity over cleverness. Every interaction should explain itself without a tour.
- Confidence through craft. The details—type, spacing, interactions—signal how much you care about users.
- Design as a team sport. The best work happens when design, engineering, and product challenge each other with respect.
What clients say
“Ava brings a rare mix of strategic thinking, visual refinement, and willingness to get into the details with our engineers. She made our product feel cohesive for the first time.”
Marcus Nguyen • Head of Design, Northwind Cloud
Principles
How I show up as a design partner.
Great design requires more than a keen eye—it depends on shared context, honest communication, and a willingness to iterate together. These principles shape every project I take on.
Guided by outcomes
Every engagement starts with a shared understanding of the problem we are solving, the users we are designing for, and the metrics that will tell us whether the work is successful.
Systems that scale
Rather than designing isolated screens, I create patterns, components, and documentation that give your team a sustainable foundation for future features.
Respect for reality
I design with technical constraints, timelines, and team capacity in mind, so the work feels ambitious yet achievable for the people building it.
Thoughtful collaboration
I encourage healthy debate, invite perspectives from engineering and customer success, and keep stakeholders aligned through regular, visual communication.
Inclusive experiences
I pay attention to accessibility, content legibility, motion sensitivity, and localized content, making sure experiences welcome a broad range of users.
Long-term partnerships
Many clients return for additional phases of work. I invest in understanding your product deeply so that each collaboration builds on the last.
Experience timeline.
Each chapter has sharpened a different part of my practice, from hands-on execution to partnering closely with leadership on product strategy and growth.
2024—Present
Independent product design partner
Studio Ava
Helping venture-backed teams refine core experiences, scope v1 products, and build design systems.
2021—2023
Senior Product Designer
Northwind Cloud
Led cross-functional initiatives across billing, observability, and workspace management.
2018—2021
Product Designer
Parallel OS
Designed features for remote collaboration, async communication, and workflow automation.
2016—2018
UX Designer
Freelance
Partnered with early-stage founders on landing pages, prototypes, and MVP experiments.
Inside product organizations, I have learned how to navigate competing priorities, technical trade-offs, and the realities of release schedules. As an independent partner, I bring that context into every engagement, helping teams move quickly without sacrificing craft.
I am comfortable leading projects from discovery through launch, but I am equally happy diving into a specific challenge—a complex settings area, an onboarding flow that needs a fresh perspective, or a design system that requires structure and documentation.
A practice built on momentum.
I often join teams at pivotal moments: a major funding round, a strategic product pivot, or the decision to invest in design systems for the first time. The goal is always the same—to create clarity, reduce friction, and make every release feel more considered than the last.
8+
Years designing products
Experience across SaaS, developer tools, fintech, and creative tooling.
4.8
Average engagement rating
Based on anonymous feedback from product, design, and engineering partners.
12
Time zones collaborated
Comfortable working async with distributed teams across the US and Europe.
3×
Average client return rate
Many partners return for future phases or additional products after the first engagement.
Let’s design the next chapter of your product.
Share a bit about your team, your product, and what you are hoping design can unlock. I will get back within two business days with thoughts on fit and potential next steps.
