CASE 01 / 2026
Helios — banking, rebuilt for trust.
+62% activation · 4.8★ App Store · −40% support tickets
$2M+ in revenue impact
Across 14 product launches for founders, growth-stage SaaS, and named brands. Receipts available on request.
LLe Wagon
AArcana Origin
NNEXUS AI
SSAE v4
BBoedo Stay
+9more
Product Design ✱ Brand & Identity ✱ Front-end (Rails · Next.js) ✱ UX Audits ✱ Design Systems ✱ Strategy ✱
Product Design ✱ Brand & Identity ✱ Front-end (Rails · Next.js) ✱ UX Audits ✱ Design Systems ✱ Strategy ✱
[ 01 — Selected Work ]
Real products, real outcomes.
Six recent engagements — every project ships with a clear before/after metric, not just pretty pixels. Click any tile to read the full case study.
CASE 02 / 2025
Aurora — wellness, daily.
12,000+ reviews · 4.8★ · +38% D30 retention
CASE 03 / 2024
Meridian.
3× content velocity
CASE 04 / 2024
Cascade — an AI product founders trust.
$2.4M ARR · 1,200 hrs saved weekly
CASE 05 / 2023
Atlas — dashboards with shape.
+38% MAU · −72% time-to-insight
CASE 06 / 2023
Lumen — a cultural identity.
+22% visitor engagement
[ 02 — Approach ]
A process built for outcomes, not artefacts.
Every engagement runs on the same rhythm — listen, frame, design, ship. No surprise scopes, no monthly retainer traps. You know what you're paying for and when it ships.
01 / LISTEN
Discovery week.
Stakeholder interviews, competitor teardown, success metric agreement. We define what "done" looks like before pixels exist.
02 / FRAME
Map the system.
IA, flows, content model, wireframes. The skeleton that survives every redesign. Usually where the real win lives.
03 / DESIGN
UI, motion, copy.
Pixel work, micro-interactions, the voice of every state. Beauty & clarity — not a tradeoff.
04 / SHIP
Hand off, then iterate.
Tokens, components, dev pairing. We measure 2 weeks post-launch and recommend v1.1 priorities.
[ 03 — Client Words ]
What founders actually say.
No "thought-leadership" filler. These are real quotes from real engagements — happy to put you in touch with any of them before we sign anything.
★★★★★
"Alex took our half-baked onboarding flow and turned it into our #1 conversion lever — twelve weeks, one designer, no drama. We renewed within a month."
MR
Marina Reyes
Founder · Helios Bank
★★★★★
"Most designers stop at Figma. Alex shipped the front-end himself, paired with our engineers, and wrote half the empty-state copy. It saved us six weeks and one hire."
JT
Jordan Tate
CTO · Cascade Labs
★★★★★
"We hired Alex for a UX audit and got a strategy session — he challenged the product roadmap, not just the screens. Two of his recommendations are now Q3 OKRs."
PK
Priya Kapadia
Head of Product · Atlas Data
[ 04 — Engagements ]
Three ways to work together.
Flat-fee, scoped engagements. No hourly billing surprises. Each package below includes a free 30-minute discovery call before you commit to anything.
PACKAGE 01
UX Audit
€1,800
/ one-time · 1 week
- Heuristic review of one product surface
- Journey teardown with annotated screenshots
- Prioritised fix list (10–15 issues)
- 30-min walkthrough call
- 1 round of follow-up questions
PACKAGE 02
Design Sprint
€6,500
/ 4 weeks
- One major product surface, end-to-end
- Research → wireframes → UI → motion
- Figma file with components + tokens
- Dev-handoff session with your engineers
- 2 rounds of revision
- Includes a free UX audit
PACKAGE 03
Embedded Designer
€9,500
/ month · 3-mo minimum
- 3 days/week with your team
- Product design + front-end pairing
- Slack, standups, the works
- Design system + component library
- Founding-designer feel without the hire
[ 05 — FAQ ]
Questions people actually ask.
No corporate hedging. Real answers to the things founders email me about before signing a contract.
What if I hate the first round of designs?
You get one full round of revisions in every package — at no extra cost. If after that the direction still feels wrong, I'll either keep iterating (on me) until we land it, or you can walk away and you only pay 50% of the fee for the work already delivered. I've never had to invoke this — but the offer's real and it's in the contract.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes — happy to. I have a one-page mutual NDA I can send within a few hours of our intro call, or I'll sign yours after a quick legal scan. I don't sign anything that bars me from listing the company name in a future portfolio, but I'll never share screenshots or specifics without written approval.
Do you take equity instead of cash?
Sometimes — at seed stage or earlier, with a discounted cash rate (~50% off) plus equity that matches the discount. I'm not a fund and won't replace it; this is mostly for founders I'd want to work with regardless. Send me the deck and we'll talk.
My project doesn't fit your packages. Can you do something custom?
Almost always. The three packages are starting points, not a wall. If you have a budget and a deadline, we can usually shape a scope that fits both. Email me with what you've got — I'll reply within 24 hours either with a custom proposal or with a recommendation for someone better suited.
How fast can you start?
One engagement slot opens every month. At time of writing the next available start date is in the hero section above. UX audits can sometimes squeeze in earlier if my current sprint is in handoff. The 30-min call is a no-cost way to find out — happy to be honest if I'm not the right fit timing-wise.
Can I talk to a past client before signing?
Absolutely — I encourage it. After our intro call, I'll connect you with 1–2 past clients in your industry (with their permission) for a 15-min reference call. Most designers wave you off when you ask this; I'm offering it because the calls go well.
What if we need to extend the engagement?
For Sprints and UX Audits, extensions are quoted in 2-week increments at the same fee structure. For Embedded Designer, the 3-month minimum can roll month-to-month after that, with 30 days' notice on either side. No surprise lock-ins, no auto-renew traps.
Do you work with agencies or only direct clients?
Both. For agencies I'll subcontract as a senior designer or front-end pair, white-labeled, with a small premium on the package rates to cover account management on your side. NDA + IP-assignment friendly. Just reach out.
[ 06 — About ]
Twenty years, one obsession.
Most designers come from design school. I came from running luxury restaurants, leading B2B sales, and 8 years in trust & safety at scale. That's why the work ships — and converts.
I help founders & growth-stage teams ship products that earn trust on day one and revenue by quarter end. My edge isn't a particular tool — it's two decades of watching how real people make decisions, complain to support, and recommend things to their friends.
I do the work myself — research, UX, UI, Figma-to-front-end, even the empty-state copy. Remote-first. Comfortable working across US and global time zones. No agency layers, no junior-on-the-account routine. Currently one engagement slot opens each month — see the package that fits or book a free call to discuss something custom.
Capabilities
Product Design
UX Research
Design Systems
Brand Identity
Front-end (Rails · Next.js)
Motion
Prototyping
Art Direction
Industries I know
Fintech · SaaS · AI tools · Hospitality · Marketplaces · Trust & Safety · Wellness · Cultural
Speaking my language?
English · Spanish (native) · Portuguese · French (working)
[ 07 — Full Index ]
Everything else, by year.
Selected client work, side projects, and writing, since 2018.
| Year | Project | Client | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Helios Banking | Helios Bank | Product Designer | ↗ |
| 2025 | Aurora Wellness | Aurora Health | UX Lead | ↗ |
| 2025 | Meridian CMS | Meridian Press | Product Designer | ↗ |
| 2024 | Cascade AI | Cascade Labs | Founding Designer | ↗ |
| 2024 | Atlas Dashboard | Atlas Data | Senior Designer | ↗ |
| 2023 | Lumen Identity | Lumen Museum | Art Director | ↗ |
| 2023 | Field Notes | Personal | Author | ↗ |
| 2022 | Solstice Type | Personal | Type Design | ↗ |
[ Let's work · 1 spot open · May 2026 ]
Got a project
worth shipping?
Book a 30-minute discovery call — no pitch deck, no follow-up emails. We'll either agree there's a fit or I'll point you to someone better. That's it.