A LITTLE
ABOUT
ME
Come along on this magical journey that is the last 10 years of me trying to figure out my career as a digital product designer and human being.
2010 - 2012
Freelance UI/UX
designer
I kicked off my journey into UI/UX design by working on websites and web apps for small boutique agencies in Toronto and Vancouver.

Learning to design in an agency tought me so much about communication, efficiency and tight timelines.

With a background in graphic design and typography, I also worked alongside creative directors to design collateral project marketing and brand needs.
UI/UX Design (back then, these were the same thing, wow)
Web & Responsive  Design
Brand Design
Marketing/Ad Design
2012 - 2014
Contract Sr UI/UX Designer
Gaining agency experience, honing my skills at speed.
Continuing my freelancing hustle, I secured a Senior UI/UX designer contract at Cossette. Currently juggling tasks across various teams, contributing to major projects for clients like Telus and BMO.

This marks a significant realization for me - finally honing in on my true passion and deciding where I want to channel my efforts: the realm of product design.
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Web Design
App Design
UX Design & Testing
Saas, E-commerce Product Design
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
2014 - 2019
Director of Product Design
Building an award-winning agency, and team.
First full-time digital design hire for an up-and-coming software engineering agency looking to add new service to existing clientele. The team went from 8 to 48 in the next 10 months.

Key highlights:
  • Determine the agency UI/UX service offerings with the CEO
  • Determined 3 business lines to focus our service offerings, including R&D projects which I led with the CEO
  • Designed UI/UX playbook
  • Lead product design discovery sessions with clients
  • Cross-functional training with marketing, engineering and sales teams
  • Hired and built a FT design team of 3
We won our first agency awards for a client project I was Product Design Director for.
View project
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Web & App Design
Biz Ops
UX Design & Testing
Saas, E-commerce Product Design
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
Mentoring, career growth ladders
Marketing
Client stakeholder workshops & discovery sessions
2019 - 2024
Head of Product Design
Rocketplace, building a product and company.
What an adventure, highs, lows and everything else that comes with startup life.

I had the opportunity to work with co-founders to develop the MVP for a cutting-edge cryptocurrency index platform.
  • Designed all interfaces and product workflows that were regulatory-compliant with high-quality, and personalized UX
  • Conducted qualitative interviews, and feedback surveys to validate market fit
  • Assisted engineering leads with hires, team mentoring
  • Designed marketing landing pages
  • Helped develop design system manager with engineering to expedite product builds and foster accurate, stable releases in the future
  • Developed product road-mapping systems and release sprint cycles with engineering leads
  • Designed our 4,000 sq ft  office
  • Acquired 3800 users in first 8 months (~$800K in assets under holding), landing a second seed-round of $9M
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Product Owner
Web App Design
UX Design & Testing
E-commerce Product Design
Brand Design
Design Systems
Marketing & Advertising
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
2024
Don't make me th!nk
A new independent chapter...
After 10 years of agency and start up life, I broke out into my own venture, and created dmmt!  Advising, consulting and designing for innovative founders and organizations looking to push technology forward, and create next-level experiences for everyone.

I mean just look at this ridiculous picture...
How I can help:
Product Design
Innovation Design
Consulting & Advising
Other super cool things...
ABOUT
ME
Come along on this magical journey that is the last 10 years of me trying to figure out my career as a digital product designer and human being.
2010 - 2012
Freelance UI/UX designer
I kicked off my journey into UI/UX design by working on websites and web apps for small boutique agencies in Toronto and Vancouver.

Learning to design in an agency tought me so much about communication, efficiency and tight timelines.

With a background in graphic design and typography, I also worked alongside creative directors to design collateral project marketing and brand needs.
UI/UX Design (back then, these were the same thing, wow)
Web & Responsive  Design
Brand Design
Marketing/Ad Design
2012 - 2014
Contract Sr UI/UX Designer
Gaining agency experience, honing my skills at speed.
Continuing my freelancing hustle, I secured a Senior UI/UX designer contract at Cossette. Currently juggling tasks across various teams, contributing to major projects for clients like Telus and BMO.

This marks a significant realization for me - finally honing in on my true passion and deciding where I want to channel my efforts: the realm of product design.
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Web Design
App Design
UX Design & Testing
Saas, E-commerce Product Design
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
2014 - 2019
Director of Product Design
Building an award-winning agency, and team.
First full-time digital design hire for an up-and-coming software engineering agency looking to add new service to existing clientele. The team went from 8 to 48 in the next 10 months.

Key highlights:
  • Determine the agency UI/UX service offerings with the CEO
  • Determined 3 business lines to focus our service offerings, including R&D projects which I led with the CEO
  • Designed UI/UX playbook
  • Lead product design discovery sessions with clients
  • Cross-functional training with marketing, engineering and sales teams
  • Hired and built a FT design team of 3
We won our first agency awards for a client project I was Product Design Director for.
View project
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Web & App Design
Biz Ops
UX Design & Testing
Saas, E-commerce Product Design
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
Mentoring, career growth ladders
Marketing
Client stakeholder workshops & discovery sessions
2019 - 2024
Head of Product Design
Rocketplace, building a product and company.
What an adventure, highs, lows and everything else that comes with startup life.

I had the opportunity to work with co-founders to develop the MVP for a cutting-edge cryptocurrency index platform.
  • Designed all interfaces and product workflows that were regulatory-compliant with high-quality, and personalized UX
  • Conducted qualitative interviews, and feedback surveys to validate market fit
  • Assisted engineering leads with hires, team mentoring
  • Designed marketing landing pages
  • Helped develop design system manager with engineering to expedite product builds and foster accurate, stable releases in the future
  • Developed product road-mapping systems and release sprint cycles with engineering leads
  • Designed our 4,000 sq ft  office
  • Acquired 3800 users in first 8 months (~$800K in assets under holding), landing a second seed-round of $9M
Key roles and respoonsibilities:
Product Design
Product Owner
Web App Design
UX Design & Testing
E-commerce Product Design
Brand Design
Design Systems
Marketing & Advertising
Product Managing, Product Roadmapping
2024
Don't make me th!nk
A new independent chapter...
After 10 years of agency and start up life, I broke out into my own venture, and created dmmt!  Advising, consulting and designing for innovative founders and organizations looking to push technology forward, and create next-level experiences for everyone.

I mean just look at this ridiculous picture...
How I can help:
Product Design
Innovation Design
Consulting & Advising
Other super cool things...
The
10
Well, there is a snapshot of the last 10 years of my product design journey, excited to see where the future takes me...
TIRED
OF THINKING?
LET'S CHAT.
matthew@dontmakemethink.ca
Linkedin
© 2024 don't make me th!nk
TIRED OF THINKING?
LET'S CHAT.
© 2024 DON'T MAKE ME THINK