I find the problem behind the brief and design and ship the simplest, well-crafted thing that solves it.
I'm available at
Selected Work
Work I'm proudest of
About me
The person behind the work
I’ve been designing software for more than two decades for government, Oracle, and currently ServiceNow.
I spent nearly half that time at Oracle on support portals used by hundreds of thousands of people a month, a mobile-first expenses app, and an AI assistant for finance setup. Earlier, I coded the front end of my own designs for the US Courts and Arlington County, as well as federal and small business clients. I still prototype what I design and remain obsessed with the aesthetic experience as much as the mechanical.
How I work
What I hold myself to
01
Find the real problem
A brief is a starting point. I watch how the work actually happens and keep asking why until the real problem shows up. For a federal sentencing tool, that meant spending time in a courtroom.
02
Start simple
My first question is always “what’s the simplest way to do this?” Then I work back from real constraints. That's how Oracle's expenses app finally shipped after years of stalled design.
03
Earn trust
People should be able to see where a number came from, understand what the system did, and undo it. I also build in the signals that tell us whether the design is working.
04
Bring people along
Engineers, product managers and design-system teams are my partners from the first sketch. I’ve mentored a lot of designers along the way, and some now lead teams of their own.
Experience
Where I've been
Staff Product Designer
ServiceNow, remote
2026–
Senior Principal UX Designer
Oracle, remote
2016–2025
Senior UX Designer
SRA International/CSRA (US Courts), Washington, DC
2012–2016
Enterprise Information Architect
Arlington County, Arlington, VA
2009–2012
Information Architect
Pointe Technology Group (Arlington County), Arlington, VA
2006–2009
UX Designer
Federal and small business clients
earlier
Testimonials
What partners say
“Chris is one of those designers who consistently makes the whole team better. He brings big-picture thinking and strong execution… He’s also a great coach, always willing to share his knowledge and help others grow.”
Yuwei Fu
Director of UX, Oracle
1/6
“In a short period of time, Chris has become the backbone of our execution of the build for expenses. He has shown an aptitude for being able to work very effectively across developers and PMs to design for all the corner cases our initial designs failed to uncover.”
Ray Weikel
DesignOps Manager, Oracle
2/6
“I had the pleasure of working with Chris for three years on the Expenses product… He was patient, collaborative, and consistently honest about what would or wouldn’t work for our users. The impact he had on our team was truly significant.”
Taylor Rivera
Product Manager, Oracle
3/6
“[Chris] played a key role in identifying the key requirements and use cases for the component… He also helped lead testing and evaluating the component within the team, helping uncover gaps and translating the feedback into clear, actionable requirements.”
Sia Mukherjee
Senior UX Designer, Redwood Design System, Oracle
4/6
“I found working with Chris to be one of the best collaborative efforts of my career… Chris brought his strength in this area and the back and forth over the 6+ months as we created this application helped us both grow in our skills and prove our many aspects of our development process.”
Buchanan Dunn
Technical Lead, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
5/6
“The challenge was to simplify one’s experience while elevating what had previously been a tedious and dry expense submission process… Through many, many rounds of iterations handed down by executive leadership, Chris was the steady voice of reason and technical guide throughout the project.”
David Topper
Creative Lead, Oracle
6/6
“Chris is one of those designers who consistently makes the whole team better. He brings big-picture thinking and strong execution… He’s also a great coach, always willing to share his knowledge and help others grow.”
Yuwei Fu
Director of UX, Oracle
1/6
“In a short period of time, Chris has become the backbone of our execution of the build for expenses. He has shown an aptitude for being able to work very effectively across developers and PMs to design for all the corner cases our initial designs failed to uncover.”
Ray Weikel
DesignOps Manager, Oracle
2/6
“I had the pleasure of working with Chris for three years on the Expenses product… He was patient, collaborative, and consistently honest about what would or wouldn’t work for our users. The impact he had on our team was truly significant.”
Taylor Rivera
Product Manager, Oracle
3/6
“[Chris] played a key role in identifying the key requirements and use cases for the component… He also helped lead testing and evaluating the component within the team, helping uncover gaps and translating the feedback into clear, actionable requirements.”
Sia Mukherjee
Senior UX Designer, Redwood Design System, Oracle
4/6
“I found working with Chris to be one of the best collaborative efforts of my career… Chris brought his strength in this area and the back and forth over the 6+ months as we created this application helped us both grow in our skills and prove our many aspects of our development process.”
Buchanan Dunn
Technical Lead, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
5/6
“The challenge was to simplify one’s experience while elevating what had previously been a tedious and dry expense submission process… Through many, many rounds of iterations handed down by executive leadership, Chris was the steady voice of reason and technical guide throughout the project.”
David Topper
Creative Lead, Oracle
6/6
“Chris is one of those designers who consistently makes the whole team better. He brings big-picture thinking and strong execution… He’s also a great coach, always willing to share his knowledge and help others grow.”
Yuwei Fu
Director of UX, Oracle
1/6
“In a short period of time, Chris has become the backbone of our execution of the build for expenses. He has shown an aptitude for being able to work very effectively across developers and PMs to design for all the corner cases our initial designs failed to uncover.”
Ray Weikel
DesignOps Manager, Oracle
2/6
“I had the pleasure of working with Chris for three years on the Expenses product… He was patient, collaborative, and consistently honest about what would or wouldn’t work for our users. The impact he had on our team was truly significant.”
Taylor Rivera
Product Manager, Oracle
3/6
“[Chris] played a key role in identifying the key requirements and use cases for the component… He also helped lead testing and evaluating the component within the team, helping uncover gaps and translating the feedback into clear, actionable requirements.”
Sia Mukherjee
Senior UX Designer, Redwood Design System, Oracle
4/6
“I found working with Chris to be one of the best collaborative efforts of my career… Chris brought his strength in this area and the back and forth over the 6+ months as we created this application helped us both grow in our skills and prove our many aspects of our development process.”
Buchanan Dunn
Technical Lead, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
5/6
“The challenge was to simplify one’s experience while elevating what had previously been a tedious and dry expense submission process… Through many, many rounds of iterations handed down by executive leadership, Chris was the steady voice of reason and technical guide throughout the project.”
David Topper
Creative Lead, Oracle
6/6
Tools
What I use
Claude AI
Midjourney
Claude Code
Nano Banana
ChatGPT
Vercel
Figma
Safari
Adobe
Things
Cursor
Bear
GitHub
Wisprflow
Claude AI
Figma
GitHub
Vercel
Bear
Claude Code
Adobe
Midjourney
Safari
Wisprflow
ChatGPT
Cursor
Nano Banana
Things
Claude AI
Adobe
Nano Banana
Bear
Claude Code
Cursor
Vercel
Wisprflow
ChatGPT
GitHub
Safari
Figma
Midjourney
Things
Articles
What I think
The failure is the widening distance between what the magic can do and what Mickey understands about it. Call it the Delegation Spiral, or the Comprehension Gap. The variable that matters isn’t how much the AI knows. It’s how far apart what it knows and what I know have drifted. And that gap can grow while the AI gets more useful. Which is the part that really messes with my head.
My AI knows my job better than I do. That’s not cool.
1/4
Despite what you may have been told, you are not the “user’s voice.” You are also not the “person who makes it usable.” You are a professional strategist trained to translate complex human needs into product experiences that move the business forward. That’s your job. You are a business person. Act like it.
UX playbook: mantra, mantra, mantra!
2/4
Pick one tool. One. The one that seemed most relevant to your actual work from Filter 1. Then commit to using it on a real project for five consecutive workdays. Not some toy exercise, but actual work that will clarify the tool’s impact. You will learn more in that one week than you would from months of bookmarking articles and watching tutorials. You’ll understand what the tool is actually good at, where it falls apart, what kinds of prompts or inputs it needs, and how it fits (or doesn’t) into your existing process. That practical knowledge is worth infinitely more than theoretical familiarity with twenty alternatives.
You Can’t Keep Up With AI. Nobody Can. Here’s What to Do Instead.
3/4
Some design teams are leaning away from anthropomorphic cues to reinforce system boundaries, reduce user confusion, and preserve transparency. I understand the intent — but I’m not so sure this is the right tack. Trust is not just rational; it’s relational. That’s why I advocate for leaning into anthropomorphic experience design — not to trick users into thinking the AI is human, but to foster emotional clarity, continuity, and care.
Designing for belief: UX for AI is more than toolmaking
4/4
The failure is the widening distance between what the magic can do and what Mickey understands about it. Call it the Delegation Spiral, or the Comprehension Gap. The variable that matters isn’t how much the AI knows. It’s how far apart what it knows and what I know have drifted. And that gap can grow while the AI gets more useful. Which is the part that really messes with my head.
My AI knows my job better than I do. That’s not cool.
1/4
Despite what you may have been told, you are not the “user’s voice.” You are also not the “person who makes it usable.” You are a professional strategist trained to translate complex human needs into product experiences that move the business forward. That’s your job. You are a business person. Act like it.
UX playbook: mantra, mantra, mantra!
2/4
Pick one tool. One. The one that seemed most relevant to your actual work from Filter 1. Then commit to using it on a real project for five consecutive workdays. Not some toy exercise, but actual work that will clarify the tool’s impact. You will learn more in that one week than you would from months of bookmarking articles and watching tutorials. You’ll understand what the tool is actually good at, where it falls apart, what kinds of prompts or inputs it needs, and how it fits (or doesn’t) into your existing process. That practical knowledge is worth infinitely more than theoretical familiarity with twenty alternatives.
You Can’t Keep Up With AI. Nobody Can. Here’s What to Do Instead.
3/4
Some design teams are leaning away from anthropomorphic cues to reinforce system boundaries, reduce user confusion, and preserve transparency. I understand the intent — but I’m not so sure this is the right tack. Trust is not just rational; it’s relational. That’s why I advocate for leaning into anthropomorphic experience design — not to trick users into thinking the AI is human, but to foster emotional clarity, continuity, and care.
Designing for belief: UX for AI is more than toolmaking
4/4
The failure is the widening distance between what the magic can do and what Mickey understands about it. Call it the Delegation Spiral, or the Comprehension Gap. The variable that matters isn’t how much the AI knows. It’s how far apart what it knows and what I know have drifted. And that gap can grow while the AI gets more useful. Which is the part that really messes with my head.
My AI knows my job better than I do. That’s not cool.
1/4
Despite what you may have been told, you are not the “user’s voice.” You are also not the “person who makes it usable.” You are a professional strategist trained to translate complex human needs into product experiences that move the business forward. That’s your job. You are a business person. Act like it.
UX playbook: mantra, mantra, mantra!
2/4
Pick one tool. One. The one that seemed most relevant to your actual work from Filter 1. Then commit to using it on a real project for five consecutive workdays. Not some toy exercise, but actual work that will clarify the tool’s impact. You will learn more in that one week than you would from months of bookmarking articles and watching tutorials. You’ll understand what the tool is actually good at, where it falls apart, what kinds of prompts or inputs it needs, and how it fits (or doesn’t) into your existing process. That practical knowledge is worth infinitely more than theoretical familiarity with twenty alternatives.
You Can’t Keep Up With AI. Nobody Can. Here’s What to Do Instead.
3/4
Some design teams are leaning away from anthropomorphic cues to reinforce system boundaries, reduce user confusion, and preserve transparency. I understand the intent — but I’m not so sure this is the right tack. Trust is not just rational; it’s relational. That’s why I advocate for leaning into anthropomorphic experience design — not to trick users into thinking the AI is human, but to foster emotional clarity, continuity, and care.
Designing for belief: UX for AI is more than toolmaking
4/4