Designer. Manager.
Hi, I'm Rachel.
I design thoughtful, user-centered products for startups, businesses and companies. I spent over a decade in tech as a Product Designer, leading small design teams through fast-paced, cross-functional work.

For the past year, I've taken my skills and transitioned into Visual Identity and have designed (and built) websites, marketing campaigns and branding resources for companies of all sizes.
Email
Linkedin

What I can do for you

As a Designer
As a Manager
Senior Skill
Identify user needs
I validate user stories with key metrics and data through quantitative and qualitative research.
Senior Skill
Design products & features
I design high-quality features and products that are backed by research and great ideas.
Staff Skill
Set design standards
I ensure your product is designed at top standards and maintain design between departments.
Management Skill
Manage design teams
I lead and inspire designers in a productive environment while fostering growth.
Management Skill
Run product methodologies
I work closely with engineers and stakeholders to define requirements and get things shipped.
Director Skill
Define the product vision
I guide the product to align with the company's strategy through leadership and cross-functional collaboration.
Case
Studies
Director of Product Design
Volume.com
In 2022, I joined Volume, a livestreaming application built for musicians. I primarily worked on creator features and led many design improvements alongside the CTO.
Design
I managed and led the design team
Product
I led the product cycles for development
Design & Product Lead
Erento.com
Read about my data-driven design approach while working at Erento, Europe's largest rental platform. This company set my standards for gathering qualitative and quantitative data for all decisions in product.
Design
I was the sole designer on this team
Product
I led the product cycles for development

Agency Work

MindKeep.ai

Partnered with MindKeep to design the product, brand and launch the website for their local-first AI workspace.

Pomelo.com

Enhanced Pomelo's brand and launched their website. Increased engagement and performance by 6%.

I help teams define the right problems and design the right solutions.

Research
Conduct user research, user interviews, and analyze existing and new data points.
Kick-off
Define scope, technical restraints, success metrics, and business goals.
Ideation & Feedback
Build, test, validate and ideate on potential solutions with real users.   
Design & Execute
Establish consistency across styles, and ensuring seamless communication between design and engineering.

I spent the past year designing products in an AI-powered world.

AI has removed traditional blockers, empowering designers to move faster, think more broadly, and work more independently. Tools that once required full teams are now accessible to individuals, making it possible to execute at every level.

Work History

I team up with early-stage startups and small businesses at the idea stage, helping set up solid design foundations that can grow with them.
Freelance
Design Consultant
2024 - Present
Launched an independent design practice delivering consulting across product design, branding, and web development. Worked with early-stage startups and small businesses to define visual identity, design core product experiences, and bring websites from concept to launch.
Volume
Director of Product Design
2022 - 2024, Remote (USA)
Corporate startup venture. I led the design and front-end engineering team during 6-week product cycles to ship features and improvements. I implemented design systems with their current branding to expedite deliverables, and re-designed multiple features to improve feature experience.
Fanhouse
ACQUIRED
Design Lead
2022, Remote (USA)
Acquired by Passes. I hired and led the design team and directed the company rebranding for larger Creator adoption. I worked closely with the CEO to improve and design new features.
Talentspace
ACQUIRED
Design Lead
2021, Remote (Berlin)
Acquired by Handshake. An online event platform connecting universities, students and companies. I led the design team to improve experiences and implement new features. I re-designed their entire product experience leading up to their acquisition.
Cookpad
Sr. Product Designer
2020, Remote, (Bristol)
Corporate startup venture. A cooking application for creators and their communities. I worked on conversion search design and new design systems.
Erento
Design Lead & Product Lead
2018 - 2020, Berlin
Europe's largest online rental platform. An extensive B2B2C product. I worked as the Design & Product Lead and focused heavily on conversion-led design.
ParkU
Sr. Product Designer
2016 - 2018, Berlin
Privately funded. Shutdown in 2019. A parking application that helps you find, book and reserve parking spaces in urban cities around Berlin. I re-designed the app and booking experience.
Carjump
ACQUIRED
Product Designer
2015 - 2016, Berlin
Acquired by PSA Group. A carsharing aggregation application that lets you book and unlock rentals cars in one space. I worked on private information handling and booking experience.
Various agencies
Art Director
2014 - 2016, San Francisco
Before pursuing product designer, I was an art director at advertising studios.

References

I worked very closely with these amazing individuals-- hear what they have to say about me.
As a natural leader, Rachel excels at mentoring junior designers and fostering a collaborative team environment.
Her exceptional skills and attention to detail have left a lasting impact, with her work continuing to drive results years later. She seamlessly integrates creative vision with data-driven design principles, significantly enhancing user engagement and satisfaction. Her disciplined approach to leveraging data in design is a rare and valuable asset, and her hands-on approach and leadership capabilities make her an invaluable asset to any organization.
Luka Dremelj
CEO, Erento, Pure App
Rachel's blend of design acumen and leadership truly makes her a standout professional in the field. She is an exceptional UI/UX designer and leader.
Her design systems are among the most organized and well-structured I’ve ever seen! She skillfully considers UI flows to ensure seamless user experiences. Always well-prepared for meetings, she effectively leads discussions and directs projects. Additionally, Rachel is highly skilled in research, she conducted numerous user interviews and workshops for Volume, which provided valuable insights and greatly contributed to our redesign project.
Tracy Waudby
CTO, Volume
Rachel's dedication to excellence and ability to lead a team in a fast-paced startup environment are remarkable. Her infectious enthusiasm and energy have made even the most challenging projects enjoyable.
She led our design team and the entire product with a customer-centric, design-first approach. Her leadership has not only encouraged creativity, but also ensured consistent delivery of a top-notch product. Her keen eye for detail and deep understanding of user needs, translated into beautiful and functional designs.
Kieran James
Sr. Product Designer, Talentspace, Picsart
Rachel is a multi-faceted designer and product manager with a level of skill extremely hard to come by.
She can solve complex problems with ease, and carries out her vision with a strong sense of command. Rachel has been endlessly reliable in fast-paced, often high-stress environments. At Talentspace she constantly delivered high-quality designs that led to the satisfaction of our stakeholders and investors.
Munya Mangwana
Sr. Product Manager, Talentspace, SustainCERT
Rachel's self-management, team leadership, and creative problem-solving within constraints were exemplary. She conducted user research to expand our product offering, consistently delivering high-quality work on tight deadlines.
She created our complete design system from scratch, through founder workshops and user interviews and mentored 2 junior designers in user research and design tools/workflows. For Product Management, she developed PRDs, coordinated handoffs between engineering (6) and design (3) teams.
Khoi Le
CEO, Fanhouse
Rachel's diligence on getting feedback from end users, stakeholders, and the technical team ensured the team had all the information needed to implement projects.
Her keen eye on her designs made sure the user experience was prioritized when implementing her vision. This seamless blend of product and technical understanding allowed for very little holes during the production.
Jimmy Bobowski
Director of Technical Operations, Volume

Other skills

Web Design & Development

I design and launch websites for businesses of all sizes. Depending on the execution, I can launch with no-code apps, or do much more refined designs with front-end development.
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Product Animations

I animate products across all resources for product, marketing and design.
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Brand Identity

I create a brand identity that represents your company and pair it with logo design, appropriate color palettes, custom typographic systems, iconography or graphic styles, and tailored art direction.
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Marketing Design

I help plan, launch and design for digital campaigns across social media and email.
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Ready to get in touch?
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