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Nick Hahn

Austin, Texas
makeitso@nickhahn.com
linkedin.com/in/nickhahn
8478996467

Design Systems // DesignOps // Workshop Facilitation20+ design industry veteran; I’ve founded and led design consultancies, launched big digital brands at agencies, and created sustainable cultures of design in-house at IBM, InVision, and Meta. I specialize in the human side of Design, building scalable systems and operations with empathy, kindness, & excitement.

Work Experience

Creative Liberation

Creative Liberation

President and Founder
Nov 2021 - Current

Founded this career coaching and consulting company to help those individuals and companies who struggle finding their path with Design. I’ve experienced the same patterns and blockers across all industries and company sizes from the individual designers not having fulfilling careers, to design teams of hundreds be misaligned and unproductive.

Meta

Meta

Product Design Manager, Facebook Stories
Jun 2021 - Apr 2022

Managed Product Designers who served the Facebook Home experience of the Facebook Android, iOS, Facebook Lite, and Desktop Web apps - in total over 2B users. Specifically designed services such as FB messaging (including E2E encryption conversion), Stories and Reels on Android and FB Lite, plus connecting/testing of a totally new Home experience.

Austin Spark League

Austin Spark League

Co-Founder and League Director
Feb 2015 - Nov 2019

I believe that education is more than just getting a job, it's about finding a path in life. Co-founded and ran this 2-3 week summer camp for high-schoolers. From Programming, Design, and Business Development, the camp gave kids the practical experience to know what it’s like to create modern tech products. We helped 200+ kids find their passion for what they’ll do in their careers.

InVision

InVision

Director, Design Systems Consulting
Feb 2020 - Jun 2021

Led the post-sales consulting team, advising dozens of InVision’s customers on how best to build and deploy their design systems. This included assessing the maturity of their overall digital product development process, reviewing and critiquing existing systems, and building training programs for teams to adopt their design systems.

IBM

IBM

Sr. Design Manager & Design Principal - Cloud Data and Ai
Oct 2015 - Feb 2020

IBM Cloud

Design Principal & Sr. Manager: created and led the IBM Cloud Design System team.

  • Led the creation of IBM’s first ever design system-of-systems, consuming and modifying IBM Carbon for specific use to support the 150+ IBM Cloud apps.
  • Supported nearly $7B in business, 400+ designers, and thousands more developers.
  • Cloud Design System enabled the full rebrand and relaunch of the entire platform and all apps.
  • Developer efficiency was improved by 60-80%, with an average of 2000 hours per pattern saved. 

IBM Power Systems

Led the deployment of Enterprise Design Thinking for a legacy division of over 3000.

  • Cultural transformation to modern, design-centered practices.
  • Conducted 50+ workshops in 16 months.
  • Led IBM POWER Systems design team to launch first SaaS app, which was called the “best story of design at IBM in 3 years” by the former IBM Design GM, Phil Gilbert.

Gravity Ward / Design Cloud

Gravity Ward / Design Cloud

Founding Partner & Design Strategist
Nov 2011 - Oct 2015

Gravity Ward (formally Design Cloud)

Co-founded this boutique digital agency focusing on large and complex problems enterprise clients in a variety of industries (Manufacturing , Advertising/Marketing, Industrial Supply Chain, Building & Fire Codes).

Developed project vision, requirements, and scope, including budget, timing, and staffing. We lead with clients through design thinking workshops, leveraged and trained Lean + Agile practices. Also led the day-to-day work of user research, ux design, and project management.

Design Cloud

In this unique design studio and art gallery startup concept, led creation of the studio's design process, design team, and client work. Engaged client's sr. leaders and employees uncovered their true business needs through contextual inquiry research and design thinking workshops. Also pitched concepts, co-created and negotiated contracts, created project timelines, and hired teams.

AbelsonTaylor

AbelsonTaylor

Senior User Experience Designer
Jul 2008 - Dec 2011

Created digital experiences for the large pharmaceutical brands. From sites, to apps, to content platforms, and convention experiences.

JWT

JWT

Interactive Art Director
May 2007 - Nov 2007

Digital art direction for many B2B brands.

Vault 13

Vault 13

Founder & UX Designer
Jan 2002 - Dec 2007

Ran my own design studio, developing the strategy and design direction for a wide variety of client projects: marketing campaigns, videos (concept through post), messaging, and digital mediums, for small to enterprise clients. Pitched and secured my own work directly with clients.

Education

Depaul University

Depaul University

Human-Computer Interaction
Aug 2002 - 2006