Chris Austin
Verified Expert in Design
UI/UX Product Designer
New York, NY, United States
Toptal member since August 13, 2020
Chris is a full-stack UI/UX product designer and art director with 15+ years of international experience. His expertise includes UI, UX, mobile (iOS and Android) and web design, advertising, and branding. Chris has planned, designed, and shipped B2C and B2B products for startups like Curve and multinationals like Meetup. His industry experience includes fintech, gaming, real estate, and transportation. Originally from Australia, Chris has spent time in New York and is now based in London.
Experience
- User Interface (UI) - 15 years
- Product Design - 15 years
- Web Design - 15 years
- User Experience (UX) - 12 years
- User Research - 10 years
- Design Systems - 9 years
- Mobile Design - 9 years
- Interaction Design (IxD) - 7 years
Portfolio
Work Experience
Head of Design
Allstar
- Collaborated with the CEO and COO to build their web and desktop app presence.
- Built out the design system that enabled us to build out our homepage, onboarding, and consumer clip and profile view pages.
- Designed the UX and UI for the mobile and web applications.
- Worked with engineering to build out our React theme for the website.
Lead Product Designer
University of New South Wales
- Designed a student portal to assess their progress across their course.
- Worked with a front-end engineer to implement the CSS for the application.
- Created animated interaction design, front end CSS, and UX design.
Lead Product Designer
Curve
- Assisted the Curve customer experience team in identifying pain points and opportunities while serving as the lead designer on the growth and retention team.
- Found solutions to help Curve achieve strategic objectives, stem the flow of customer support tickets, and help make its product scalable.
- Led several data-driven initiatives, such as integrating the card authentication and the 3-D Secure implementation for iOS and Android.
- Created a feature called the "Fallback Card" with my product manager. Spanning research, ideation to beta, and final release, we shipped a core feature in under three months, which reduced churn and increased retention among monthly active users.
- Rolled out a new design system in Figma with a light and dark mode for iOS and Android.
Lead Product Designer
Meetup
- Participated in the small team that redesigned and reimagined the iOS and Android mobile applications alongside the rebranding of the company.
- Led the design of the enterprise product called Meetup Pro, from the initial seed idea to a full-fledged business unit within Meetup, generating 10% of the company's revenue within 18 months.
- Spearheaded the design of a completely rebuilt web experience with full responsibility for the UI, UX, and creating a new design system. I did this while serving as the lead designer for the web platform team.
- Increased synergy between product design and brand by serving as a design liaison while working on a series of sales funnel and first touchpoint experiences.
Senior Product Designer
Realestate.com.au
- Served as the lead product designer for the homepage and redesign of account creation. Because these generate millions of dollars of revenue, it was critical to align stakeholders throughout the company during the project.
- Helped shape the implementation of iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad applications and collaborated with a team of talented engineers on a complete overhaul of the design language.
- Pitched and gained approval from the C-team to create the company's 1st native Android app. Collaborated with team members in Australia and China to create a Material Design-focused application that increased the Google Play rating from 2.3 to 4.3.
- Led the design of reagroup.com, the parent company's corporate website.
- Collaborated with the brand and administration teams to create a home for REA Group's suite of 12 companies.
Senior Digital Designer
Emote Digital
- Developed concepts, wireframes, and designs for websites, mobile applications, emails, web banners, and more.
- Collaborated with web and mobile developers to deliver polished designs to a wide range of clients.
- Designed consumer-facing and B2B products for companies of different sizes—from small, family-run businesses to multinationals—across multiple industries.
Co-owner and Graphic Designer
Woof Creative
- Grew the company from the initial two employees to a staff of 12, focusing on everything design.
- Designed websites, print publications, and branding for clients, including Kookai, Smiggle, and Bolle.
- Focused on brand development, advertising, digital design, and publishing.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Communication Design
RMIT University - Melbourne, Australia
Certifications
Certificate IV in Design
Brighton Bay, Art Design & Photography
Skills
Tools
ProtoPie, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Principle, Zeplin, Jira, Apple Keynote, Sketch, InVision
Platforms
iOS, Android, Figma, Mobile, Web, Webflow, WordPress, Windows
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products, Real Estate, Professional Services, Education, Games, Banking & Finance
Languages
Blue, CSS
Other
UX Design, UI Design, Typography, Prototyping, Interaction Design (IxD), Product Design, Early-stage Startups, Design Systems, Web Applications, Material Design, Web Design, Responsive, Website Redesign, Meetups, User-generated Content (UGC), SaaS, SaaS Design, Wireframing, Mobile Design, Landing Page Design, Web UI, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Mockups, User Flows, Websites, App Design, Style Guides, Apps, Mobile First, Web App Design, Responsive Web Apps, Responsive Web Design (RWD), UI Prototyping, Mobile App Design, B2B, Art Direction, Branding, Writing & Editing, Icon Design, User Research, Dashboard Design, Feature Roadmaps, Feature Analysis, Social Networks, React, Fintech, UX Research, Startups, Seed Fundraising, Visual Design, Graphic Design, Journey Mapping, UX Audits, User Journeys, Brand Guidelines, Color Palettes, Marketing Design, User Personas, User Stories, Rapid Prototyping, Sitemaps, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Booking Systems, Wearables, Gaming, Videos, Cloud, Ratings, Form Design, Analytics, Video Streaming, Home, Personas, Australia, Enterprise SaaS, Rideshare Services, Scooters, Card Payments, Notion, Photography, Desktop App Design, Email Design, Responsive Design, Social Media, Data Visualization
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