Rachael Posnak
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Chicago, IL, United States
Toptal member since June 8, 2016
Rachael is a design director and a full-stack product designer with over 10 years of experience. She specializes in user-centric design that makes products feel alive and personable. Rachael's skills cover areas from wireframes and prototypes to pixel-perfect visual designs. Rachael also has experience in marketing design and copywriting. Her client list includes Fracture, Mint.com, Survey Monkey, Paysa, AFAR Media, Francis Coppola Winery, Hallmark Cards, Google, and Glassbreakers.
Experience
- Visual Design - 14 years
- User Experience (UX) - 12 years
- Copywriting - 10 years
- Marketing Design - 10 years
- UI Design - 8 years
- App Design - 8 years
- Branding - 8 years
- System Design - 5 years
Portfolio
Survey Monkey Collection Redesign
Wildkard Sports Management iOS App
Work Experience
Design Manager
CVS Health
- Led end-to-end product design for internal feature flagging and Kafka automation tools, significantly improving developer workflow efficiency and system clarity.
- Introduced scalable notification architecture, including user-follow controls, digest emails, and event-specific alerts—helping engineers and product teams stay aligned across dozens of services.
- Created and led workshops on AI design principles, helping internal teams design responsible AI-powered tools with emphasis on explainability, ethics, and data transparency.
- Conducted heuristic evaluations and user feedback sessions for internal self-assessment tools, providing actionable redesign recommendations based on actual designer workflows and cognitive load.
Director of Design and Creative
Fracture
- Led the UX design, research, and UI design for the company's product customizer.
- Built a comprehensive design system in Figma with guidelines for color, type, spacing, grids, atomic design items, etc.
- Led and mentored the design/creative team of product designers, marketing designers, producers, writers, and photographers.
- Oversaw the company's tone in design and content across all media.
- Managed production of photography and video for marketing and web.
UX Consultant
Rachael Posnak Design
- Designed a web app that enables users to upload their photos, create collages or photo wall arrangements, edit their photos, and print them on glass.
- Created brand identities from the ground up. Built design systems from concept to completion.
- Conducted user research across industries for various product design projects.
- Took complex systems and designed them in simple, easy-to-understand ways.
Director of Digital Design
AFAR Media
- Designed two versions of the mobile app from concept to completion.
- Designed an editorial platform for long-form magazine articles.
- Art directed and managed designers creating ads for social and paid media.
- Collaborated closely with developers to build the website.
Senior Designer
Mint
- Designed the saving goal feature for the mobile and web app.
- Collaborated with other designers to develop the visual language of the app.
- Designed the mortgage finding feature in the mobile and web app.
Education
Master of Fine Arts Degree in Design
California College of the Arts - San Francisco, CA
Professional Training in Graphic Design
Portfolio Center - Atlanta, GA
B.A. Degree in Creative Writing
Macalester College - St. Paul, MN
Skills
Tools
InVision, Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft PowerPoint, Miro
Industry Expertise
Travel & Leisure, Media, Luxury Goods, Entertainment & Leisure
Platforms
Mobile, Figma, iOS, Web, Shopify
Other
Rich User Interfaces, Landing Pages, Home Pages, Enterprise, Talent Management, Recruiting, UI Design, UX Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Marketing Design, Package Design, Print Design, Apps, UI Style Guides, Style Guides, Color Schemes, Typography, System Design, Dashboard Design, Messaging, Wireframing, Mobile Design, User Interface (UI), Mobile App Design, User Experience (UX), Visual Design, Responsive, App Design, Web Design, Web UI Design, Branding, Writing & Editing, Graphic Design, Art Direction, Logo Design, Web UI, Team Management, Sports Project Management, iOS App Design, UX Wireframes, App UI, Landing Page Design, Survey Design, User Research, User Flows, Prototyping, Responsive Design, Annotated Wireframes, Information Architecture (IA), Web UX Design, User Testing, Lateral Thinking, Enterprise Design, Responsive Web Apps, Web App UX, Product Design, User Journeys, UX Audits, Creative Direction, Art, Journey Mapping, Mockups, B2B, B2C, eCommerce, Market Research, Design Systems, Data Visualization, Conversion, Websites, Drupal Themes, Brand Guidelines, Presentation Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Component Libraries, Color Theory, Corporate Branding, Iconography, eCommerce Design, Shopify Design, 3D Visualization, eCommerce UI, Web UX, Web Design Strategy, Design Leadership, Design Revamps, Detail-oriented, Design Reviews, High-fidelity Prototypes, Discovery, Project Estimation, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Rapid Prototyping, Stakeholder Engagement, UX Research, User Journey Maps, User Personas, User Stories, User-centered Design (UCD), Web App Design, Web Applications, Web Application Design, Label Design, Packaging, Design, Email Marketing, UX Flows, eCommerce UX, Email Design, SaaS, Blog Design, Illustration, Fintech, Environment, Pitch Decks, Copywriting, Content Writing, Naming, Advertising Technology (Adtech), LinkedIn Ads, Social Media, Magazines, Cursor AI, ChatGPT, Healthcare IT
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