Hello! I’m Felipe Villarreal, a product design leader with 20+ years of experience turning complex platforms into intuitive, high-performing user experiences. I’ve built and led design teams across startups, SaaS, enterprise tools, and consumer platforms, with roots in the New York agency and consulting world. I thrive on turning ambiguity into clarity and delivering measurable product impact by aligning stakeholders, shaping scalable design systems, and elevating everyday user experiences. I’m passionate about mentorship, collaboration, and building design ecosystems that scale. Whether partnering with product, engineering, or executives, I aim to create clear strategies, foster creative problem solving, and ship thoughtful, user-centered solutions that drive business success.…

Felipe Villarreal

Hello! I’m Felipe Villarreal, a product design leader with 20+ years of experience turning complex platforms into intuitive, high-performing user experiences. I’ve built and led design teams across startups, SaaS, enterprise tools, and consumer platforms, with roots in the New York agency and consulting world. I thrive on turning ambiguity into clarity and delivering measurable product impact by aligning stakeholders, shaping scalable design systems, and elevating everyday user experiences. I’m passionate about mentorship, collaboration, and building design ecosystems that scale. Whether partnering with product, engineering, or executives, I aim to create clear strategies, foster creative problem solving, and ship thoughtful, user-centered solutions that drive business success.…

Available to hire

Hello! I’m Felipe Villarreal, a product design leader with 20+ years of experience turning complex platforms into intuitive, high-performing user experiences. I’ve built and led design teams across startups, SaaS, enterprise tools, and consumer platforms, with roots in the New York agency and consulting world. I thrive on turning ambiguity into clarity and delivering measurable product impact by aligning stakeholders, shaping scalable design systems, and elevating everyday user experiences.

I’m passionate about mentorship, collaboration, and building design ecosystems that scale. Whether partnering with product, engineering, or executives, I aim to create clear strategies, foster creative problem solving, and ship thoughtful, user-centered solutions that drive business success.

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Language

English
Fluent
Spanish; Castilian
Fluent
Portuguese
Advanced

Work Experience

Design Director / Co-Founder at Magnifico Creative
July 1, 2023 - Present
Defined UX strategy and product direction for SaaS and enterprise platforms, aligning stakeholders and reducing product ambiguity. Designed an oil & gas executive dashboard to improve real-time monitoring and reduce reporting/response time by ~25%. Redesigned telecom internal tools, streamlining outage workflows and reducing task time for engineers by ~30%. Established scalable design patterns and information architecture to support future product expansion.
Design Director/Co-Founder at Magnifico Creative LLC
July 1, 2023 - Present
Leading design practice focused on transforming complex platforms into intuitive, productive experiences through UX/UI, user research, and product strategy. Highlights include an Oil & Gas Executive Dashboard that enabled real-time monitoring and proactive operations, and a redesigned Consolidated Communications PEGA-based system improving outage management, usability, and engineer productivity.
Creative Design Consultant at Independent
July 1, 2019 - Present
Partnered with JPMorgan Chase to evolve and maintain their design system across Figma and Zero-height, improving consistency and scalability across products. Designed an Advisor Fund Recommendation tool, including an investment heat map analysis feature that enabled advisors to interpret large datasets and identify higher-performing JPM products more efficiently. Contributed to Verizon’s conversational design system, enabling scalable AI-driven experiences. Contributed to Harley-Davidson e-commerce redesign, elevating UX/UI, establishing a scalable design system, and expanding customer engagement.
Creative Design Consultant at Self Employed (NYC+)
July 1, 2019 - Present
Provided lead design services for startups, established brands, and agencies, specializing in UX/UI, product design, branding, and service design. Facilitated client workshops to define priorities and align business goals with user needs; contributed to Verizon Conversational Design System at Publicis Sapient and supported Harley-Davidson e-commerce redesign at Droga5.
Design Lead at Idean (Capgemini)
June 1, 2018 - June 1, 2019
Directed end-to-end product design across digital services, from discovery through delivery. Built design system for an insurance platform, improving cross-team efficiency and reducing design/dev inconsistencies by ~20%. Facilitated design sprints and stakeholder workshops, accelerating alignment and product direction.
Design Lead at Idean, NYC
June 1, 2018 - June 1, 2019
Led end-to-end design projects from scoping and client workshops to delivery of digital products, service design blueprints, and visual systems. Built a design system for a major malpractice insurer to boost employee efficiency and improve cross-team collaboration; directed a speculative design sprint for a tobacco company that secured executive buy-in.
Visual Design Lead at Fjord (Accenture)
November 1, 2014 - June 1, 2018
Delivered UX/UI design for enterprise digital transformation initiatives across multiple industries. Mentored designers and elevated team output quality and consistency. Supported high-value engagements that led to retained and expanded client partnerships.
Visual Design Lead at Fjord (Accenture), NYC
November 1, 2014 - June 1, 2015
Co-led visual design craft for the NYC studio, delivering UX/UI design, strategy, and client presentations across digital transformation programs. Mentored four designers, driving career growth and team capability. Co-led a high-profile insurance engagement that secured a renewed, profitable client partnership.
Senior Art Director at Acquity Group
June 1, 2012 - November 1, 2014
Directed UX/UI design for large-scale e-commerce platforms. Redesigned Payless.com, improving usability and modernizing the customer experience.
Sr. Art Director at Acquity Group, NYC
June 1, 2012 - November 1, 2012
Directed visual design for large-scale e-commerce and digital initiatives in agile and waterfall environments. Successfully redesigned Payless.com, improving UX and customer appeal while meeting budget and platform constraints.
Senior Art Director at The Vidal Partnership
June 1, 2006 - June 1, 2012
Led integrated digital campaigns for multicultural audiences.

Education

BFA at Rutgers University - Mason Gross School Of The Arts
January 11, 2030 - May 1, 2005

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.

Industry Experience

Energy & Utilities, Software & Internet, Media & Entertainment, Professional Services, Education, Retail, Telecommunications
    College Aid Pro
    Challenge College Aid Pro’s mission is focused on ending the student debt crisis. Most prominently known for providing software that helps financial advisors deliver college planning strategies to their clients, CAP envisioned a direct to customer platform. As a result, the ask focused on reimagining the existing B2B tool in order to directly empower students to plan, compare and access a college education without debt. Solution The MyCap tool helps student’s pay less for college by providing them with a plan as well as a robust set of tools that maximize the amount of money available for their education. Key Features Optimized Onboarding Flow An Optimized Onboarding Flow that helps families get a realistic picture of their current college finances. Advanced Search An Advanced Search feature that compares US colleges based on which offer the most financial aid and scholarships. Create Your Own List The ability to Create Your Own List of preferred schools, track their deadlines, admission requirements, application status, and more. Impact 26K Average Aid Found 73% Faster School Matching 89% Advisor Satisfaction 3.2x More Colleges Compared webdesigner designer branding…
    Consolidated Communications
    Challenge Consolidated Communications relied on fragmented systems for case management, call routing, and outage tracking, limiting visibility and slowing decision-making. Agents lacked a unified view of customer history, outage impact, and case activity. Inefficient call routing often resulted in poor customer-agent matches and slower resolutions. The challenge was to unify these workflows into a single platform that could provide real-time insights and improve operational efficiency. Solution We designed a unified platform that consolidated case management, call routing, and outage tracking into a single experience. Real-time insights, intelligent routing, and integrated customer sentiment data enabled faster decisions and more efficient issue resolution. Enhanced outage mapping and customizable dashboards gave agents immediate access to critical information. The result was improved operational efficiency and a better customer experience. Impact 35% Faster Case Resolution 30% Reduction in Call Transfers 25% Increase in First-Call Resolution 20% Increase in Customer Satisfaction designer webdesigner…
    Oil & Gas Operations Center
    Challenge The goal of this project was to discover, visualize, and engineer a new Interactive Real Time Operations Center for a leading oil & gas company — a next-generation digital data visualization center and resource to be located at their operations headquarters. Solution The enhanced dashboard and surveillance tools shifted operations from reactive to proactive, enabling early issue resolution and streamlined communication. Real-time monitoring, improved reporting, and proactive asset management boosted efficiency and security. Impact 27% Faster Incident Resolution 15% Reduction in Unplanned Downtime 11% Reduction in Safety Incidents 4hrs Reduction in Mean Time to Detect designer webdesigner…
    The Virtual CommonWealth
    The Challenge Virtual CommonWealth set out to solve a core problem in climate action: the disconnect between everyday spending and meaningful impact. Existing solutions are fragmented—tracking, offsets, and investing live in separate systems—making it hard for users to take consistent, informed action. Most approaches also lack a sense of ownership, leaving users as passive contributors rather than active participants. On top of that, the platform introduced a new model—self-taxing unsustainable purchases and reinvesting that money into sustainable companies. The challenge was making this complex, unfamiliar system feel simple, intuitive, and trustworthy. The Solution I designed a unified mobile platform that connects tracking, accountability, and investment into a single experience. Users track purchases, understand their impact through sustainability ratings, and apply a self-imposed “climate tax” to unsustainable behavior. Those contributions are then reinvested into sustainable companies through equity crowdfunding—turning offsets into ownership. The experience was built around a clear loop: track → reflect → offset → invest. A purpose-driven brand, scalable design system, and simplified UX flows ensured clarity, trust, and long-term usability. From concept to MVP, we delivered end-to-end UX/UI, experience mapping, a high-fidelity prototype, and dev-ready handoff. Impact The platform turns climate action into a clear, repeatable behavior, connecting daily decisions to real-world outcomes. Users gain visibility, accountability, and a sense of ownership in the change they create. At the business level, the project transformed a bold idea into a buildable, scalable product, supporting early traction and a successful initial crowdfunding raise. Ultimately, Virtual CommonWealth reframes sustainability from passive contribution to active participation—where users don’t just support the future, they invest in it. webdesigner designer branding…