Product Designer & Researcher, Creative Technologist
Elaine Matthias is a product designer and researcher with a design education grounded in art history and visual design. She turns complexity into intuitive digital experiences, using color, typography, layout, and data to make digital experiences that feel thoughtful and intuitive.
Her creative process runs from innovation research and strategy through product and design systems, sharpened by a critical eye for trends in e-commerce and fintech.
Comfortable with ambiguity, I draw on diverse inspiration sources, experiment with unusual configurations, and find creative solutions within technical constraints, without losing sight of pattern consistency, technical constraints and user expectations.
Using these skills, I build spaces where teams solve problems together, treating differing perspectives as the foundation for creating shared, meaningful experiences.
Education
B.A. Political Science
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
2001-2005
M.A. Connoisseurship, Art History and The Art Market
Christie’s Education, New York
2007-2009
Front-End Web Design Intensive
General Assembly, New York
2017
User Experience Design Intensive
General Assembly, New York
2016
Coursework toward A.A. in Graphic Design
Parsons, The New School of Design, New York
2016-2020
Employment
Principal Designer
Curiosity Projects
2019-Present
Co-Founder
Jobs to Be Done Toolkit
2020-Present
Senior Product Designer
Northwestern Mutual
2021-2024
Lead Interaction Designer
eCommerce by MRM/McCann (formerly Optaros)
2017-2019
Experience Designer
Rosenfeld Media
2013-2016
Designer/Developer-in-Residence
General Assembly
2011-2015
Junior Associate, Business Operations
GlideSlope
2011-2013
eCommerce Manager
Cynthia Rowley Design Studio
2010-2011
Download Resume
Volunteer Experience
Sailing Instructor
Sail Rockaway
2024
Conference Co-Chair, Interaction21
Interaction Design Association
2021
Run-of-Show Producer, Interaction19 & Interaction 20
Interaction Design Association
2019-2020
Chapter President
NYC User Experience Professionals Association
2015-2017
Professional Skills
Research & Problem-Framing
-Jobs to Be Done
-Design Thinking
-Workshop Facilitation
-Qualitative Interviewing
-Persona Creation
-User Journey Maps
-Service Blueprints
Solution & Feature Design
-Interaction Design
-Wireframes
-Visual Design
-Brand Identity
-Design Systems
-Prototyping
Technical Hand-off
-Agile/Scrum Workflows
-Jira Documentation
-Design QA
Comprehensive Asset Allocation is a B2B financial strategy enablement tool for that reframes insurance and annuities as fixed income within a client's investment portfolio, giving wealth managers a single, compliant view of a household's full asset allocation.
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Northwestern Mutual 02 Financial Planning Software
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Nam sed tincidunt neque. Nullam tellus urna, tempus et vestibulum eget, volutpat at erat. Vivamus non magna pharetra, aliquet nulla eget, blandit tortor. Maecenas egestas ut lorem venenatis lacinia. Curabitur a dictum massa. Sed et fermentum felis.
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Carson Group Digital Strategy Research
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Farther Finanice Platform Usability Testing
[WIP]
USPS Usability Testing
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Century 21 Stores E-commerce Website
Century 21 Department Stores replatformed their web store on Salesforce Commerce Cloud to address limitations in merchandising, promotions, and loyalty program messaging. The result was a shopping experience with advanced merchandising tools, an integrated private label credit card, and flexible content across mobile and desktop.
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YoCoat E-commerce Website
Automotive Arts launched YoCoat.com, a Magento web store, to sell their automotive paints directly to jobbers and body shops in the US market and bypass traditional industrial distribution channels. The store addressed industry resistance to online purchasing through B2B tools including wholesale pricing, lines of credit, purchase order fields, and order history for inventory planning.
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JTBD Toolkit Web & Brand Design
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Milwaukee Tool E-commerce Website
Milwaukee Tool doesn't sell tools on MilwaukeeTool.com, instead every purchase routes out to an authorized distributor like Home Depot, Ferguson, Ace/TruValue. With a storefront off the table, I worked with Milwaukee to help the site earn customer loyalty through brand positioning: as the place trade professionals trust to tell them which tool fits the job and which tool fits the material.
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