Core Capabilities

Balance technical, user and business needs.

Design & Research

  • Service, Product, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI)
  • Personas, journey maps, business blueprints
  • Storyboards, wireframes, flows
  • User research, interviews, analysis
  • Design system creation & documentation
  • Prototyping
  • Accessibility (508, WCAG, APCA)
  • Regulatory compliance (ISO, IEC, HE75)

Leadership & project management

  • Team building, mentoring
  • Strategic & critical thinking
  • Project planning, goal setting
  • Collaboration, diplomacy, consensus building

Soft-skills

  • Empathy
  • Communication, storytelling, presentation
  • Problem-solving, curiosity
  • Unflustered by ambiguity

Primary tools

  • Design: Figma, Sketch, Adobe Creative Suite, Audacity, Zeroheight
  • Research: Qualtrics, UserZoom/Usertesting.com, SurveyMonkey
  • Collaboration: Miro, Mural, Figjam
  • Development: HTML, CSS, Javascript, React
  • Project planning: Excel, Smartsheets
  • AI: ChatGPT, Grammarly

Education

  • Bachelor's of Fine Art, Design focus, Cum Laude, University of Massachusetts. 

Certifications

Nielsen Norman Group UXQB

Companies include

Logos of clients

Career Highlights

Principal Product Designer, Surgical Robotics

Medtronic, 2022-present

Championing usability for next-gen robotic surgery platform used in hospitals worldwide.

Accomplishments
  • Designed from low to high fidelity validating direction with interviews and intensive user testing.
  • Advocated for user needs and drove improvements to usability, safety and accessibility.
  • Partnered with researchers on protocols and moderator guides to ensure reliable, actionable user feedback.
  • Embraced risk mitigation, regulatory, legal, technical, and business requirements as vital design inputs.
  • Harmonized digital/physical interfaces and unified light, audio and haptics into design system.
  • Built solutions to better leverage system logs and analytics to proactively address use errors.
  • Practiced servant leadership through mentoring, teaching and inclusion.
"Jay offers a rare set of skills for structuring complex user-facing systems, and combines those skills with uncommon empathy and Human-Centered focus."
Jed Farlow, Director of UX/UI, Surgical Robotics, Medtronic

Principal Experience/Product Designer

Enterprise DB, 2021-2022

Led user-centered refresh to suite of open-source database software (SaaS).

Accomplishments
  • Created personas, wireframes, interactive prototypes and high-fidelity layouts.
  • Leveraged quantitative and qualitative research to assess user behaviors and validate solutions.
  • Developed front-end applications with HTML, CSS, React and Tailwind-CSS.
  • Founded multi-product design system.
"Jay's not only a collaborator, a communicator, and a practitioner, but also he goes after the truth and when he finds it, he attacks it with positive energy."
Brad Noble, CXO, Enterprise DB

Principal Experience/Service Designer

FM Global, 2019-2021

Designed suite of tools to streamline insurance underwriting and claims.

Accomplishments
  • Designed complex, high-traffic enterprise software products with client and backend features.
  • Created personas, business blueprints, journey maps, wireframes, high-fidelity layouts and interactive prototypes.
  • Collaborated on suite-wide, atomic design system.
  • Verified design direction with user research initiatives including surveys, workshops, and interviews.

"Jay solidly covers the entire breadth of customer-centric design. He's a tremendous active listener and he makes his clients and teammates feel embraced and valued."
Doug Roerden, Head of Customer Experience, FM Global

Lead Experience Designer/Owner

Pixel & Light, 1999-2019

Designed web, mobile and branding for clients including Google, Fidelity, Pixar, PBS, The Smithsonian, Viacom, Volkswagen, Warner Brothers, Boston University, Harvard University, MIT and Unilever.

Accomplishments
  • Built, led and managed multiple teams of designers and developers.
  • Designed user experiences for 120+ commercial websites and mobile apps.
  • Created 200+ technical/editorial illustrations, animations and videos.
"Jay was a big part of the success of the "Google Search Stories" campaign – the most successful user-generated content campaign in YouTube history."
Phil Tavares, Producer, Google

Senior Visual Designer/Creative Director

Silverplatter Physician Education, 1993-1999

Led designers and developers building educational software for primary care physicians and specialists.

Accomplishments
  • Created interfaces, illustrations, animations and videos for 40+ interactive, CME accredited products.
  • Partnered with authors and subject-matter experts to develop content.
  • Promoted to Creative Director to lead creative efforts and oversee software development.
"Jay has the perfect combination of creativity, eye for design and a deep understanding of human nature."
Tony Alves, SVP, SilverPlatter Physician Education
Download Resume (PDF)

Recommendations

From Leadership

Jay offers a rare set of skills for structuring complex user-facing systems, and combines those skills with uncommon empathy and Human-Centered focus."

Jed Farlow, UX/UI Director, Surgical Robotics, Medtronic

Jay takes a collaborative approach to design and seeks feedback early and often from users, teammates, and stakeholders. During his time at FM Global, he established himself as a leader."

Kate Jacquet, Experience Design Leader, FM Global

Jay has deep and broad set of UX/UI skills and able to tackle all aspects of end-to-end design. He's tirelessly energetic, passionate, and smart about user-centered design."

Maria E Ruiz, AVP, Product Owner, FM Global

Delivery, in every sense of the word, reliability, and his ability to articulate and provide a vision for complex systems reinforces the importance of having Jay on every project."

Mary Amoruso, AVP and Product Owner, FM Global

Jay's a tremendous active listener, puts in the effort to truly understand what's going on and where people stand, and he makes his clients and teammates feel embraced and valued."

Doug Roerden, Head of Customer Experience, FM Global

Jay is one of the most creative, intelligent and passionate designers I have ever met. I have learned a great deal working with him."

Colette ’t Hart, Creative Director, EventZero

Jay's work has intelligence and impact, and he's got the technical chops to assure everything will work. He always comes through."

Michael Solow, Creative Director, Braun

Jay is able to rapidly grasp the commercial, content and technical implications of a project, and can be relied on to deliver on time."

Richard Wynne, CEO, SilverPlatter Physician Education

Jay has keen instincts for creating clean user experiences that go to the heart of what the client needs.”

Phil Tavares, Producer, Facebook

Jay understands the nuances of user needs, and creates compelling designs. I’ve found Jay's SEO and marketing skillset to be essential to multiple projects."

Tim Dailey, UX Manager, Enterprise DB

From Peers

Jay has gained the utmost respect of his peers, management and executives and is a valued reliable resource. He works thoroughly to research an issue and provides valuable insight into resolutions and options."

Robin Parillo, Principal Analyst, FM Global

Jay's incredibly talented in front-end design, research and design thinking; a real powerhouse for value delivery. He also demonstrates a natural ability in servant leadership."

Dave Stewart, Transformation Leader

Not only was he able to provide critically needed focus to our new and rapidly growing agile development team, but his designs always improved the product being developed."

Eric Maloney, Axis Group

Jay's biggest strength is his ability to collaborate across teams with various skill sets. He brings a fun and positive energy to keep team morale in high spirits."

Jenna Quartarone, Senior UX Researcher, FM Global

Jay brings a calm to the storm, keeping with requirements and expert design."

Tom DiConstanzo, Principal Developer, FM Global

I can attest to the fact that his designs deploy well, translating from design to deployed code with ease."

Michael Grover, Oracle

Jay is my favorite designer because he understands messaging, usability and how to write clean code."

Jonathan Hochman, Hochman Consultants

Having Jay on your team is a risk-reducing and design elevating measure."

Anushka Bhide, Senior Human Factors Engineer, Medtronic

The best thing about working with Jay is his ability to take your idea, no matter how vague, and turn it into an amazing design."

Gina Cary, womenworking.com

Jay shared with me his knowledge and his experience, which helped me develop skills to become a better professional."

Maria Rangel Leon, Senior Associate, Dentsu

Jay and his kid

Beyond Work...

I'm a avid reader and lifelong learner with a particular focus on sociology, psychology and deep history.

In my spare time, I continue finishing work on the craftsman-style bungalow my wife Kim and I designed and built in a small central Connecticut town.

Other interests include painting, sculpture and watching our daughter grow into a talented young adult with excellent taste in musicals. I've recently written and published a 250-page history on our family's genealogy.

Want to talk sci-fi or Mad Men? Let's go!