Product design partner, from 0→1 to scale.
I partner with founders and product leaders to bring ideas to life, improve complex product experiences, and create design language systems that make products feel distinct and coherent.
About me
Product experience leader, systems thinker, and design partner
Product experience leader, systems thinker, and design partner
Product experience leader, systems thinker, and design partner
I’m an independent product designer who partners with founders and product teams across company stages and product complexity—from shaping new ideas to improving mature products and the systems behind them.
Since going independent, I’ve worked across payroll and HR, small-business financial software, customer data and marketing technology, and AI products, helping teams make complex experiences clearer, more coherent, and more distinctive.
Previously, I spent a over a decade leading product and design systems work at Shopify and Vox Media, including leading Polaris, Shopify’s design system and platform experience. I’m also the author of Expressive Design Systems.
Work with me
Strategic design leadership, hands-on execution
I work closely with founders and product teams on high-leverage product challenges, whether you’re shaping something new, improving an existing experience, or creating the foundations for the product to scale.
0→1 product design
Have a strong product idea but need help giving it shape? I partner with founders and product leaders to turn ambiguous concepts into tangible experiences—from defining workflows and product structure to prototyping and refining the details that make the idea feel real.
Product experience design
I help teams improve products that already exist: simplifying complicated workflows, rethinking information and interaction patterns, resolving UX problems, and raising the overall quality of the experience. I can work across a focused product area or help bring greater coherence to the product as a whole.
Design language & systems
When a product is growing, I help teams establish the shared language that allows it to scale without becoming generic. That can include defining a distinct visual and interaction language, creating foundational patterns and components, and building the system teams need to create new experiences with confidence.
Work with me
Strategic design leadership, hands-on execution
I work closely with founders and product teams on high-leverage product challenges, whether you’re shaping something new, improving an existing experience, or creating the foundations for the product to scale.
0→1 product design
Have a strong product idea but need help giving it shape? I partner with founders and product leaders to turn ambiguous concepts into tangible experiences—from defining workflows and product structure to prototyping and refining the details that make the idea feel real.
Product experience design
I help teams improve products that already exist: simplifying complicated workflows, rethinking information and interaction patterns, resolving UX problems, and raising the overall quality of the experience. I can work across a focused product area or help bring greater coherence to the product as a whole.
Design language & systems
When a product is growing, I help teams establish the shared language that allows it to scale without becoming generic. That can include defining a distinct visual and interaction language, creating foundational patterns and components, and building the system teams need to create new experiences with confidence.
Work with me
Strategic design leadership, hands-on execution
I work closely with founders and product teams on high-leverage product challenges, whether you’re shaping something new, improving an existing experience, or creating the foundations for the product to scale.
0→1 product design
Have a strong product idea but need help giving it shape? I partner with founders and product leaders to turn ambiguous concepts into tangible experiences—from defining workflows and product structure to prototyping and refining the details that make the idea feel real.
Product experience design
I help teams improve products that already exist: simplifying complicated workflows, rethinking information and interaction patterns, resolving UX problems, and raising the overall quality of the experience. I can work across a focused product area or help bring greater coherence to the product as a whole.
Design language & systems
When a product is growing, I help teams establish the shared language that allows it to scale without becoming generic. That can include defining a distinct visual and interaction language, creating foundational patterns and components, and building the system teams need to create new experiences with confidence.
Experience
Scaling product quality across complex organizations
Shopify Polaris Design System
I led Shopify's Polaris Design System for 5 years, growing adoption to 89%, orchestrating two major design language transformations and enabling design excellence at scale.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2019-2024
Shopify Polaris Design System
I led Shopify's Polaris Design System for 5 years, growing adoption to 89%, orchestrating two major design language transformations and enabling design excellence at scale.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2019-2024
Shopify Polaris Design System
I led Shopify's Polaris Design System for 5 years, growing adoption to 89%, orchestrating two major design language transformations and enabling design excellence at scale.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2019-2024
Vox Media
At Vox Media, I led design for the Unison Project—a multi-year initiative to unify eight editorial brands under one shared design system and codebase while preserving each brand’s distinct identity.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2015-2019
Vox Media
At Vox Media, I led design for the Unison Project—a multi-year initiative to unify eight editorial brands under one shared design system and codebase while preserving each brand’s distinct identity.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2015-2019
Vox Media
At Vox Media, I led design for the Unison Project—a multi-year initiative to unify eight editorial brands under one shared design system and codebase while preserving each brand’s distinct identity.
Role
Design Director
Dates
2015-2019
Testimonials
"Yesenia is a proven leader building, refactoring and evolving massive industry leading design systems. Working with Yesenia for over five years her leadership and design system expertise have been invaluable. She is focused on critical details always levelling up the design at scale. She does this thoughtfully working collaboratively with leaders, engineers, product and marketing to bring together complex design visions."
Alex Page
Engineering Lead for Shopify Polaris
"Yesenia is a proven leader building, refactoring and evolving massive industry leading design systems. Working with Yesenia for over five years her leadership and design system expertise have been invaluable. She is focused on critical details always levelling up the design at scale. She does this thoughtfully working collaboratively with leaders, engineers, product and marketing to bring together complex design visions."
Alex Page
Engineering Lead for Shopify Polaris
"Working with Yesenia fundamentally changed how I think about design systems. She shifted us from shipping faster to shipping with quality at speed and scale. If you're looking to build design systems that scale institutional capacity and deliver products your users will rave about, Yesenia is truly exceptional."
Hayley Hughes
Design Director at HubSpot
"Working with Yesenia fundamentally changed how I think about design systems. She shifted us from shipping faster to shipping with quality at speed and scale. If you're looking to build design systems that scale institutional capacity and deliver products your users will rave about, Yesenia is truly exceptional."
Hayley Hughes
Design Director at HubSpot
"I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to work at several companies where Yesenia led the design systems efforts. Her expertise in building purpose-driven systems that solved unique company problems—whether that was multi brand, multi channel, or multi system—scaled creativity for those design teams and delivered enormous customer impact."
Katie Kovalcin
Principal Designer at Gusto
"I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to work at several companies where Yesenia led the design systems efforts. Her expertise in building purpose-driven systems that solved unique company problems—whether that was multi brand, multi channel, or multi system—scaled creativity for those design teams and delivered enormous customer impact."
Katie Kovalcin
Principal Designer at Gusto
"Yesenia is a proven leader building, refactoring and evolving massive industry leading design systems. Working with Yesenia for over five years her leadership and design system expertise have been invaluable. She is focused on critical details always levelling up the design at scale. She does this thoughtfully working collaboratively with leaders, engineers, product and marketing to bring together complex design visions."
Alex Page
Engineering Lead for Shopify Polaris
"Working with Yesenia fundamentally changed how I think about design systems. She shifted us from shipping faster to shipping with quality at speed and scale. If you're looking to build design systems that scale institutional capacity and deliver products your users will rave about, Yesenia is truly exceptional."
Hayley Hughes
Design Director at HubSpot
"I’m grateful I’ve had the chance to work at several companies where Yesenia led the design systems efforts. Her expertise in building purpose-driven systems that solved unique company problems—whether that was multi brand, multi channel, or multi system—scaled creativity for those design teams and delivered enormous customer impact."
Katie Kovalcin
Principal Designer at Gusto
Writing
Beyond Consistency: Essays on Differentiation
Beyond Consistency