About

I build the systems behind the screens.

I'm Ricky — a design systems leader in Chicago with 15+ years designing complex, data-heavy products across fintech, analytics, and healthcare education.

I've built systems from zero — Liquid at M1 Finance, BMW's first internal pattern library — governed them at scale, and connected design to engineering through tokens, Storybook, and Figma-to-code workflows.

Lately I've been integrating AI into design operations: using Claude and Figma's MCP to accelerate documentation, audit token architecture, and make design systems machine-readable as well as human-usable.

I still believe what got me into this: design changes outcomes — for the business, and for the person on the other side of the screen. Systems are just how you make that change stick.

How I work

Four steps, on repeat

step/01
Define

Understand why it matters before deciding what to build. What problem are we solving, and what does it unlock for the business?
step/02
Understand

The people using it — and the teams maintaining it. Both audiences shape what "good" means.
step/03
Design

Tangible solutions, shared early, refined in the open. The fastest way to improve design is to show it to others.
step/04
Validate

Test, measure adoption, evolve. A system is never done — it's living infrastructure.

Contact

Building a system? Let's talk.

I'm open to senior product design and design systems roles — in-house or remote. The fastest way to reach me is email.

I build the systems behind the screens.

Four steps, on repeat

Define

Understand

Design

Validate

Building a system? Let's talk.