Ryan Higgins2008 – 11
Entered the Industry
- 3rd Row Interactive — intern
- WilmU Admissions — part-time
- Graduated with a B.S. in Interaction Design
- Lead Web Designer, Wilmington University
About
Designing for high-stakes clarity.
I'm a Principal Product Designer who works at the intersection of complex systems, data, and decision-making.
For the past 15+ years, I've designed products in enterprise and FinTech environments where the stakes are real. Portfolio dashboards that guide capital allocation. Debt management tools that influence millions in exposure. Workflows that must be accurate, compliant, and trusted.
I'm most energized when the problem is messy.
Ambiguous requirements. Fragmented data. Multiple user roles. Organizational tension. That's where I do my best work — aligning research, product strategy, engineering constraints, and business outcomes into something clear and usable.
How I Think
I don't design screens.
I design systems.
My background in frontend development helps me design with technical feasibility in mind. My years teaching interaction design keep me disciplined about fundamentals. And my experience leading cross-functional initiatives has shaped how I influence at the executive level.
I care deeply about:
Reducing cognitive load in data-heavy environments
Making risk and uncertainty visible, not hidden
Designing workflows that protect data integrity
Progressive disclosure that respects executive time
Turning complexity into clarity without oversimplifying reality
AI-Native Product Development
The way I build has changed dramatically.
I adopt new AI tools constantly — not as novelties, but as force multipliers. I use custom GPTs and structured prompts to collaborate with product managers, engineers, and researchers in real time. Together, we iterate on requirements, pressure-test assumptions, and sharpen problem framing before a single line of UI is finalized.
Research synthesis that once took weeks now takes hours.
What used to result in flat Figma prototypes now results in native experiences with real or simulated data — raising the bar for learning from users significantly.
Instead of debating wireframes, we test working systems.
Journey maps, PRDs, information architecture, personas, and service blueprints are no longer static artifacts. They become structured context that feeds directly into AI-assisted prototyping and engineering scaffolds.
Accessibility & Perspective
Accessibility isn't a feature.
It's foundational.
I became visually impaired at a young age due to Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. That experience fundamentally shaped how I think about clarity, hierarchy, and usability.
Designing interfaces I can confidently navigate — and that others can trust — has made me more rigorous about structure, feedback, and system transparency.
Inflection Point
Wisdom
Milestone
2010 – 11Inflection
The Web Started Moving
- Responsive web became a practice, not a theory
- Flash began its decline
Bet on principles, not tools. Tools get deprecated.
2013 – 14
WilmU’s First Responsive Site
- Led WilmU’s first fully responsive website
- Presented the project directly to the university president
2014Inflection
Started Teaching
- Started teaching Interaction Design at WilmU
- Refused to include Flash in the curriculum
Getting stakeholder trust is its own design problem.
Teaching forces you to know why, not just how.
2016 – 17
Digital Design & Development Manager
Promoted from individual contributor to manager. Went from designing systems to building the team that designs them.
2017Inflection
Built the First Design System
- Built a shared component library and visual language from scratch
The best managers design conditions for people to do their best work.
A design system is a living agreement, not a deliverable.
2019 – 21
Senior Product Designer, Chatham Financial
Left higher ed for FinTech. Design decisions now influenced billions in hedging exposure. The stakes and the rigor required both went up.
2020Inflection
The Pandemic
- Remote work was forced overnight
- Async-first collaboration replaced in-person process
High-stakes environments clarify what design actually needs to do.
Clarity in process becomes survival when you lose the hallway.
2021 – 22
The Platform That Didn’t Ship
A greenfield platform shelved after significant investment. The most important lesson in organizational dynamics over design quality.
The work isn’t wasted. The learning lives in the next problem.
2022 – 25
Staff Product Designer
- Portfolio Dashboard — capital allocation tool for complex portfolios
- Staff promotion
- AI shift — integrated AI into the design and research workflow
- Intern program — took over and led the design intern program
2025Inflection
AI Changes the Work
- New greenfield platform
- AI-assisted dev replaced wireframe debates
- SonarUI — an accessibility-first design system
The job title changes. The need to stay curious doesn’t.
The tools changed again. This time, I wasn’t surprised.
Right Now
What I'm Focused On
I'm drawn to environments where design helps shape strategy — not just interface.
AI-Enabled Product Workflows
Agentic Systems That Augment Decision-Making
Executive Dashboards That Reduce Noise
Design Leadership at the Executive Level
Pragmatic, High-Leverage Teams
Organizations That Value Thoughtful Scaling