Experience designer
& systems thinker.

About Me

I'm Karina Garo, a New York-based experience design lead with 8+ years working across financial services, healthcare, and telecom. I bring together product design, design systems, and accessibility to create experiences that are intuitive, scalable, and built to last.

I've led cross-disciplinary teams, shaped design direction for $100B+ clients, and designed AI interactions before there was a playbook for any of it. As a certified accessibility professional (CPACC), I treat accessibility as a core part of good design, not an afterthought. Being bilingual has also sharpened how I think about language, context, and the way people make sense of an experience.

Outside of work: my dog, the gym, and places I've never been.

Approach

My approach to design is grounded in systems thinking — understanding how each decision ripples through the whole. I push the boundaries of traditional UX by building reusable patterns, interaction models, and frameworks that teams can rely on. Each project begins with deep research into user needs and ends with solutions that are both beautiful and structurally sound.

Discovery

Great design starts before a single pixel is placed. I invest in understanding business goals, stakeholder priorities, and the humans at the center of every product — mapping mental models, identifying friction points, and uncovering the systems that shape behavior. I partner across organizational levels to align on vision early, so the work that follows has a clear and defensible foundation.

Design & Systems

I think in systems. Across Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Verizon, and TCW, I've led design system overhauls that produced 500+ Figma components — reducing handoff errors by 25% and cutting delivery timelines by up to 30%. I build modular, token-based systems that scale across platforms and evolve with products, giving teams a shared language that holds up at enterprise scale.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a core competency, not a checklist. I'm CPACC certified by the IAAP and design to WCAG standards by default — building inclusive interaction patterns, auditing for barriers, and embedding accessible thinking into design systems from the ground up. I believe the best experiences work for everyone, and I advocate for that standard at every stage of a project.

Visual Craft

Systems thinking and strong craft are not in tension — they reinforce each other. I bring a sharp eye for typography, hierarchy, motion, and detail to every project. Whether designing a consumer-facing homepage or a complex financial dashboard, I hold a high bar for visual quality because the way something looks shapes how much people trust it.

Leadership

As an Experience Lead, I set design direction for complex enterprise products, partner with senior stakeholders to shape product vision, and mentor designers to grow their craft and confidence. I've guided cross-functional teams across research, design, and delivery — creating the conditions for great work by building clarity, trust, and a shared sense of quality.

Execution

Execution is where strategy becomes real. I translate complex requirements into polished, production-ready work — from high-fidelity prototypes showcased at client conferences to shipped products that improved task completion by 20% and engagement by 15%. I collaborate closely with engineers and product managers to deliver with precision, and I never lose sight of the user while doing it.

Experience designer& systems thinker.