Experience
Experience Lead

New York, NY

  • Lead cross-disciplinary teams to define design direction for complex products serving financial services clients, balancing customer needs, accessibility, and business goals.
  • Partner with senior stakeholders to shape product vision and influence decisions across complex initiatives.
  • Mentor designers and guide cross-functional teams in user-centered design, elevating design quality, collaboration, and delivery.
  • Drive accessible, scalable experiences for enterprise financial products through reusable design system patterns across web and mobile.
Senior Experience Designer

New York, NY

  • Led 3 large-scale design system overhauls for Goldman Sachs PWM, BNY Mellon Wove, and TCW, delivering 500+ accessible Figma components that improved consistency and reduced handoff errors by 25%.
  • Conducted 15+ research and usability sessions to improve financial workflows, increasing task efficiency by 25% for advisors and clients.
  • Redesigned the Goldman Sachs PWM homepage through iterative prototyping, increasing engagement by 15% and reducing friction in key workflows.
  • Created a conversational design system for Verizon's virtual assistant, improving task completion by 20% while defining reusable UX guidance and mentoring junior designers.
  • Led the creation of an accessibility-first design system for TCW, reducing delivery timelines by 30% and establishing a scalable foundation across digital platforms.
Product Designer

New York, NY

  • Delivered 20+ user-centered solutions grounded in research, accessibility, and iterative design, increasing team productivity by 32%.
  • Developed and documented 11+ design and workflow processes, improving cross-functional collaboration and reducing handoff errors by 15%.
  • Presented data-informed design insights across organizational levels, influencing product decisions and cross-functional alignment.
UX/UI Designer — Contract

New York, NY

  • Designed and delivered a scalable design system for a leading roofing company's e-commerce site, establishing a unified visual and interaction language across all pages and components.
  • Led information architecture definition alongside a UX/UI team of 4, producing wireframes and site maps that structured the full end-to-end user journey.
  • Partnered with an international development team to hand off production-ready design files, maintaining design fidelity across implementation and resolving cross-time-zone design and technical conflicts.
Design Intern

New York, NY

  • Designed digital marketing materials and campaigns for major clients, balancing brand standards with measurable campaign objectives across multiple channels.
  • Developed client presentations and new business pitch materials in collaboration with 8+ cross-functional teams, contributing to account growth and client engagement.
  • Contributed to 2 high-profile UX/UI projects alongside designers across the US, delivering polished work aligned to tight campaign timelines.
Design Intern

New York, NY

  • Designed campaigns, digital materials, and web experiences across ITHAKA's portfolio — including JSTOR and Artstor — maintaining brand coherence across 4 distinct services and channels.
  • Collaborated with the UX/UI team to evaluate and improve user experiences across multiple web properties, translating complex academic content into accessible, intuitive interfaces.
  • Delivered design solutions for JSTOR and Artstor that addressed usability challenges and improved content discoverability for a global academic user base.
Education
BFA — Advertising and Digital Design

Dean's List

Certifications
CPACC — Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies

International Association of Accessibility Professionals

Skills
Core Strengths
Experience Strategy
UX / UI Design
Design Systems
User Research
Information Architecture
Prototyping
Cross-Functional Leadership
Stakeholder Management
Design Mentorship
Accessibility
WCAG
Accessible Design Systems
Accessible Interaction Patterns
Inclusive Design
Accessibility Audits
Tools
Figma
Principle
Jira
Confluence
Miro
Mural
Asana
Languages
English — Fluent
Spanish — Fluent
© 2026 Karina Garo — All rights reserved