James Madson · Product Designer · Seattle
Twenty years of doing both means I can take a brand sketch to a live prototype without handing it off, and I'm useful in the messy middle where product decisions actually get made. Lately that means AI tools at Pfizer, design-test automation at NatureQuant, and Canon, my gallery of design skills for AI agents.
A lot of different things.
If a thing isn't useful, nothing else about it matters much to me. Clear and built to last come right after.
Tools change every year and I try most of them. Deciding what's worth building doesn't change, and that's most of the job.
I'd rather make a rough working version than a polished static one. You find out what's true a lot faster when it runs.
When something isn't working I try to say so right away. It's cheaper than saying it in month three.
Product Design Engineer
Contributing to internal software that helps product teams design and build faster. I take the lead on prototyping and concepting new tools, working across templates, design systems, and production code, using Claude, Cursor, Figma, and VS Code alongside custom tooling I'm helping build in house.
Product Designer
I design and build internal AI tools at Pfizer, currently a digital health platform. I'm a builder first: prototyping in code, not static screens, shipping UI/UX, design systems, and the AI-driven workflows that make it genuinely useful.
Lead Product Designer
Led design across a full web platform redesign and multiple zero-to-one products, including genomics tools, clinical data portals, and internal dashboards. Ran critique and process for a small design team, mentoring junior designers.
Design Director
Led and executed design across product and brand for a nature-exposure health tech startup. Directed brand identity, built the design function from scratch, and shipped NatureDose and NatureScore consumer apps. Currently working on GIS mapping visualizations using Felt and ArcGIS.
Product Designer
Designed product experiences across a portfolio of consumer apps including Moodhacker, Jauntly, and CBT-based wellness programs. Led branding, UI, and UX, conducted user research, and wrote front-end code for UI.
Designer & Creative Director
Ongoing independent practice spanning product design, brand identity, data visualization, and front-end development for clients including Reuters, Stack Overflow, St. Jude, REI Cooperative Action Fund, and XPRIZE. Currently building Canon, a curated skills directory for designers.