About
I contain multitudes. (And too many puns.)
I'm a generalist product designer who picks up whatever a project needs: engineering, business strategy, information architecture, nothing gets stuck waiting on someone else's calendar. Design, code, and stakeholder wrangling all live in the same person, which turns out to be useful more often than you'd think.
Full About
I'm a generalist. I move across research, design, front-end code, and business strategy without needing a handoff meeting first. I'm just as useful holding a whiteboard marker as I am opening a pull request.
I've got experience. I've spent 8+ years in B2B product design, working on everything from construction equipment telemetrics to tax auditing software.
I become part of the team. I've loved mentoring junior designers on large design teams, moving quickly in small design teams, and wearing 12 different hats as the solo UX person.
I code. Fullstack, not just "I can talk to developers about code". With my M.S. in Management Information Systems, I design with an eye on what the systems underneath can actually support, not just what the screen shows.
I can talk business strategy. Good UX strategy is deeply tied into the business strategy, and I learned so many business words when I was getting my MBA. I can sit in a pricing or roadmap meeting and advocate for design, not just nod along until my part comes up.
I love design systems. Unreasonably. Give me a messy product with inconsistent components and no documentation and I will not rest until it's tokenized, documented, and holding up in code.
Forward-thinking (but practical). I've brought AI tools into my process, for brainstorming, prototyping, and testing ideas faster. I'm genuinely excited about it, but I use it carefully. It's a tool that rewards people who already know what they're doing, and it can also help you run, not walk, straight into a wall.
How I Work
- Generalist by design: research, design, front-end code, and business strategy, not siloed into one lane
- Comfortable in ambiguous, constraint-heavy B2B environments, legacy systems and all
- Equally at home as the only UX person on a project or embedded on a larger team
- Easy to work with, and constructive when I disagree with you
- Run my own research: interviews, competitive analysis, sync and async studies
- Build design systems that go beyond components: patterns, documentation, and usage guidance
- Comfortable in stakeholder and business conversations, not just design reviews
- Use AI tools deliberately, with testing and judgment, not as a shortcut around either
FAQs
What type of roles or teams are you looking for?
Senior product design roles, especially at startups that need one person who can cover design, front-end code, and business thinking at once. Also open to embedded roles on larger teams, I like both.
Are you looking for full-time, contract, or freelance work?
Open to full-time senior roles and select freelance or contract UX/dev work.
Where are you located, and what's your remote availability?
Based in Naperville, Illinois (Chicago area), primarily remote, open to hybrid in the Chicago area.
What's your sweet spot between design and development?
Bridging UX strategy and production-ready code. I design complex, data-dense interfaces and can step into front-end (and some back-end) implementation myself, so design systems actually survive contact with engineering.
How do you approach complex or data-heavy applications?
I simplify intricate workflows into structured interfaces without flattening the functionality. Strong design systems, clear information hierarchy, and real user testing do most of the work.
How do you collaborate with engineering and product?
I speak developer fluently, since I write code myself. I document components thoroughly, flag edge cases early, and partner with engineers instead of throwing a file over a wall.
How soon can you start?
Depends on the engagement, reach out and let's talk timing.
Best way to get in touch?
rachelearon@gmail.com or LinkedIn, for a full portfolio review or an intro call.