Ali Rushdan Tariq — Product Designer and UX Strategist

Astrus is an AI-powered, canvas-based product that aims to empower Circuit Designers to create the world's most advanced microchips.

As the Founding Product Designer, I owned all end-to-end design activities, from concept brainstorming to delivery and branding, eventually giving shape to Astrus' first working versions.

My time there culminated in helping raise a seed round of $8M and launching the company's first public-facing website.

Detailed case study available on request.

As the first Product Designer on the Product team, I collaborated with UX engineers, sales, marketing, and customer experience teams to help redesign an 8 year old frontline training SaaS platform, leading to a 16 month UX roadmap, 30% increase in training sessions completed, and an energized team.

My responsibilities included running stakeholder workshops, setting UX strategy, user research, wireframing, usability testing, rapid prototyping, and final delivery of high-fi comps. I also helped build the team up from myself to four designers.

Detailed case studies available on request.

I was brought on for a 2-week project to rapidly produce a high-fidelity concept prototype that demonstrated how indie artists could manage their brand footprint across social media.

The prototype was demoed in India and was enough to sign on AR Rahman, one of the world's megastar producers.

I've spent much of my career solving problems in the world of money with cross-functional teams at companies like Morgan Stanley, Manulife-John Hancock, Greenshield, and Fairstone Financial.

Projects included automating intervention suggestions for disability case workers, gamifying better banking habits, building an accessible multi-brand design system, creating ATM-finding solutions for wearables, and service blueprinting a self-care platform connecting patients with care coordinators and clinicians, and more.

I consider myself a strong generalist and am always looking for ways to challenge myself and level up my craft and product sense. I'm either working on personal projects, Figma exercises, or full landing page builds in Webflow or Framer. It brings me great joy to see how design can help others and maybe even elicit an emotional response.

Ultimately, I love the process of creative intent and expression that is enabled by modern design tools and processes.