About

tl;dr

  • I love creating things.
  • I work at the edge of my comfort zone.
  • I believe that systems > goals.
Shahed Syed, Product Designer

Me in 3 minutes

I have always been fascinated by the intersection of design and technology. My first taste of this was on my dad's Toshiba laptop with Windows 3.1, where I experimented with creating tiled wallpapers on 8x8 pixel grids. I spent my teenage years creating flash websites, video game mods and 3D graphics.

I graduated with a masters degree in Architecture + Civil Engineering. I managed public construction projects at my first job, while creating infographics, websites and comics as passion projects in my free time.

I was laid off in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, and my Inception infographic went viral shortly after. I decided to switch careers.

I got my foot in the door at Publicis.Sapient, where I worked initially as a visual designer creating data visualizations for the world's biggest financial companies. I upskilled into a UX designer, owning the full spectrum of the design process.

At E*TRADE, I continued to hone my hard skills: leading design on the Stock Plan platform until it got acquired by Morgan Stanley.

My growth continues at Focused Labs, where I've branched out into management, consulting, product thinking and design ops.

Aside from design, I enjoy playing board games and staying active: be it weightlifting, cycling, playing soccer or running obstacle courses.

See what I'm up to now.