Michael Ernst

Michael Ernst

Product + Brand Design in Pasadena, he/him

Hi, I'm Michael. I have over 20 years of experience leading design at early-stage startups with a focus on user experience, brand identity, and art direction.

Work Experience

2024 — Now
Remote

Leading designs for MVP of Accelerator Console, Participant Experience to internally track forestry projects in existing Terraware software.

Spearheading improvements to overall UX of Terraware, including UI, visual design, and user research.

2023 — 2023

Design at Microsoft for Startups, Founders Hub

Designed core user experience for Founders Hub, developed new information architecture, built out design system, and UI + visual design

Led visionary designs for launch of Copilot AI within Founders Hub, integration with Azure OpenAI and Microsoft 365.

2022 — 2022
San Francisco

Designed UX/UI of key features and onboarding for Payroll, Driver Portal, Tags, Filters & Statements

Collaborated on developing AtoB’s design system

Set brand guidelines, designed ad & digital design templates for marketing, was design lead with agency for AtoB’s marketing site

2021 — 2022
Remote

Led design on wireframes, UI/UX, and visual design for iOS app & web

2021 — 2021
Los Angeles, CA

Led design on wireframes, UI/UX and visual design for iOS and Android mobile apps (Client & Provider), and web

Developed IA for the web, low & high fidelity designs, developed prototypes, conducted usability tests

Managed Junior Designer

2014 — 2015
San Francisco, CA

Led design on wireframes, UI/UX and visual design for iOS mobile app and web (SEO), marketing content, and promotional items

Collaborated with the CEO on end-to-end product management

2012 — 2013
San Francisco, CA

Visual & UX/UI design for mobile and web on the Consumer Product Team

2011 — 2012
San Francisco, CA

Led design on wireframes, UI/UX and visual components of the website and mobile web, marketing materials, and promotional items

2004 — 2009
San Francisco, CA

Set the brand identity and overall look and feel of Yelp; scaled the product to 20M page views and 6M reviews in three years

Lead UX Designer for the Yelp website, spearheaded the design of all communication materials including marketing, PR, local and brand sales, and promotional items for the Yelp community

Cross-functional design manager for Product (Consumer & Business), Marketing, National, and Local Sales

Writing

2023

This is a story about my journey into design and user experience. It’s a story about finding clarity, stumbling along the way, and ultimately realizing my own potential.

2015

The 7 Things We Learned in the Early Days of Yelp

Education

2017 — 2019
Watts Atelier of the Arts
Encinitas, CA
1998 — 2001
Bachelor of Science in Art at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI

Contact

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