Joel Califa
🙂

Joel Califa

VP Design at Heap in Brooklyn, NY, he/him

Growing the team at Heap with UX Researchers and Product Designers. We're building amazing, never-done-before things—if you like that kind of stuff, hit me up!

3 years ago

Contact

Twitter
LinkedIn

Projects

Ongoing
Friendship

do you want to join my web ring

Side Projects

2020

Find colors based on any keyword.

2020

Snap photos with any phone and send them directly to Figma.

2019

I probably should have finished making it, but hey at least I get to play it.

Speaking

2018
San Francisco, CA

A framework and lessons learned on how to structure design teams that meet business and organizational needs, how to determine who to hire, and how to set those hires up for success.

2018
Remote

This talk focuses on practical tips for effective lean research methods anyone can do, even with no prior experience or special tools. It also discusses my design process for GitHub's Suggested Changes feature.

It covers:

  • How to build a research plan, interview script, and prototype.
  • How to find and schedule real users to talk to.
  • How to moderate user interviews and usability tests.
2016
Perth, Australia

Overthinking a fragmented dating format.

2016
Perth, Australia

This talk explores how overwhelming it is to decide in which direction to grow and where to invest your energy in an industry that is changing rapidly and constantly, and sets up an actionable framework for people who want to get their foot in the door.

Writing

2018

The big benefits of little changes. My surprisingly influential post about leveraging small fixes to build customer love.

2018

Making sense of Designers' shifting priorities in the tech industry.

2018

How the distinct ache of lost work is part of a larger story

2016

Overthinking and redesigning a fragmented date format.

2015

Oops we ruined links ¯_(ツ)_/¯

2015

How to build a happy, self-driven product design team

2015

Passwords suck. Let’s make them better.

Features

2018

Invented a meeting once and people wrote about it.

Work Experience

2021 — Now
2017 — 2021
Remote

Leading design on Pull Requests

2014 — 2017
2012 — 2014
Product Designer at Amicus
New York
2010 — 2010
Visual Designer at Netcraft

Education

BFA Design & Technology at Parsons School of Design
New York