Naz Hamid

Naz Hamid

Creative Director in San Francisco

About

I’m a Malaysian-American creative director and product designer who works with VC firms and start-ups. I'm also a cyclist, a rock climber, a photographer, and a traveler.

Work Experience

2020 — Now

Advisor for Series, an iOS layout tool for media.

2018 — Now

Currently, I help startups and companies of various sizes and stages build their first product, develop prototypes for product-market fit, design new initiatives entirely, help them with design to get acquired, and serve as advisor, design director and/or creative director.

True Ventures (ongoing)
I currently serve as a creative director working on software and product design, developing and extending the brand, and oversee creative projects both internally and externally.

Honeycomb Labs
Currently in limited beta/stealth, I did all things design, notably designing the mobile app for this co-parenting startup.

Abstract Notebooks (acquired by Adobe)
I collaborated with the product design team to design and develop Abstract Notebooks, a modern way to collaborate across an organization and track design decisions. Abstract Notebooks has been acquired by Adobe.

about.me (acquired by Broadly)
I returned to about.me as a consulting Product Design Director after redesigning and relaunching the product in 2016 to help them with new efforts and prepare them for acquisition. Broadly acquired about.me in 2019.

2016 — 2018
Oakland, California, USA

I joined VSCO to help build their product design team, redesign the app, launch VSCO Membership, build VSCO Connect (a new product at the company), and interviewed and mentored the growing product design team.

Discovery Projects and Product Design
Worked on research and discovery of what the future of VSCO looks like with the product design team; on evolving and pushing an internal tool; and mentoring, guiding, and helping with creative direction to our other product designers.

VSCO Connect — Principal Designer
A platform for companies, marketers and agencies to commission authentic and original content from VSCO's creators. I worked on our team to create product vision, design product direction and foster collaboration and process, and pitch in with engineering efforts.
Press:
digiday.com/marketing/powe…
adweek.com/digital/visual…

Discover section in app — initial designer and prototyper
Designed and developed the initial proof-of-concept and live experiment for VSCO’s Discover section, a way to explore and browse the wealth of fantastic content and creators.

VSCO Membership Launch — Winter 2016/2017
Designed and launched the initial version of VSCO Membership, VSCO's subscription product. It reached 1MM+ members in its first year, one of the fastest growing subscription products second to Apple Music at the time.

VSCO App Redesign and Relaunch — Fall/Winter 2016
Redesigned and relaunched the app to address UI/UX concerns, user sentiment and to push new product efforts like VSCO X, our subscription product. The redesigned app was a success.

2000 — 2016

I founded the acclaimed design studio Weightshift in 2000, and for over 16 years serviced clients such as Abstract, About.me, Adobe, Change.org, Dropbox, Google Ventures, Honeycomb Labs, Intercom, Lookout, Mozilla, One Medical Group, Rdio, The Yes, Twitter, True Ventures, VSCO, and many more.

Speaking

2017
2014
2013
The Space Between the Notes at Designer Fund: Bridge
San Francisco, California, USA
2012
Skeuomorphism vs. Simplicity: A Town Hall at Asana & Designer Fund
San Francisco, California, USA
2011
Built: Online Communities, Offline Relationships at SXSW
Austin, Texas, USA
2008
Design is in the Details at SXSW
Austin, Texas, USA
2008
Tools of the Trade: Creative Content for the Web at AIGA Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA
2006
Emerging Online News Outlets at Making Media Connections
Chicago, Illinois, USA
2004
SeriouSeries 3 at UnderConsideration's Speak Up

Features

2013
How They Got There on Khoi Vinh

Interviews with digital designers about their careers

2008
Naz Hamid vs. Chris Glass on Layer Tennis

Education

1998 — 2001
Bachelor of Science, Information Technology at DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois, USA