Summary
01 · Verdict
Revised after desktop review. Four moments earn the visit — the hero
scatter, the Impact briefing card, the Double Diamond on About, and
Signal → Story. The structural problems are narrower than first read:
a theme break on the homepage, an isolated credential card, pattern
fatigue across four About sections, and case study depth. The
aerospace metaphor is less overreach than I thought — on the About
page, the Discover / Define / Develop / Deliver diamond is the best
IA on the site. Trust it.
Working
What earns the visit (revised)
Hero scatter — the teal particle bloom reads as signal/data, not
ornament. Carries the "system" thesis visually before a word of copy.
Impact briefing card — Operator / Role / Engagements / Scope /
Window as an identity block. The clearest positioning device on the
site. Double Diamond (About) — the Don't know→Could be / Do
know→Should be spread, with Discover/Define/Develop/Deliver nested
underneath, is genuinely distinctive IA. Signal → Story — the
film grid works; keeps the case for taste without arguing for it.
Reversal
What I called wrong the first time
I said kill the decorative wave — wrong. The desktop hero scatter is
the strongest first impression on the site. I said the aerospace
metaphor was overreach on About — partly wrong. The Double Diamond
application is the best structural moment in the portfolio. Those
stay. What actually needs work is elsewhere: the light-mode section
that breaks the system, the isolated credential card, and the four
visually-identical sections below the diamond.
Top 10 fixes, prioritized
02 · Backlog
Merges the QA report's prioritized list with my read. Critical = ship
before anything else; Major = before you send the link to anyone senior;
Minor = polish pass.
Critical · 01
Replace hero positioning tag with a role
"CX · Product · Service transformation" is a category, not a title. Recruiters need a seniority signal in the first 10 seconds.
FixReplace eyebrow tag with:
PRODUCT & SERVICE DESIGN LEADER — IC TO DIRECTOR SCOPE · ENTERPRISE TRANSFORMATION
Critical · 02
Give the $50M a denominator
Floating big number with no baseline. Credible-looking but dismissible. One sentence closes the gap.
Fix$50M+ incremental AOV · 12-mo post-launch window · prior-year AOV was flat
Design & strategy lead on the service model that drove it.
Critical · 03
Write the three case studies
The stubs are the biggest credibility gap on the site. The QA report is right: the ratio of presentation quality to case study depth is the actual AI tell. The markdown you sent is 90% there — ship it.
Fix600–900 words each · problem → constraint → pivot → outcome → one thing that didn't work. Template in the Case Study design I'm building alongside this doc.
Major · 04
Cut "15 services shipped"
Output metric sitting next to outcomes makes the outcomes look softer. Replace with behavior change.
FixBusiness plan renewal rate exceeded 75% goal in Q1 post-launch
Major · 05
Bridge the EY scale gap
4.57M vs 715 looks like a broken funnel until you add one line.
Fix4.57M engagements (awareness) · 715 vaccinations (activation)
Two stages, one program. The gap is the design, not a conversion failure.
Major · 06
Surface contact in the hero
Right now the only CTA is at the bottom of a long scroll. Put it where the recruiter is.
FixAvailable for senior design leadership · healthcare preferred
LinkedIn ↗ · Get in touch ↗
Major · 07
Frame Signal → Story
One line above the film grid answers "why is this in a design portfolio." Without it, it reads as a hobby section.
FixThe same skill that makes a good product & service design leader makes a good storyteller: you watch before you design. Signal → Story is that practice in its own form.
Major · 08
Add one pivot or failure per case study
The markdown already contains them — Autodesk's CSM-capacity over-design, Wipro's four-tier cut-to-three, EY's late pivot from mass channels. Don't bury them. These are the trust-builders.
Minor · 09
Rein in the aerospace metaphor on About
"Launch pad / mission profile / operator log" earns its place in the process section. It doesn't need to govern the career arc too. Drop the metaphor for the biographical content.
Critical · 10
Fix the theme break on Home
Between the hero (dark, teal particles) and the Design & Transformation
Impact block (dark), there's a three-screen light-mode section:
"Experience isn't one moment" + headshot + AI for Product Strategy credential.
It's visually shocking in a way nothing else on the site is, and
reads as a leftover from a different portfolio template. Either
convert that whole stretch to dark — matching the rest — or commit
to a two-theme site with a rationale (e.g. "story in light, work in
dark"). Right now it's neither.
Major · 11
The floating credential card
"AI for Product Strategy · View credential ↗" sits alone in a
full-width white card on the homepage. One credential by itself
reads defensive ("look, I have AI experience") rather than
substantive. Either gather 3–4 credentials into a single strip
(Northwestern Kellogg-style row), or fold it into the About page's
existing content. It doesn't earn a standalone viewport.
Major · 12
Break the card rhythm on About
Below the Double Diamond, four consecutive sections — How I choose,
What I do, What working together feels like, Career arc — all use
the same outlined-card template. The diamond spent visual budget on
a strong moment; then the page spends the rest of its scroll on
uniform boxes. Rescue the opening by giving only one of those
four sections the card treatment. The others become typographic
sections — headline, body, done.
Minor · 13
Tier chips on Impact read as filters
The Business tier expands to show "Strategic success planning",
"Executive business review", "Adoption roadmap" etc. as teal-outlined
pill chips. At a glance they look like interactive filter tags —
they're not. Switch to plain text with a separator dot, or a
single-line list. Preserve the tap affordance on the tier row itself;
kill the pill styling.
Mobile critique
03 · iPhone read
On mobile the site runs long. Every page is a single column of text
panels — 7 to 9 screens on About, 8 on Home. The aerospace metaphor,
which works beautifully as a diagram on desktop, fragments into
unrelated boxes when they're stacked. Below: what breaks, and where.
MobileCritical
Home hero wastes the first viewport
First screen on iPhone: tiny eyebrow tag, 2-line H1, 3-line subhead,
then ~40% empty dark panel and a decorative teal wave. The next scroll
lands on a logo strip. You've used your most valuable real estate on
atmosphere.
FixHero should end with the role line + inline LinkedIn/Contact.
Logos go directly under, no dead panel between.
MobileMajor
About is 8 screens, 2 metaphors, 1 person
T-90 / T-30 / T+10 / T+90 launch timeline → double-diamond mission →
L-0 through L-6 lander narrative → "even over" values → "what I do"
bays → "CH 01–04" telemetry → Operator Log (career arc). Each frame
is clever. Together they're a costume change every screen.
FixPick one spine. The mission/process metaphor is the strongest; let it own the methodology section and nothing else. "Even-over", "What I do", and career arc become plain typographic sections with a single shared rule: monospace eyebrow, sans headline, body. Half the screens. Double the clarity.
MobileMajor
Impact briefing card is too tall
The Operator/Role/Engagements/Scope/Window card on mobile reads as
five identical rows of text. It's the best kind of data on the site,
rendered at the lowest density.
FixCollapse to 2 lines on mobile: name + role on one row; engagements + window on the next. Scope moves into the body as a sentence.
MobileMajor
Home "How I choose" cards all look the same
Five "X even over Y" cards stacked identically. Teal label + grey
body × 5. The rhythm dies. This is a pacing problem, not a content
problem.
FixMake the first card (Clarity) the anchor — larger type, full-width. The other four shrink to tight two-per-row labels-only with a tap-to-expand, or inline one-liners separated by rules. Density, not uniformity.
MobileMinor
"CH 01 · LIVE" telemetry cards read as chat logs
"CH 01 · LIVE" visually imitates a messenger or live broadcast UI.
It's an unintentional tell. Drop the "LIVE" pill; the chapter number
is enough.
MobileMinor
Top nav truncates on 375px
Home · Impact · Signal → Story · Case Studies · About just fits. Any
smaller (iPhone SE) and it wraps. Consider shortening "Signal → Story"
to "Signal" on mobile breakpoints, or moving to a drawer.
Mobile heuristics Matt should enforce
- 44px minimum tap target on every card link and tab.
- Max 3 screens per page before a visible section break or jump link.
- No text smaller than 14px. Monospace labels can go 11px if uppercase + tracked.
- Every ornamental flourish (dashed lines, corner brackets, teal sparks) earns its place once per screen — not every block.
- No decorative imagery taller than 40% of viewport in any viewport < 768px.
Home — line by line
04 · /index
Revised after seeing desktop. The hero itself is strong — the teal
scatter carries real signal. The problems start at viewport two: the
theme shifts to light, a single credential card sits alone, and the
page introduces itself twice before saying anything specific.
Section Hero
Eyebrow tag
CX · PRODUCT · SERVICE TRANSFORMATION
PRODUCT & SERVICE DESIGN LEADER
H1
I lead CX, product, and service transformation.
I rebuild fragmented enterprise experience into one operating model that ships.
Subhead
For enterprises where experience has splintered across teams, channels, and systems. I rebuild it as one operating model that actually ships.
Autodesk, Wipro, EY. IC to director-level scope. Healthcare, enterprise, public sector.
Add below subhead
— nothing —
Available for senior design leadership roles — healthcare preferred.
LinkedIn ↗ · Get in touch ↗
Hero scatter
Teal particle bloom
Keep exactly. Reversal from v1 of this critique — the desktop rendering reads as signal/data visualization, not decoration. It's the strongest first impression on the site.
Section Light-mode mid-page block · THEME BREAK
Whole block
Light cream background · "Experience isn't one moment" + headshot + AI for Product Strategy credential
Convert to dark theme to match hero and Impact block. The theme switch is the single most jarring moment in the entire site. Three dark viewports sandwich one light stretch — it reads as a layout leftover.
Headshot placement
Full-card right-side headshot at viewport 2
Keep the photo. Move to About, or inline it much smaller next to the positioning statement. A portrait at this size pulls focus from the "system" story the site is making.
"AI for Product Strategy" credential
Standalone full-width card with View credential link
Either add 2–3 credentials and make it a strip, or cut. A single floating credential reads defensive; it's answering a question the rest of the site hasn't been asked.
Section Positioning statement
H2
Experience isn't one moment. It's the whole journey.
Most experience work fixes the wrong thing.
Body · line 1
Most organizations fix touchpoints in isolation, fragmented experiences, frustrated customers, wasted effort.
Organizations fix touchpoints in isolation. Customers experience the gaps between them.
Body · line 2
I work at the system level: mapping journeys, aligning teams, designing services that flow. Outcomes that compound.
I work at the system level — journeys, teams, and service models that compound into outcomes, not activity.
Section Signal → Story grid
Add above grid
— nothing —
The same skill that makes a good product & service design leader makes a good storyteller: you watch before you design. Signal → Story is that practice in its own form.
Section "Design & Transformation Impact" card
H2
Design and Transformation Impact
Three transformations. In numbers.
Sub
Journey-led operating models and service design.
Autodesk · Wipro · EY — what shipped, what moved.
Section Case study teaser cards
AI Workflow · sub
AI as a creative and system design partner for structure, iteration, and system refinement.
Six weeks, four tools, one portfolio. What AI did, what it got wrong, and the decisions that stayed mine.
Synthetic Users · sub
Stress-test journeys before live traffic with plausible scenarios and edge cases.
Nine synthetic reviewers stress-tested this portfolio before launch. Three findings self-review missed.
Autodesk · sub
Planning as a system: tools, teams, handoffs, and shared success definitions.
Built Autodesk's global Service Design practice from zero. $50M+ incremental AOV in 12 months.
About — line by line
06 · /about
Major revision from v1. The Double Diamond at the top of this page is
the best IA on the site — I undersold it in the first pass. What
actually needs work: the four identical card-based sections below the
diamond. Same shape, same tone, four viewports deep. Break the rhythm
and the page gets 40% shorter without losing content.
Working
The Double Diamond spread
DON'T KNOW / COULD BE → DO KNOW / SHOULD BE, with Discover / Define /
Develop / Deliver nested inside. The staged ignition + "Payload Lock"
delivery deploy language lands. This is genuinely distinctive IA.
Leave it alone.
Section Hero
H1
I build design systems for exit velocity.
I turn ambiguous briefs into systems that ship.
Sub
The beliefs, the method, and the mission architecture behind how I move ambiguous briefs into shipped systems without losing altitude between them.
What I believe, how I work, and what I've learned to cut.
Section Pre-flight beliefs
01
Design and business outcomes share one trajectory.
Keep.
02
Ambiguity gets structured into something teams can move on.
Keep.
03
Complexity is translated into systems people can actually use.
Complexity becomes systems people can actually use.
Section Flight plan (T-90/T-30/T+10/T+90)
Whole block
Strategy / Systems / Adoption / Growth with T-minus labels and aerospace iconography
Cut the T-minus timestamps. They're ornament. Keep four phases, strip the astronaut dressing: STRATEGY → SYSTEMS → ADOPTION → GROWTH. One line each. Done.
Section Double Diamond (confirmed working)
Verdict
DON'T KNOW / COULD BE + DO KNOW / SHOULD BE diamonds
Keep. This is the single strongest moment on About — and a serious IA reference a recruiter would screenshot. The constraint-to-delivery narrative (Rip the brief → Payload deploy) earns every pixel.
Section Pattern fatigue — four card sections in a row · STRUCTURAL
How I choose (5 cards)
Outlined card grid · "X even over Y" format
Convert to a typographic list. First statement (Clarity) full-width as anchor; other four as inline one-liners separated by rules. Keeps the content, kills the box repetition.
What I do (6 cards)
Identical card grid · service lines
This is where the card treatment earns its keep — six discrete offers, equal weight is right. Keep as cards, but shrink padding by ~30% and drop the "BAY 01 / 02..." labels. Let the service names do the work.
What working together feels like (4 cards)
Outlined card grid · "CH 01–04" telemetry styling
Kill the card treatment entirely. Two-column plain type with hairline rules between. The content is good; the format is identical to the section above it and the section below.
Cadence fix
Diamond (strong) → cards → cards → cards → prose (Career arc)
Diamond (strong) → typographic list → cards (one, earned) → typographic list → prose. Variety, not monotony.
Section Telemetry (CH 01–04)
Labels
CH 01 · LIVE · CH 02 · LIVE ...
Drop the LIVE pill. Too close to a broadcast chat UI. Chapter numbers are fine on their own.
Section Career arc ("Operator Log")
Label
OPERATOR · OPERATOR LOG
CAREER · CAREER ARC
Body
Matt's work spans creative storytelling, consulting, and enterprise transformation. He started in creative environments, developing a strong instinct for narrative, craft, and audience. That foundation evolved into work shaping service models...
I started in creative — narrative, craft, audience. That became service models, experience systems, and organizational alignment for enterprise clients. The through-line: translating strategy into systems teams actually run.
Voice
Third person ("Matt's work spans...")
Switch to first person. The rest of the site is "I" — this section jarring.
"Personal note · off-shift"
I care about building a life that's not just work. I write, stay close to people who matter, and try to keep perspective. The work matters to me, but it's not the only thing, that balance shows up in how I think, how I lead, and what I build.
Off the clock: I write, spend time with people who matter, and try to stay outside the work long enough to bring something back to it.
Cliché ledger
08 · Voice audit
Words and phrases currently on the site, and what to do with each. "Keep"
earns its place; "Trim" appears too often; "Cut" is a tell.
#
Phrase
Why it's on the list
Verdict
01
"Outcomes that compound"
Specific, owned, does real work.
Keep
02
"Human-centered methodologies and systems thinking"
You didn't write this anywhere — good. If it creeps back in, kill it on sight.
Cut on sight
03
"At the system level"
Overused in the industry. You can earn it once if the page actually shows the system. Currently you use it twice in the homepage subhead.
Trim to once
04
"Journey-led operating models"
Phrase of the year in 2019. Fine for one subhead, not three.
Trim to once
05
"Exit velocity"
Startup vernacular in a service design context. Reads as borrowed.
Cut
06
"Proof in flight"
The aerospace metaphor stretched past the process page.
Cut
07
"Measured at altitude"
Same.
Cut
08
"From zero"
"Built Autodesk's practice from zero" — this is the one you earned. Keep.
Keep
09
"Beauty that doesn't ship doesn't count"
Tight. True. Only aphorism on the site that reads like yours.
Keep
10
"Plausible scenarios and edge cases"
Lifted from AI marketing copy. Replace with the actual method.
Cut
11
"Live briefing" / "Impact console"
The one metaphor that's doing real structural work. Don't touch.
Keep
12
"Operator" (as a title frame)
Fine once in the identity card. Not a career arc label.
Trim to one use