UX / PRODUCT DESIGN
Research. Strategy. Systems Design. AI.
An innovator who adapts & delivers. I design products that help people understand and trust systems they can't fully see — from machine vision overlays to GPS-connected hardware. That's been my work for over two decades. AI just made it more interesting. (See my AI design process.)
Machine Vision
Wearable
AI • AGEnts
22
YEARS EXPERIENCE
3
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
Multiple
PATENTS FILED/GRANTED
01
Selected Work
Case Studies
Global Trend Engine
Designer & Builder
•
Self-Initiated
•
1 week
→
An agentic AI dashboard where eight named agents scan the web for frontier signals and synthesize a predictive convergence insight — designed, built, and deployed with Claude.
Lytx Video Overlay
Senior UX Designer
•
Lytx
•
4 months
→
A dynamic video overlay that simplifies customer coaching conversations, improving user trust, and reducing contention rate to near zero.
Lytx Driver ID
Senior UX Designer
•
Lytx
•
3 months
→
A systematic user flow for assignment, distribution, and usage of QR codes to assign drivers to vehicles.
Timex Ironman ONE GPS+
UX Design Lead
•
Qualcomm / Timex
•
3 years
→
A full 0-to-1 product experience for athletes who wanted to track workouts, stay connected, and leave their phones behind.
Tagg the Pet Tracker
UX Design & Product Management
•
Qualcomm
•
1.5 years
→
Redesign of a pet activity monitoring and management of iOS/Android app development as both UX lead and product manager.
FLO TV Personal Television
UX Design Lead
•
Qualcomm / FLO TV
•
1 year
→
Designing a new product category from the ground up: live mobile television.
02
Expertise
Skills
User Research
Interviews, usability tests, ethnographic study, and contextual inquiry
Journey Mapping
End-to-end experience mapping across touchpoints
Interaction Design
Flows, wireframes, use cases, and high-fidelity mockups
Storytelling
Communicating design decisions to executives and cross-functional teams
Systems Thinking
Mapping connected flows and designing for scalability across surfaces
Prototyping
From low-fi click-throughs to high-fidelity AI coding
AI Fluency
Designing AI-powered experiences and using AI tools in the design process
Stakeholder Management
Cross-functional collaboration and design advocacy
Tools
Claude (Design/Code)
Research synthesis, design, prototyping, and documentation
Figma
Components, variants, auto-layout, and prototyping
Sketch
Vector UI design for components and high-fidelity screens
Axure RP
High-fidelity prototyping with conditional logic
Pendo
In-app guidance, feature tracking, and user surveys
Amplitude
Funnels, retention, and feature-adoption analysis
Dovetail
Centralized research insights and customer intelligence
Atlassian (Confluence/Jira)
Confluence for design documentation; Jira for planning and cross-functional tracking
03
Background
Experience & Education
2019 - Present
Senior Product Designer
Lytx • San Diego, CA
Research and design of user experience for video-safety and AI products, and development of an AI-native design process for the Product/UX team.
2007 - 2018
Sr. Staff UX Designer & Sr. Product Manager
Qualcomm • San Diego, CA
Led 0-to-1 UX and product development for large-scale product start-ups while managing 3rd-party design teams.
2003 - 2007
UI Designer
Nokia • San Diego, CA
Designed new phone features while serving as the only North American member of Nokia's global design-management team.
1998 - 2002
B.S. Symbolic Systems
Stanford University • Stanford, CA
Interdisciplinary study of computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology with a concentration in human-computer interaction.
My Résumé
Name
Daniel Rivas
current role
Senior Product Designer
Location
San Diego, CA
Availability
Daily Futurology Report
July 17, 2026 at 7:10:00 AM
Model:
Opus 4.8
Forecast:
2026–2028
Criticality is the new currency: as reactors go critical and straits are enforced by fee and by force, control of the physical chokepoint — not the model — decides who scales
Within 12–24 months, the decisive frontier advantage will belong not to whoever builds the best model but to whoever can enforce control over the physical chokepoints — reactor criticality, energy corridors and grid capacity — that gate the ability to scale intelligence at all.
The evidence is converging fast. Models keep commoditizing as the July 9 cluster becomes a cost war and DeepSeek V4 undercuts the frontier. Meanwhile control of the physical is asserted by force: three reactors hit criticality on a federal deadline, hyperscalers commit 9.8 GW of nuclear, Iran tries to tax the Strait of Hormuz while US strikes keep 8 million barrels moving under escort, and a second heat wave breaks all-time records as the ocean stays at record heat.
The likeliest inflection is that 'firm, enforceable power' — reactors that actually reach criticality, straits that stay open under military guard, grids that hold through record heat — becomes the true moat, and the gap between committed gigawatts and delivered electrons (SMRs not arriving in earnest until the 2030s) becomes the frontier's central bottleneck. Compute's appetite collides with a hot planet and a fracturing geopolitics of energy.
Pulling the other way, the machine's own success is minting its opposite: as synthetic content nears 90% of the feed, 'proof of human' becomes the premium signal, and medicine keeps advancing on a clock the macro can't touch — edited CAR-T putting lupus into drug-free remission while regulators clear bespoke, one-patient therapies.
Cross-Domain Synthesis
Yesterday's scan read the binding constraint as sliding from institutions to physics — intelligence abundant, the physical substrate scarce. Today the seam sharpens again: the contested layer is no longer just the substrate but the act of enforcing control over it. Criticality, chokepoints and cooling are now governed by fee and by force.
At the machine layer, commoditization deepens. The July 9 three-lab cluster has hardened into a cost war — DeepSeek V4's million-token agents undercut the frontier, 'best fit wins' is the market's verdict, and agents have crossed from chat into production. Cognition is cheap and getting cheaper.
At the physical layer, control is asserted rather than assumed. Three advanced reactors reached criticality under the DOE's July 4 pilot as hyperscalers lock down 9.8 GW of nuclear; Iran demands a northern route and transit fees while US strikes enforce the southern lane and 8 million barrels move under military escort; and a second July heat wave sets an all-time 109°F in Salt Lake City as the ocean holds record heat. The grid cooks even as it is built.
Even orbit is gated by hardware, with Starship V3 prepping a docking test for Artemis III's 2027 demonstration and two private landers racing toward the Moon.
Against all of this run two independent clocks. Culture prices 'proof of human' as synthetic media nears 90% of content, making authenticity the scarce premium; and medicine advances on its own timeline, with edited CAR-T driving drug-free lupus remission and the FDA clearing one-patient platform therapies.
05
Horizon: Predictive convergence
Futurology Report — Daily
July 17, 2026 at 7:10:00 AM
AI Model:
Opus 4.8
Forecast:
2026–2028
Criticality is the new currency: as reactors go critical and straits are enforced by fee and by force, control of the physical chokepoint — not the model — decides who scales
Within 12–24 months, the decisive frontier advantage will belong not to whoever builds the best model but to whoever can enforce control over the physical chokepoints — reactor criticality, energy corridors and grid capacity — that gate the ability to scale intelligence at all.
The evidence is converging fast. Models keep commoditizing as the July 9 cluster becomes a cost war and DeepSeek V4 undercuts the frontier. Meanwhile control of the physical is asserted by force: three reactors hit criticality on a federal deadline, hyperscalers commit 9.8 GW of nuclear, Iran tries to tax the Strait of Hormuz while US strikes keep 8 million barrels moving under escort, and a second heat wave breaks all-time records as the ocean stays at record heat.
The likeliest inflection is that 'firm, enforceable power' — reactors that actually reach criticality, straits that stay open under military guard, grids that hold through record heat — becomes the true moat, and the gap between committed gigawatts and delivered electrons (SMRs not arriving in earnest until the 2030s) becomes the frontier's central bottleneck. Compute's appetite collides with a hot planet and a fracturing geopolitics of energy.
Pulling the other way, the machine's own success is minting its opposite: as synthetic content nears 90% of the feed, 'proof of human' becomes the premium signal, and medicine keeps advancing on a clock the macro can't touch — edited CAR-T putting lupus into drug-free remission while regulators clear bespoke, one-patient therapies.
Signal Intensity
A domain-level score (0-100) representing the volume and momentum of frontier activity detected across the signals in that domain.
AI
90
%
Climate
87
%
BIOTECH
60
%
GEOPOLITICS
91
%
ENERGY
94
%
SOCIETY
63
%
SPACE
66
%
Cross-Domain Synthesis
Yesterday's scan read the binding constraint as sliding from institutions to physics — intelligence abundant, the physical substrate scarce. Today the seam sharpens again: the contested layer is no longer just the substrate but the act of enforcing control over it. Criticality, chokepoints and cooling are now governed by fee and by force.
At the machine layer, commoditization deepens. The July 9 three-lab cluster has hardened into a cost war — DeepSeek V4's million-token agents undercut the frontier, 'best fit wins' is the market's verdict, and agents have crossed from chat into production. Cognition is cheap and getting cheaper.
At the physical layer, control is asserted rather than assumed. Three advanced reactors reached criticality under the DOE's July 4 pilot as hyperscalers lock down 9.8 GW of nuclear; Iran demands a northern route and transit fees while US strikes enforce the southern lane and 8 million barrels move under military escort; and a second July heat wave sets an all-time 109°F in Salt Lake City as the ocean holds record heat. The grid cooks even as it is built.
Even orbit is gated by hardware, with Starship V3 prepping a docking test for Artemis III's 2027 demonstration and two private landers racing toward the Moon.
Against all of this run two independent clocks. Culture prices 'proof of human' as synthetic media nears 90% of content, making authenticity the scarce premium; and medicine advances on its own timeline, with edited CAR-T driving drug-free lupus remission and the FDA clearing one-patient platform therapies.
ABOUT ME
Design Philosophy
I bring order to complexity; I've spent over two decades building the tools to do it well.
My path started at Stanford, where a degree in Symbolic Systems gave me something most designers don't have: a foundation that spans both sides of the human-computer divide. From the technical rigor of computer science and formal logic, to the human depth of cognitive psychology and knowledge representation, I learned to hold both perspectives at once and to design from the intersection.
That training became practice at Nokia, Qualcomm, and now Lytx, companies where the problems are large, the systems are complex, and the stakes are real. I've learned that the most important design decisions rarely live on a single screen. They live in the architecture, the mental models, the moments where a user either trusts the product or doesn't.
What drives me today is the challenge of making emerging technology feel human and trustworthy. AI systems can process the world faster than any person, but they still need to communicate their reasoning, surface the right information at the right moment, and earn the confidence of the people who depend on them. That translation problem, from machine intelligence to human understanding, is exactly the kind of complexity I've been working on.
Systems before screens
Every interface is a surface on top of a system. Understanding the system (the data flows, the user mental models, the organizational constraints) is what separates design that scales from design that just looks good in a mockup.
Strategy and execution, not one or the other
I connect design decisions to business outcomes. That means being in the room when strategy is set, not just when wireframes need approval. It means being able to move between the 30,000-foot view and the pixel-level detail without losing either.
Trustworthy by design
The best technology earns trust before it demands it. Whether I'm designing a safety-critical AI product or the home screen on a fitness watch, I start with the question: what does this person need to feel confident taking action?
EDUCATION
B.S. Symbolic Systems
Stanford University
Concentration in HCI
BASED IN
San Diego, CA
CURRENTLY
Senior Product Designer
Lytx
OPEN TO OPPORTUNITIES
Principal/Senior-Level Product Design Roles
In San Diego or Remote
SELECTED WORK
Case Studies
EXPERTISE
Skills
User Research
Interviews, usability tests, ethnographic study, and contextual inquiry
Journey Mapping
End-to-end experience mapping across touchpoints
Interaction Design
Flows, wireframes, use cases, and high-fidelity mockups
Storytelling
Communicating design decisions to executives, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams
Systems Thinking
Mapping connected flows and designing for scalability across product surfaces
Prototyping
Interactive prototypes from low-fi click-throughs to high-fidelity AI coding
AI Fluency
Designing AI-powered experiences and leveraging AI tools in the design process
Stakeholder Management
Cross-functional collaboration and design advocacy
Tools
Pendo
In-app guidance, feature tracking, and user surveys to inform design decisions
Dovetail
Centralized research insights, tagged findings, and shared customer intelligence repository
Figma
Components, variants, auto-layout, and prototyping
Claude (Design & Code)
AI-assisted research synthesis, design critique, content generation, and prototyping
Amplitude
Product funnels, retention curves, and feature adoption to identify usage and priorities
Gong
Customer interview repository for surfacing pain points, testing designs, and grounding decisions
Sketch
Vector-based UI design for components, wireframes, and high-fidelity screens
Axure RP
High-fidelity interactive prototyping with conditional logic and complex flows
Cursor
AI-assisted coding for rapid prototyping and exploring technical feasibility
BACKGROUND
Experience & Education
Senior Product Designer
Lytx · San Diego, CA
Researched and designed user experience for video safety and AI products, and developed an AI-native design process for the UX team.
tagsContainer
2019 - Present
Sr. Staff UX Designer & Sr. Product Manager
Qualcomm · San Diego, CA
Led 0-to-1 UX and product development for large-scale product start-ups while managing 3rd-party design teams.
tagsContainer
2007 - 2018
UI Designer
Nokia · San Diego, CA
Designed new phone features while serving as the only North American member of Nokia's global design management team.
tagsContainer
2003 - 2007
B.S. Symbolic Systems
Completed interdisciplinary study of computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology with a concentration in human-computer interaction.
tagsContainer
1998 - 2002
My Résumé
A full overview of my experience, skills, and education — ready to share.
NAME
Daniel Rivas
CURRENT ROLE
Senior Product Designer
LOCATION
San Diego, CA
EXPERIENCE
22 years
AVAILABILITY
✦ Human · Machine · Intelligence ✦ Systems before screens ✦ Strategy & execution ✦ Trustworthy by design ✦
Design Philosophy
06
ABOUT ME
I bring order to complexity; I've spent over two decades building the tools to do it well.
My path started at Stanford, where a degree in Symbolic Systems gave me something most designers don't have: a foundation that spans both sides of the human-computer divide. From the technical rigor of computer science and formal logic, to the human depth of cognitive psychology and knowledge representation, I learned to hold both perspectives at once and to design from the intersection.
That training became practice at Nokia, Qualcomm, and now Lytx, companies where the problems are large, the systems are complex, and the stakes are real. I've learned that the most important design decisions rarely live on a single screen. They live in the architecture, the mental models, the moments where a user either trusts the product or doesn't.
What drives me today is the challenge of making emerging technology feel human and trustworthy. AI systems can process the world faster than any person, but they still need to communicate their reasoning, surface the right information at the right moment, and earn the confidence of the people who depend on them. That translation problem, from machine intelligence to human understanding, is exactly the kind of complexity I've been working on.
The surface
The Model
Every interface is a surface on top of a system.
The screen is the visible tip. The decisions that make a product trustworthy live underneath it — in the flows, the mental models, the constraints. That's where I start.
Screen / Interface
What the user sees
User mental models & needs
01
Interaction & info architecture
02
Data flows & system states
03
Organizational constraints
04
↓ Where the design decisions live
A
Systems before screens
Every interface is a surface on top of a system. Understanding the data flows, mental models, and organizational constraints is what separates design that scales from design that just looks good in a mockup.
B
Strategy and execution
I connect design decisions to business outcomes — being in the room when strategy is set, moving between the 30,000-foot view and the pixel-level detail without losing either.
C
Trustworthy by design
The best technology earns trust before it demands it. Whether a safety-critical AI product or a fitness-watch home screen, I start with: what does this person need to feel confident taking action?
Education
B.S. Symbolic Systems
Stanford University • Concentration in HCI
Based In
San Diego, CA
Available for remote
Currently
Senior Product Designer
Lytx, Inc.
Open To
Principal / Lead / Senior roles
San Diego or remote
07
Contact
Have a project in mind?
I'm open to new full-time opportunities, collaborations, and interesting conversations.
Phone
Daniel Rivas · UX Strategy & Product Design
© 2026