ABOUT ME
Design Philosophy
I bring order to complexity — and 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'm here for.
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 — and 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 an enterprise dashboard, 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
4 months
Senior UX Designer
Lytx Video Overlay
Designed a dynamic video overlay to simplify customer coaching conversations, improving user trust and reducing contention rate to near zero.
3 months
Senior UX Designer
Lytx Driver ID
Built systematic user flow to allow assignment, distribution, and usage of QR codes for assigning drivers to vehicles.
3 years
UX Design Lead
Timex Ironman ONE GPS+
Designing a full 0-to-1 product experience for athletes who wanted to track workouts, stay connected, and leave their phones behind.
1.5 years
UX Design & Product Management
Tagg the Pet Tracker
Redesigning pet activity monitoring and leading iOS/Android development as both UX lead and product manager.
1 year
UX Design Lead
FLO TV Personal Television
Designing a new product category — live mobile television — from the ground up.
EXPERTISE
Skills & Tools
Storytelling
Communicating design decisions to executives, stakeholders, and cross-functional teams
Interaction Design
Flows, wireframes, use cases, and high-fidelity mockups
Journey Mapping
End-to-end experience mapping across touchpoints
User Research
Interviews, usability tests, ethnographic study, and contextual inquiry
Stakeholder Management
Cross-functional collaboration and design advocacy
Systems Thinking
Mapping connected flows and designing for scalability across product surfaces
AI Fluency
Designing AI-powered experiences and leveraging AI tools throughout the design process
Prototyping
Interactive prototypes from low-fi click-throughs to high-fidelity AI coding
Pendo
In-app guidance, feature adoption tracking, and user surveys to inform design decisions
Claude
AI-assisted research synthesis, design critique, content generation, and rapid prototyping
Dovetail
Centralizing research insights, tagging findings, and building a shared customer intelligence repository
Figma
Components, variants, auto-layout, and prototyping
BACKGROUND
Work Experience
Senior Product Designer
Lytx · San Diego, CA
Researched and designed user experience for video safety product based on machine vision AI.
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.
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.
2003 - 2007
B.S. Symbolic Systems
Stanford University · Stanford, CA
Completed interdisciplinary study of computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology with a concentration in human-computer interaction.
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
Daniel Rivas · UX Strategy & Product Design
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