I bring a founder’s mentality to designing products, experiences, brands, and teams.
I've spent over a decade working with teams to ship products that delight users and advance organizations’ goals. Learn More
Leading product design and user research of the SaaS platform helping educators use behavioral science to nudge students toward success
Designing the cross-device software for an industrial IoT platform to help make food and beverage production more sustainable
Leading the UX evolution of an industry-favorite app by working closely with customers and “taking over” their jobs for the day
I was recently invited to speak at an event called Rapha 5×5: Intervals on Design at Fresh Tilled Soil, a local design consultancy. It’s a traveling series of design talks that Rapha runs in different cities, and here’s the schtick: “5×5: Intervals on Design, a rapid-fire design talk where five creatives will talk for five minutes…
It’s kayaking season here in New England, and as I was returning to the water this year I realized I needed to reacquaint myself with VHF radio usage. So I’m going to share this story from last summer in hopes that it helps some other kayakers in a similar situation, as I haven’t found a ton…
I had an idea for the new version of my site: I was going to illustrate objects using only HTML and CSS ( to show that I know how to do stuff with code), and make them look like they were neatly organized in a physical space* (which seems vaguely trendy) according to the underlying grid…
Weaving together UX, UI, and brand design with product management and frontend development.
Longform explorations of UX process and design projects
Leading product design and user research of the SaaS platform helping educators use behavioral science to nudge students toward success
Designing the cross-device software for an industrial IoT platform to help make food and beverage production more sustainable
Leading the UX evolution of an industry-favorite app by working closely with customers and “taking over” their jobs for the day
Visual snapshots of past projects and side-hustles
A generational divide in responses to layoffs, and some hard lessons from past experiences.
Writing notes has become an extension of how I think, and an integral part of my workday and career. Here, I detail my PKM process and tools.
Welcome to “Note to Self”—my open, in-public experiment in writing shorter, less polished, less developed ideas that mimic my personal notes on a particular subject.
I recently gave a talk on the topic of measuring the ROI and impact of design practices in business for Scout Studio at Northeastern University. Here are some post-talk thoughts.
I was recently Googling around for an answer to this, and didn’t see that anyone posted this method, but here’s the gist. If you want to find out if a given post has a certain taxonomy, (not just a specific term, but ANY term in that taxonomy), you can use the function has_term (more in…
I was recently invited to speak at an event called Rapha 5×5: Intervals on Design at Fresh Tilled Soil, a local design consultancy. It’s a traveling series of design talks that Rapha runs in different cities, and here’s the schtick: “5×5: Intervals on Design, a rapid-fire design talk where five creatives will talk for five minutes…
Sometimes when I’m making a site, I need to alter the overall page styles for a whole section, or collection of pages. To do this, I prefer adding a new class to the <body> tag so that I can target all of the children easily using CSS nesting. Let’s say I’m making a new website…
Earlier this year I traveled to Puerto Vallarta to take part in a friend’s wedding. Looking to extend the trip, I stumbled across the beautiful Casas Santa Cruz, promising a “Swiss Family Robinson” style retreat about forty minutes down the coast via water taxi. After spending a week in a resort for the wedding, these…
It’s kayaking season here in New England, and as I was returning to the water this year I realized I needed to reacquaint myself with VHF radio usage. So I’m going to share this story from last summer in hopes that it helps some other kayakers in a similar situation, as I haven’t found a ton…
I recently had the honor of being the best man in my best friend’s wedding, which is an occasion that calls for a unique gift. The groom and I are both pretty big into homebrewing, and he kegs, so my own fiancé recommended that I get him some tap handles. Well, I couldn’t find any out there…
Designer, developer, and product strategist trying to move the needle.
I’ve been called a ‘pragmatic’ designer.
I take that as a compliment.
My professional work slants towards product design that can make a measurable impact. Usability over style. Stylish when called for.
Learning from your customers and shipping delightful, yet useful tools for them is both rewarding and challenging, which is why I've been drawn to working with early products, especially those where you can get to know your users personally.
I’ve had the privilege of working with some great teams on some truly impactful products, and have learned a thing or two along the way. I bring that experience to new ventures and try to share it with folks through mentoring and writing.
I tend to think about design like a founder, because I’ve been one. Balancing process and instinct, the goal is to find harmony between user delight and business strategy, as fast as you can deliver quality.
If this seems like your cup of tea, I'd be pleased to chat about your project needs. My availability is below.
-Alex-
alex@turnwall.com
linkedin /alexturnwall
Modus Operandi
I’m not particularly picky about my role or title, but I am selective about the teams I work with. My approach is informed by these beliefs, and I try to work with teams that share them:
Good design can contribute directly to an organization's bottom line. According to multiple studies, organizations that value design consistently perform stronger on virtually all financial measures.
From life-saving procedural instructions, to an easier-to-read ballot, to a more ergonomic product: design that we interact with everyday has the potential to make people's lives better (or worse). It is not simply an aesthetic treatment.
Our audiences are global. We live in an interconnected world where no one person has all of the skills to make most of the products we use everyday. We need to work with partners who are diverse in background and discipline to create better products, services and organizations for the future.
Every user is different and one size should not fit all. The goal of interaction design is to create products or interfaces that will work best for an intended user. That means it might have to work equally well for many users with many different technologies—today's tech has to be flexible and adaptable.
Understanding consumer behavior and knowing how to learn what a customer wants can work towards the promotion of a social campaign just as effectively as it can promote a product. Harnessing that power for the right reasons is a worthwhile endeavor.
You can’t throw a new logo and website up and call it a brand refresh (that is, in fact, an identity). Branding touches every facet of an organization and is reflected in everything an organization does, meaning corporate ethos and responsibility are more important than the design.
You trust me, I trust you; enough so that we both give honest opinions. This is how iteration produces better results, faster. Without this trust, it's hard to produce meaningful results. Trust takes effort, but it's worth it.
Experience
I've spent years driving design and technical projects from start to finish on a variety of very different teams. I've managed and contributed to projects for startups, universities, large international corporations, medical and research institutions, and government agencies.
I’ve taught at Northeastern’s design program, now I volunteer to help young designers and entrepreneurs learn through design and technology. I've spend a good deal of time thinking about design in the classroom. This strengthens my practice just as much as client work impacts my teaching.
I've been involved in entrepreneurship for over a decade: having helped start a venture accelerator, co-founded a design studio, been on founding teams, helped startups scale through multiple rounds of VC funding, and now consult with and mentor entrepreneurs.
Verily
Staff UX Designer
2021-
Northeastern University
Lecturer @College of Arts, Media + Design;
Founding Faculty Advisor @Scout Studio
2011-14
Hifinit Design Studio
Co-Founder & Principal
2010-13
Metropolis Creative
Designer & Developer
2008-09