Product Design Leadership

Leads with rigor. Mentors with empathy. Delivers with excellence.

More than 20 years of diverse experience designing and shipping products for growth-focused startups and emerging SaaS enterprises.

Committed to scaling and leading teams fueled by a human-first design approach — building intuitive, connected, and personalized product experiences that customers truly love to use.

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A photo of designer, Chuck Mallott.

Case Studies

A collection of projects, showcasing the creative process, problem-solving strategies, and final design solutions implemented for each project.

"Chuck excels at team development and team building, at managing to a very high design quality..."

Chuck is an outstanding leader, manager, and as important, creative designer. Over the four years I managed Chuck, he excelled at team development and team building, at managing to a very high design quality and consistency, and ensuring that he delivered regardless of the unpredictability of circumstances. Chuck created the department and discipline of Product Design at SPS, and over time I added the role of Creative Director where he was responsible for the corporate brand, and for ensuring consistent execution of the brand across all departments of the company. Chuck manages extremely well across organizational boundaries, and managing remote workers and teams. He has a very rigorous training and development regimen, and builds consensus and support comfortably. He’s an accomplished leader and I would hire him again, in a heartbeat.

Pete Zaballos
Fractional CMO @Authentic

Design Process Samples

Every project typically involves some amount of the following strategy and planning work.

Sketches
Information Architecture
Personas

Snapshots

Curated snippets of what I've been up to in the past 2 decades.

Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Northpass.Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Northpass.
Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Qumulo.Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Qumulo.
Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at SPS Commerce.Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at SPS Commerce.
Samples of some of the designs for the Gramercy project.Samples of some of the designs for the Gramercy project.
Samples of the designs for the Bookstack project.Samples of the designs for the Bookstack project.
Samples of designs for the Continuum project.Samples of designs for the Continuum project.
Samples of the designs I worked on for the Lunchlist project.Samples of the designs I worked on for the Lunchlist project.
Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Sport Ngin.Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at Sport Ngin.
Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at the Nerdery.Samples of the designs I worked on during my time at the Nerdery.

How I work

These core principles drive my behavior and influence my decisions. I wrote more details here.

value: people first
value: relentlessly give credit
value: make it beautiful
value: no matter what
value: do the work
value: its ok to be wrong
"How you do anything is how you do everything."— Fr. Richard Rohr
Site Logo for chuck.mallott.me

chuck.mallott.me

Work — Chuck Mallott

Product design leadership

I design. I lead. AI has changed how I do both.

I've been leading product design for nearly two decades. The craft hasn't changed — ship things people love to use, build teams that can do it consistently. What has changed is how we get there. AI is part of my process now. Scroll down and you'll see how.

See the work ↓
Chuck Mallott
Chuck Mallott
On this page
AI in my process Case studies Process samples How I work Snapshots

How I work with AI

AI is a tool. Judgment is the work.

I’ve spent a lot of time exploring where AI fits into the design process — where it helps, where it doesn’t, and where human involvement still matters. AI is not a silver bullet or a replacement for thoughtful design. What it does well is reduce friction: speeding up exploration, synthesis, and iteration so more time can be spent on the parts that require experience, perspective, and care.

AI accelerates
Designers own the judgment

How I Think About It

The opinions I've formed along the way.


Quality Over Volume
AI can generate endless options, but more ideas doesn’t automatically lead to better outcomes. The value comes from knowing what’s worth pursuing, what needs refinement, and what should be left behind. The real work is still in the judgment.

Thinking With (and Without) AI
Some parts of design benefit from speed and iteration. Others still require space to think, question, and sit with ambiguity. As I'm integrating AI into my workflow, I’m still interested in understanding when stepping away leads to better decisions.

Beyond the Hype
I’m experimenting with how AI is changing the way we work. Some things become faster. Some become noisier. There's real value in learning how to use it thoughtfully while preserving the human judgment that makes design meaningful.

Credentialed: AI for UX Design — DesignLab, 2026

"
I would hire him again, in a heartbeat.
PZ
Pete Zaballos
Fractional CMO — former manager, 4 years

Case studies

Design is decision-making. These are the decisions.

Bookstack Web App 2.0 AI-native
How a product designer built a full-stack web app — without an engineering team.
Read the story →
Bookstack iOS App
Self-funding an app and developing a strict MVP strategy to get it to market.
Read the story →
Peak Design System
Transforming a legacy LMS into a modern, trust-enhancing administration platform.
Read the story →
Course Enrollments
A basic data table gets new life — key information exactly where and when the user needs it.
Read the story →

Operating Values

Six principles that I bring to the table.

These aren't aspirational. They're behavioral qualities that people who've worked with me would actually recognize. I wrote more about each of them here →

01
People first.
I try not to think of people as resources. I cultivate a low-friction environment for people to do their best work.
02
Lead by example.
I don’t demand authority. I take responsibility and give credit freely.
03
Make it beautiful.
If it's worth making at all, it should be useful first - and well-crafted by design.
04
Leave everyone in awe.
Go above and beyond. Every time. No matter what. Yes, the bar is high.
05
Do the work.
If you’re not hustling, you’re slacking. If you’re slacking, you’re stealing.
06
It's ok to be wrong.
Come with an informed opinion and be able to defend it. When new information emerges, be willing to rethink it.
"

How you do anything is how you do everything.

— Fr. Richard Rohr