My name's Ashley Winkler but everyone calls me Ash. I'm a freelance full-stack product designer, a creative native, an illustrator, an entrepreneur, a miniature maker, a raconteuse, an artist and a constant wo/anderer. I am based in Vienna, Austria and I work remotely.
I'm a business-minded and code-adjacent designer, solving problems with a collaborative approach that's grounded in user experience and strategy. I like to build fast, iterate a lot and question my own personal biases. I design for people not users and value usability, inclusivity, accessibility and equality. I specialise in designing complex and technical products, large scalable design systems and people-focussed digital experiences.
03/2023 – now [contract]
Lead Product Designer – Design Systems @ Migros Genossenschaftsbund
Developing a multi-brand design system using Tokens Studio & Variables from the ground up, enabling seamless adoption by over 100 distinct brands within the company.
Authoring comprehensive design system documentation, encompassing accessibility guidelines, design token utilisation, and detailed component specifications, ensuring consistent and efficient design implementation across the organisation.
2021 – 2022 [contract]
Lead Product Designer @ Deepnote
Redesigned the notebook editor to enhance user interaction and optimise workflow, and introduced workspaces — a collaborative space for data teams of all sizes to organise, share, and scale knowledge. Pioneered the adoption of a Chakra-based design system and constructed a robust component framework. Collaborated closely with product managers, designers and engineers to conceptualise and integrate the redesign and its underlying design system, as well as various new product functionalities.
Introduced a remote design operations framework to facilitate efficient design team practices, design system utilisation, and user research and interviews. Instituted design-level roadmaps and skill matrices to streamline the hiring process.
Revitalised Deepnote's brand identity and defined standards for a unified brand experience.
2019 – 2021 [founder]
Co-Founder, Design & Product @ Pendect
Co-founded a news startup with a focus on short, community-sourced news reporting to diversify the news industry. Participated in all aspects of business development, including fundraising, market research, finance and operations.
Partnered with marketing and engineering to shape and develop product GTM roadmaps and strategies. Further, hired and managed freelancers and external stakeholders.
Defined overall brand design and product strategy, created scalable design systems for both product and website, designed various brand collaterals as well as marketing assets.
2018 – 2019 [contract]
Lead Product Designer @ Nextjournal
Led the process for new features from ideation to design, including version control, WYSIWYG editor, article readability + sharing and runtime settings
Redesigned various brand elements, including logo, website and other digital assets to improve brand recognition
Led workshops to help founders and core team to define their both business and product goals and deepen their company vision
2017 – 2018 [full time]
Product Manager / UX Designer @ Tunnel23
Managed cross-functional teams and stakeholders; oversaw product development from ideation to delivery
Created product roadmaps and wireframes for complex business management solutions in the telecommunication sector to align with clients on product deliverables and goals
Led development of product features across a team of designers and engineers
2015 [full time]
UI/UX Designer @ Identum
Designed multiple websites and digital products for various clients, ranging from small business owners to federal institutions
Introduced Sketch and Figma to the design team workflow
Established guidelines and best practices for developer handoffs
2014 - 2015 [full time]
UI/UX Designer @ Smart Assistant
Conception and design of digital advice web applications for a broad range of national and international clients
Implemented user research and usability guidelines to improve accessibility of advisors. Created design tool kits to easily adapt forms to customer branding + content
Established guidelines on how to design for POS hardware systems
2005 - 2014 [various]
Multidisciplinary Designer
In the first decade of my career, I had the opportunity to work with a multitude of clients. I designed flash websites and magazines, created companies' first websites, intranet solutions + digital products, worked on tools for the visually impaired, designed logos, ad campaigns + packaging design, tried my hand at conference and event management, and took every new opportunity to improve my skillset.