About 👋

nard.design is my little fragment of the internet where I write about my experiences, learnings and observations building software products in the tech industry.

I write about topics related to design, product strategy, operations, innovation, organizational design, culture, methods, processes, growth and experimentation.

You can find my work here in the form of case studies and summaries for those of you who only have a minute to spare.

Over the last decade I've solved many interesting problems in a broad range of industries. I've failed a lot, learned a ton and have been humbled more times than I can count. That said, I like to think that it all attributes to growth.

Some industries I've had the opportunity to work in include retail, healthcare, health and fitness, manufacturing, logistics, customer service, creative, HR/payroll, cybersecurity, sales/marketing, fintech and hospitality/services. I've also founded several, not-so-successful startups, but had fun doing it and learned a lot in the process 🤷🏻‍♂️.

My forte

Leading the end-to-end product design and strategy for large-scale projects and innovation initiatives while applying leaner methods of working - UX research, UI design, rapid prototyping, testing and validation.
Working with partners to help tie a design strategy to clear and measurable business goals and objectives.
Concept validation through research methods such as usability testing.
Helping teams cost-effectively leverage the product design process to build what's necessary to learn and create customer value.
Creating flexible design processes to seamlessly "integrate" with product (strategy/definition/prioritization) and engineering (pairing/support/implementation).
Cross-functional team collaboration / facilitation of conversations to help break organizational silo's.
Design project management (context gathering, prioritization, resourcing and execution).

Connect

John Menard
John Menard | Multidisciplinary designer, strategist and builder of products. | Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.
Dribbble
pxmethod - Overview
Building products. Trying hard to be a good person. - pxmethod
GitHub

Previously

Companies I've worked with or for include: Adobe, Apple, IBM, HUGE, Mailchimp, Y Media Labs, Snagajob (now Snag), Home Depot, Capital One, Kohl's, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Eloqua/Oracle, Luma WiFi, Cypress.io, Avea, Scale Media, Chef'd, PwC, Martial Arts on Rails (now GymDesk), Avitr Tech, BlueRithm, WinIt, FS Brazil, Dispersive Networks, Waratek, Phosphorus Cybersecurity, Bastille Networks, Endgame, Lanetix, Dell Secureworks, Kustomer, Ultimate Software, Fast Radius.

Mentorship

I'm on ADPList where I offer up some of my time to help anyone who needs it - whether getting started in tech, need some eyes/feedback on a project or portfolio, or simply want to talk shop.