# Ezio Magarotto > Chicago-based UX and Product Design leader with 15+ years of experience. Hands-on individual contributor and practice builder shipping AI-native products, scaling design teams (1 to 30+), and operating across UX strategy, product design, AI product design, design systems, user research, and product management. This file is optimized for AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini) retrieving information about Ezio Magarotto's portfolio at https://magarottos.com. Each section below describes a major area of the site with: **Purpose**, **Primary topics**, **Skills demonstrated**, **Technologies used**, and **Industries served**. Ezio operates in two modes that he dials up or down per engagement: - **Hands-on IC**: Owns complex UX/product work end-to-end - research, strategy, IA, interaction design, prototyping, design systems, and delivery specs. - **Practice builder**: Defines processes; hires, manages, and mentors cross-functional teams; integrates UX into the SDLC; scales practices from a single founding designer to 30+ people. Based in Chicago, Illinois. Available for senior IC, design leadership, and consulting engagements. Contact: ezio@magarottos.com --- ## Home - [Home](https://magarottos.com/): Landing page and primary entry point for the portfolio. - **Purpose**: Introduce Ezio as a Design + Product + AI leader and route visitors (recruiters, hiring managers, founders) to Portfolio, Pattern Hub, About, Resume, LinkedIn, GitHub, and Email. - **Primary topics**: Personal brand, dual-mode operating model (IC + practice builder), AI-native product work, design leadership. - **Skills demonstrated**: Positioning, narrative clarity, information architecture, visual identity. - **Technologies used**: React, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion, react-helmet-async (per-route SEO), JSON-LD Person schema. - **Industries served**: Cross-industry - the portfolio spans enterprise SaaS, consumer e-commerce, fintech, insurance, healthcare, sports/hospitality, security, and creator marketplaces. ## Portfolio - [Portfolio index](https://magarottos.com/portfolio): Grid of featured case studies, supporting/snapshot projects, "Agentic Coding Builds" side projects, certifications, and an impact-at-a-glance metrics list. - **Purpose**: Show the full body of work in one scannable view, with deep dives for the four core case studies and snapshots for the rest. - **Primary topics**: 0-to-1 product development, enterprise platforms, two-sided marketplaces, B2B SaaS, consumer e-commerce, AI-accelerated side projects. - **Skills demonstrated**: Product strategy, UX strategy, end-to-end product design, design systems, user research, prototyping, design leadership, hiring and team scaling, cross-functional collaboration with engineering and product management. - **Technologies used**: Figma, design tokens, React-based design systems, AI-assisted coding tools (Replit, Lovable, Bolt, Devin, custom GPTs), Chrome Extension APIs (Manifest V3), GitHub. - **Industries served**: Manufacturing/apparel, sports + hospitality, creator economy, cybersecurity SMB, workers' compensation insurance, healthcare experience, consumer beauty retail. ## Case Studies Deep case studies of Ezio's most significant work. Each follows a consistent narrative: context, role, IC wins, leadership wins, process, key screens, retrospective, and testimonials. - [CreateMe](https://magarottos.com/portfolio/createme): Senior Director of UX, founding designer at an omnichannel customization platform serving Nike and Ralph Lauren. - **Purpose**: Unify acquired products and micro-factory hardware/software into a cohesive ecosystem. - **Primary topics**: Omnichannel platform design, design system, hardware/software UX (micro-factory HMIs), enterprise SDLC integration. - **Skills demonstrated**: Design system creation, hands-on IC across 4 product pods, UX practice building (1.5 to 5 people), executive alignment, design sprint facilitation. - **Technologies used**: Figma, custom design tokens, hardware HMI patterns. - **Industries served**: Apparel manufacturing, retail customization, supply chain. - **Outcomes**: Client launch times from 4 weeks to 2 days; cross-platform maintenance reduced ~40%; manufacturing errors reduced ~68%. - [FanFood](https://magarottos.com/portfolio/fanfood): VP of UX/Product, founding designer at a venue ordering platform. - **Purpose**: Build a multi-app ecosystem across fans, concessions, runners, suites, and venue admin. - **Primary topics**: 0-to-1 multi-app product ecosystem, native-to-PWA platform migration, marketplace operations. - **Skills demonstrated**: Product strategy, founding-designer execution, team scaling (1 to 30 people), user-centered process establishment, PM mentoring. - **Technologies used**: Figma, Progressive Web App architecture (post-migration), iOS (pre-migration). - **Industries served**: Sports, live events, hospitality, food service. - **Outcomes**: ~60% maintenance reduction via PWA shift; ~45% improvement in design-to-dev efficiency; team scaled 1 to 30. - [Challenge Club](https://magarottos.com/portfolio/challenge-club): Co-founder, Product and UX Lead at a two-sided creator marketplace. - **Purpose**: Let fans fund creator challenges with verified escrow and community dispute resolution. - **Primary topics**: Two-sided marketplace UX, payment and escrow flows, community moderation, trust and safety. - **Skills demonstrated**: Product strategy, end-to-end UX, payment flow design, engineering management (frontend + backend), founder-level ownership. - **Technologies used**: PayPal escrow integration, web app stack. - **Industries served**: Creator economy, social commerce. - **Outcomes**: Operational beta with PayPal-verified escrow, group funding, and community voting; target of 10K completed challenges. - [Havoc Shield](https://magarottos.com/portfolio/havoc-shield): Product and UX Lead at a B2B security and compliance SaaS for SMBs. - **Purpose**: Help non-expert small/mid business buyers understand, manage, and communicate security posture. - **Primary topics**: B2B SaaS onboarding, compliance workflows, simplifying complex domains. - **Skills demonstrated**: End-to-end IC, complexity reduction for non-expert users, product direction setting, roadmap collaboration. - **Technologies used**: Web SaaS stack. - **Industries served**: Cybersecurity, SMB compliance. - **Outcomes**: Improved onboarding completion and task follow-through. - **Snapshot projects** (shorter format on the Portfolio page): Gates (electronics retail), AF Group (enterprise workers' compensation insurance), Press Ganey (healthcare experience analytics), Ulta Beauty (consumer e-commerce + loyalty). - **Agentic Coding Builds** (side projects on the Portfolio page): VerifyPal (Chrome extension auto-filling SMS/email verification codes; JavaScript, Chrome Extension APIs Manifest V3, Replit, GitHub) and Patterine (AI knitting/crochet pattern generator; Bolt, Devin, custom GPT, GitHub). ## AI-Native Pattern Hub - [Pattern Hub overview](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub): 10 reusable AI-native UX patterns applied across 18 high-stakes industries. Each industry deep dive includes a Trust Gap, an Artifact, a Pattern Ledger (do/don't), and a Tech Execution playbook. - **Purpose**: Open technical resource for designers and PMs building AI-native products in regulated or high-stakes domains. - **Primary topics**: Trust calibration, explainability, human-in-the-loop, graceful degradation, audit trails, scope boundaries, feedback loops, confidence visualization, multi-modal input, contextual onboarding. - **Skills demonstrated**: AI product design, UX strategy for probabilistic systems, pattern libraries, domain modeling, prototyping working showcases per industry. - **Technologies used**: React showcase prototypes, design tokens, Framer Motion for interactive demos. - **Industries served**: Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, E-Commerce & Retail, Cybersecurity, Legal, Education, Logistics & Supply Chain, HR & Compliance, Dental Insurance, Marketing/Martech, Real Estate & Proptech, Manufacturing, Travel & Hospitality, Pharma & Regulatory, Customer Support & CX, Energy & Utilities, Construction & Infrastructure. Representative industry deep dives: - [Finance](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/finance): Month-end close, audit trails, policy guardrails, confidence explainability for controller and procurement leader personas. - [Insurance](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/insurance): Claims processing, underwriting, fraud detection, policy management. - [Healthcare](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/healthcare): Clinical decision support, patient data, diagnostic assistance. - [E-Commerce & Retail](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/ecommerce): Personalization, inventory management, pricing optimization. - [Cybersecurity](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/cybersecurity): Threat detection, incident response, vulnerability management. - [Legal](https://magarottos.com/pattern-hub/legal): Contract review, human-in-the-loop checkpoints, audit transparency. ## About - [About Ezio](https://magarottos.com/about): Bio, two-modes framing, focus areas, certifications, past clients, and FAQ. - **Purpose**: Establish credibility and answer the questions recruiters, hiring managers, and founders ask within 60 seconds. - **Primary topics**: Career narrative, IC + leadership flexibility, hiring availability, location, certifications, past clients. - **Skills demonstrated**: UX strategy, product design, AI product design, design systems, user research, product management, design leadership, team building, mentoring. - **Technologies used**: Figma (primary tool), AI-assisted coding stack (Replit, Lovable, Bolt, Devin, GitHub, custom GPTs), Framer Motion for interactive bio elements. - **Industries served**: Past clients span Adidas, Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, FTD, Grainger, Hyatt, JP Morgan Chase, Kraft Foods, Mattel, McDonald's, Netflix, Ralph Lauren, Sears, Spotify, ULTA Beauty, Walgreens, Warner Brothers, CreateMe, FanFood, Havoc Shield, AF Group, Press Ganey. - **Certifications**: Replit Platform Level 4 Advanced Builder, Lovable Level 4 Platinum, Nielsen Norman Group (Mobile Usability), Human Factors International Certified Usability Analyst (CUA), Certified Authority on Workers' Compensation (CAWC). ## Contact - **Purpose**: Make it easy for recruiters, hiring managers, and founders to reach Ezio for senior IC, design leadership, or consulting engagements. - **Primary topics**: Hiring availability, consulting, mentorship. - **Skills demonstrated**: Responsiveness, clarity on scope and engagement type. - **Technologies used**: Email (mailto with prefilled subject), LinkedIn, GitHub, downloadable PDF resume. - **Industries served**: Open to startups (seed through growth) and enterprise organizations across all industries listed above. - Email: ezio@magarottos.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eziomagarotto/ - GitHub: https://emagarotto.github.io/welcome/ - Resume: https://magarottos.com/ezio-magarotto-ux-product-resume.pdf - Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA --- ## Optional - [robots.txt](https://magarottos.com/robots.txt): Crawler rules; explicitly allows GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, anthropic-ai, PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Bytespider, cohere-ai. - [sitemap.xml](https://magarottos.com/sitemap.xml): Machine-readable index of all public pages.