United States

Graphic Design

UX Design

UI/ Visual Design

Motion Design

Branding and Identity Design

Design Operations

Service Design

Content Design

Product Design

Branding

Interaction Design

Content Creation

Design Systems

Generative AI

Stephen Gates

Founder

CRZY Design

Crazy One Podcast

Usability Testing

Typography

Public Speaking

Product strategy

Prototyping

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Critical-thinking

Organisation skills

Presentation skills

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Negotiation

Accessibility

Blog writing

Brand positioning

Brand strategy

Content creation

Content strategy

Design systems

Information architecture

Marketing strategy

Video editing

User research

Product roadmap

UserTesting

WordPress

Youtube

Adobe Photoshop

Airtable

Figma

InVision

Miro

Adobe Creative Suite

Introduce yourself, define mentoring expectations and goals. Learn and grow together.

General mentorship

Making remote and globally distributed teams work for you and your needs.

Working remotely

Learn essential burnout prevention techniques and replenish physical and emotional energy.

Managing burnout

Talk to people who have learned to manage their imposter syndrome.

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Understanding factors that lead to a motivated team - recognition, communication and more.

Keeping team members motivated

Understand the process of training, motivating and directing your team members.

Managing people

How to create a positive workplace culture that drives collaboration and productivity?

Fostering a good team culture

Steps to building and maintaining a strong, cohesive and effective team.

Building an effective team

Learn the tips to successfully manage a team in a remote environment.

Managing a remote team

How to maintain trust, commitment, accountability deliver results while handling conflict

Avoiding common dysfunctions

Tips for transitioning into a new role or company.

Changing roles

How to successfully prepare and position yourself for a job promotion?

How to get promoted

How to ask for a promotion and negotiate for salary raise?

Negotiating a job offer

How to think about design career paths and what progression looks like for designers?

Design career path

Learn the career path and progression for product managers.

Product management career path

Get actionable feedback on your resume or portfolio.

Resume and portfolio review

How to set up the team for success by defining and measuring team's performance.

Choosing metrics and team goals

Best practices for running productive design critiques.

Running effective design critiques

How to define and execute a successful launch and managing stakeholders expectations. (eg. MVP)

Launching new products or features

Methods of prototyping and solution validation. When to use which kind of prototype (eg. Webflow, Notion, etc)

Prototyping methods and tips

Manage team expectations and get the most out of your meetings.

Running effective meetings

Identify and define potential product problems and generating possible solutions.

Identifying problems vs solutions

Learn how to properly present your work and share ideas and opinions.

Presenting your work with impact

Tips on how to work and collaborate with designers.

Working with designers

How to work with team members with different skill sets but towards a common goal?

Working cross-functionally

Methods and models of exploring, deciding and delivering design.

Building a design process

Managing being the only designer at your company and working with non-designers.

Being the only designer

Explore different generative and evaluative research techniques. User research synthesis and presentation.

Conducting good user research

Ways and resources to improve your design skills.

Improving design skills

Navigating the working relationship with PM's and engineers as a designer.

Working with product and engineering

Ways to provide constructive feedback to team members.

Giving effective feedback

How to define an ambitious product vision and how to best communicate it to stakeholders?

Creating a product vision

Tips on how to work and collaborate with engineers and developers.

Working with engineers

How to conduct interviews, what to ask, and how to analyze your results? (eg. user interview)

Conducting effective customer interviews

Founder of CRZY, an independent strategy, design, and inspiration studio helping companies find a new vision and purpose for their brands, digital experiences, creativity, and existence.

OUR SERVICES ARE:
- Business, product, and organization strategy
- Digital, advertising, and brand design
- Education, coaching and inspiration

CLIENTS INCLUDE:
Metallica, Blackened Whiskey, TruePath.ai, NED Bank, Abercrombie and Fitch, Sonesta Hotels, Strawberry Frog, Northwelll Health, Prudential and more.

I led WW's product design, omnichannel experience insights, product research, service design, and applied behavioral science teams. We work at the heart of our Member experiences, across all digital, virtual, and physical touchpoints, designing an unbeatable Wellness Experience that recruits new members while retaining existing members. Our work is created in deep partnership with our Product, Tech, Clinical Science, and Brand partners to ensure our members are successful in their pursuit of behavioral change to achieve weight loss and wellness, across all of our membership plans, whether delivered digitally, virtually, or physically.

I received a highly valued rating (4 out of 5) for my first year which was the only time our Chief Product Officer had ever given that rating to an SVP in her career because o her expectations for that role.

I was laid off due to poor company performance and new company leadership taking the company in a new direction.

I work hand-in-hand with InVision’s Enterprise clients to weave together the best methodologies, processes, information, and tools into a comprehensive strategy that elevates the business impact of design, creates cultural change and builds stronger leadership at companies including Google, Amazon, The Home Depot, Bank of America, Facebook, Rolls Royce, American Express, Frog Design, EY Partners, and many more.

In addition to this work, I was the lead author of InVision's Quarterly Design Trend reports, which looks at the latest global trends in creativity, leadership, culture, and design. I was also a contributing author of the InVision groundbreaking Design Maturity Model, New Design Frontier report, and created InVision's Thought Leader in Residence program, which is a think tank that focused on new design through leadership through 6-month residencies with the world's best design leaders.

Created and lead a new team that works hand-in-hand with InVision's Enterprise clients to weave together the best methodologies, processes, information, and tools that are available to design teams into a comprehensive strategy that elevates the business impact of design within every company. 

InVision’s Enterprise clients are over 97% of Fortune 100 companies and over 3,000 Enterprise customers globally which help to weave together all of the methodologies, processes, information, and tools that are available to design teams into a comprehensive strategy that would elevate the business impact of design within every company only gives us the unique opportunity to see how the best operate, but also gives us access to work with nearly all of the world's leading companies and emerging startups. 

We consult and help teach those teams about design transformation through cultural change, design leadership, design best practices, and creative methodologies.

Host of The Crazy One podcast which gives you actionable insights to be more creative, become a better leader, create more innovative work, build better relationships with your clients, grow a stronger career, and more.

The Crazy One YouTube channel was created as an extension of The Crazy One podcast, the YouTube channel focuses on career coaching, application tutorials for applications like Apple Keynote or Mianote, past keynotes, and much more.

- 2020 Webby Awards Honoree Best Technology podcast
- Inside Design’s #1 favorite design podcast
- Springboard’s #1 must-listen UX design podcast
- How Design Live #1 design leadership podcast
- Spotify’s Top 5% most globally shared podcast
- Spotify’s Top 5% most followed podcast
- Mobile App Daily Best Design Podcast to Boost Your Creativity
- WPKLIK 10 Best Design Podcasts That Inspire

Led and helped to create Citi Design which is a team made up of multiple in-house design studios and external agencies creating global experiences in digital, branding and advertising for Citi FinTech, the Citi Innovation Labs and the Citi Global Consumer Bank. A few of the projects we have worked on included the on-going re-designs of Citi.com, re-designing the Citi mobile app, updating the Citi brand, creating a new digital design language used across all Citi digital experiences and working with IDEO to create a unique version of Design Thinking with agile methods just for Citi. 

I was one of the 40 founding members of Citi FinTech which is a small start-up inside of the Global Consumer Bank dedicated to creating mobile-first solutions to a variety of problems and working as the tip of the spear to change the way the company thinks and operates. The Citi innovation labs work to design and prototype new ideas and emerging technologies from a variety of external partners. The team also works on all aspects of the global consumer bank to create a unified design and creative vision across the entire consumer bank.

I create this transformation starting with an evaluation of the existing in-house creative talent and then establishing all new standards, culture, structures for the design team to build trust and respect with our internal clients which in turn grew funding and headcount for the team. I have hired new leadership and talent as well as coached the existing talent across multiple studios to raise the level of their creativity so all studios are creating world-class work. As a result, in just a year and a half, the demand for the design teams work has grown so much that it is the fastest growing team in the Global Consumer Bank and Apple has featured our work in two keynotes.

I led the digital design, content, and film & video teams for Starwood Global Brand Design for all 10 of their brands as well as leading all design for the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. Over the course of my time at Starwood, I transformed these teams from production focused service organizations into world-class creative teams who were responsible for some of the biggest recent digital innovations in the hospitality industry. I did it by establishing all new standards and culture that drove innovation and built the trust with our clients and the C suite that allowed those innovations to launch to consumers.

Notable innovation included Aloft in SecondLife, the state aware design of the SPG smartphone and iPad apps, SPG Mobile Check-in and SPG Keyless Entry for iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple featured this work in 8 keynotes, 4 TV commercials, on Apple.com, in Apple Store, in the Human Interface Guidelines and more.

Clients:  St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, Element, Aloft, Four Points, The Luxury Collection, Starwood Preferred Guest and Starwood Corporate.

I took over leadership of the Starwood Digital Design team when it was only responsible for the branded websites and quickly grew it into designing experience across all 10 of Starwood's design lead lifestyle brands for websites, mobile apps, wearables, global social media platforms and emerging technologies. This was done by transforming the team from a service organization into a world-class creative team who was regularly asked to work with companies like Apple, Google, Adobe and more. I created this transformation through a combination of hands-on design work and creating a new culture that fostered leadership, creativity and created trust with our clients and the C suite.

clients:  St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, Element, Aloft, Four Points, The Luxury Collection, Starwood Preferred Guest and Starwood Corporate.

I led one of the digital design teams for Temerlin Interactive who was a part of McCann World Group. I worked as a leader who was able to bridge traditional and digital advertising so the agency was able to create integrated work. My team was made up of art directors, writers, information architects and freelance staff and I defined the strategy, direction, and goals for online advertising and website development projects.  I developed team members skills by identifying and providing the needed training, coaching and mentoring so they were able to grow their skills and creativity. 

clients:  American Airlines, Exxon Mobil, Subaru, Sprint, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Texas Tourism, Nortel Networks, Adams Golf, University of Houston, Verizon Superpages.com, VanCliburn Foundation, Bell Helicopter,, oneworld airline alliance, Mariloff Diamonds Planet Cancer, IgoUgo.com and Nationwide Insurance

new business won:  Venetian Hotel and Casino,  , ExxonMobil, Verizon SuperPages, Sprint Business solutions, oneworld global airline alliance, PayDay One online, AvidGolfer Magazine and ProStaff

Managed, directed, and consulted with high level creative teams for a wide variety of ad agencies and corporate clients.  Work included creative strategy, concept, visual design and brand development for print and web.

clients  EDS, i2 Technology, U.S. Air Force, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D)., Pizza Hut, TGI Friday's, Mattress Firm, Subaru, Toshiba, Tribal DDB, Brann Forbes, Pyro Brand Development, and Temerlin McClain

Managed and worked with high level creative team of art directors, writers, and information architects.  Work included creative strategy, concept, visual design and brand development for a wide variety of clients.

clients:  Serta, Disney, Motorola, AMD, Intel, Price Waterhouse, Honda, Acura, Toyota, American Dairy Brands,  Garden Ridge

new business won:  Serta web site design , Intel web site design , Honda & Acura Motors interactive advertising, GardenRidge web site and online advertising, and Disney/Buena Vista Home Entertainment interactive advertising.

I was literally born into design and advertising with a father who was a creative director and a mother who was an artist. I learned typography on a cast iron letterpress in the basement of our house and I’ve been working as a designer since I was 13. I cut rubylith, studied Computer Graphics at Syracuse, worked as a 3D animator and then blended all of those skills into my digital work.

Stephen Gates🇺🇸