Tom Quigley
Digital PortfolioNew York City based product designer.
Over the last 10+ years experience in brand, product development & scalable digital systems for mission driven clients.
Evolving SWDS into a more personal, human-centered experience for MySmithsonian in celebration of the nations 250th birthday.
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Design Systems, Brand Evolution, User Interface, Prototyping
Repairing design debt and rebuilding confidence through process, honesty, and a systems-first approach.
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Heuristic Audit, Design System, User Experience, User Interface, Prototyping
Rebuilding a fast-growing brand’s digital foundation without losing its momentum in a pandemic.
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Visual Direction, User Experience, User Interface, Product Strategy, Prototyping
I have a background in fine art, and eye towards visual communication.
I've spent over a decade designing products and the systems behind them. In that time, I've learned that these are not separate concerns. The look, the feel, and how a team maintains the system day-to-day are one and the same. Ultimately, my approach stays grounded by understanding the constraints. Budget, timeline, and engineering capacity show where the boundaries exists and where there is room to expand. Knowing the difference, and being able to communicate this clearly, is what has kept the work in scope while pushing aesthetic limits.
Most recently I led design at Forum One, working hands-on for clients such as the Smithsonian, the Gates Foundation, AARP and Trinity Church Wall Street. On these projects I work embedded within cross-functional teams alongside researchers, PMs, and engineers, leading design from kickoff through optimization post-launch.
Earlier in my career I spent seven years at Verbal+Visual, where I built the team's first proprietary design system: low fidelity, then the same components carried into high fidelity once wires were settled, so visual design and research could run side by side.
Forum One, New York, NY
2023-2026
- Led product design end to end for mission-driven clients including the Smithsonian, Gates Foundation, AARP, and Trinity Church Wall Street, embedded within cross-functional teams from discovery through shipped, production-ready UI.
- Architected design systems from the ground up, defining token structures, component libraries from atoms through organisms, and accessibility standards that gave engineering a single source of truth and accelerated build velocity.
- Established the team's critique cadence, QA process, and design-to-engineering handoff standards, raising the quality bar across a team of 8 while staying hands-on in the craft.
Freelance
2023
- Partnered with mission-driven clients on system architecture, interaction design, and journey mapping, translating ambiguous problem spaces into clear design direction.
- Restructured and rationalized design system libraries to support brand scaling and WCAG compliance across breakpoints, reducing inconsistency and rework downstream.
Verbal+Visual, New York, NY
2017-2022
- Led design across 50+ DTC ecommerce engagements from concept through launch, setting the visual and interaction standard for everything the studio shipped and maintaining a consistent craft bar across concurrent client work.
- Built Verbal+Visual's proprietary design system from design tokens through high-fidelity components, introducing atomic design principles that gave designers and engineers a shared language and powered builds across the entire client roster.
- Drove measurable business impact for clients, including a 21% conversion lift and 9% increase in average order value on a flagship rebuild that delivered ROI within its first month.
- Grew the design practice from one designer to ten, defining roles, standards, and the critique culture that let the team scale without losing quality.
UX/UI Lead
Verbal+Visual, New York, NY
Verbal+Visual, New York, NY
2015-2017
- Owned the UX process from research through wireframes and prototypes across multiple DTC ecommerce clients, translating business goals and user needs into shippable product direction.
- Grounded design decisions in real evidence through usability testing, competitive analysis, and heuristic audits, bringing research rigor into projects that had previously run on assumption.
- Partnered closely with engineers to balance user needs against technical constraints, ensuring designs held up through implementation.
Let’s collaborate and make great stuff.