Designs that delight.
Production that ships.
Helping teams deliver captivating experiences through
seamless collaboration, scalable systems, and thoughtful design.
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Onlife
Head of Game Design
- Led and grew a distributed design team across web and mobile.
- Created Figma design libraries and content frameworks.
- Analyzed user motivations and market trends.
- Guided adoption of AI tools.
- Designed user-facing AI features.
Skills
Stakeholder Alignment · Roadmaps · UX Strategy · Design Ops · Design Systems · Documentation · User Flows · Wireframes · Prototypes · User Research · Market Analysis · Talent Development
Tools
Figma · Miro · Photoshop · Jira/Confluence · Notion · Unity
Project: Process-First Design Ops Overhaul
Team Size: 15 cross-functional
Context:
Releases slipped; designers were copy/pasting UI; estimates didn't include adequate review or QA time.
Problem:
Ship weekly content on a predictable cadence, while improving quality and creating time for new features.
Goals:
- Standardize specs and decision history.
- Introduce component libraries and design systems to eliminate inconsistencies and reduce redundant work.
- Align sprint estimates with real design + review + QA effort.
Hypothesis
If we define consistent specs with clear acceptance criteria, adopt modern design tools, and deliver realistic estimates during planning, we can significantly cut down rework and improve throughput.
Approach
- Standardized spec templates in Notion with feature details, step-by-step functionality expectations, flows, UI assets/variants, acceptance criteria, risks, and open questions.
- Created a Figma Component Library with states, variants, usage notes, and implementation practices.
- Aligned with Product for work estimate hygiene, with appropriate consideration for design capacity. Incrementally increased the buffer for review and QA. Set WIP limits.
- Coordinated across departments to create bi-weekly plans, mid-sprint critiques, ship review, and post-mortems.
Outcomes
- Design-to-Engineering cycle time reduced by ~15%.
- Spec template adopted company-wide, further reducing hand-off time and increasing engineer morale.
- 0 missed hand-offs after month two.
- Earned enough runway to plan and ship a major feature alongside weekly content releases.
My Role
- Owned: Spec template, UI component strategy, design estimate guardrails.
- Partnered: Roadmapping, QA sign-off, PM rituals, Jira management.
Trade-Offs and Lessons
One early heavy lift to clean up and align processes enabled lighter, repeatable lifts later, allowing the team more time to breathe, plan, and experiment.
Reflection and Direction:
We repeatedly ran into a gap between requested features and the limits of our cross-platform UI framework. The framework excelled at app UX, but struggled with real-time interaction, complex animation, and state management at scale. A hybrid approach that keeps app surfaces in the current framework with a more powerful engine embedded to run game features would preserve the sleek UX while also delivering a deeper gameplay experience.
Owen Batt
COO/CPTO at Onlife
Nick is an absolutely fantastic team member and designer.
Nick stepped right up and owned some very critical initiatives for Aglet and delivered excellent, creative solutions that took into account technology limitations, while creating a rollout plan that was realistic and on point.
His mentorship and team leadership were excellent, taking junior team members under his wing and helping them grow.
ELSA
Senior UX Designer
- Designed core features for a global education app.
- Gathered feedback, performed user research, and conducted usability sessions.
- Developed design process and component libraries.
Skills
UX Strategy · UX Writing · Design Systems · User Flows · Heuristic Evaluation · User Research
Tools
Figma · Miro · Photoshop · Jira/Confluence · Trello
Project: Research-Driven Onboarding Improvements
Team Size: 5 cross-functional
Context:
High FTUE drop-off; dense pop-ups; stifled user agency.
Problem:
Reduce early-journey friction without hurting activation
Goals:
- Shorten and clarify first-time user experience.
- Improve onboarding and lesson completion flow.
- Reduce short-term churn.
Hypothesis
Fewer/shorter pop-ups, skip patterns, improved CTAs, and clear crash recovery will improve completion and reduce churn.
Approach
- Conducted user interviews, gathered feedback, and performed usability tests.
- Cataloged pop-ups by purpose, timing, and word count.
- Condensed copy for clarity and concision, focusing on the most valuable information.
- Added Skip and Next Lesson buttons to the post-lesson flow.
- Added a safe resume flow and crash report dialogs.
Outcomes
- Increased onboarding completion by 10%.
- Increased lesson completion by 15%.
- Reduced monthly churn by 8%.
My Role
- Owned: User research, flow and copy changes, success criteria.
- Partnered: Analytics, A/B Testing, QA.
Trade-Offs and Lessons
Moving conversion CTAs slightly later in the user journey increased retention with very little impact on activation.
Reflection and Direction:
Learners care most about making progress and seeing noticeable improvement. Long, unskippable tutorials or flashy animations risk disengagement. Instead, use that time to surface clear value and key learning stats, and let users keep moving. Continual A/B tests and user feedback sessions can identify further gains and opportunities.
Aaron Johnston
Co-Founder & CCO at Awairness Interactive
Nick’s contribution to Awairness has been invaluable.
His skill set goes far beyond top-notch design and development. He is an expert problem solver, not simply interested in deliverables, but the underlying purpose and connection to the full scope of development.
Nick’s mastery of mindful listening throughout every stage of design makes him the ideal teammate and collaborator, and creates a work environment that allows quality creative solutions to emerge effortlessly.
Jam City
Senior Game Designer
- Co-managed a large content design team.
- Delivered weekly live-ops content for two top-grossing mobile titles.
- Standardized work flows, specs, and design templates.
Skills
Systems Design · Progression Design · Event Design · Retention · Conversion · Tuning/Playtesting
Tools
Google Workspace · Jira/Confluence · Photoshop · Balsamiq · InVision · Unity
Project: Sustaining Engagement in Mature Live-Ops Titles
Team Size: 6 cross-functional
Context:
Mature titles need careful live-ops to maintain and grow engagement.
Problem:
Maintain event cadence and engagement while growing DAU in a mature title.
Goals:
- Keep event cadence targeting long-term users.
- Reduce early churn and improve 30-day retention
Hypothesis
Tailoring the first-time user experience to expose new players to more variety and reducing early frustration will lower short-term churn. Keeping the FTUE distinct from the core gameplay will avoid cannibalizing long-term engagement.
Approach
- Created onboarding experiences that preview late-game payoff for first-time players.
- Tuned early-game pacing to reach key “success” moments faster.
- Reduced failure friction to prevent stall-outs and keep players progressing.
Outcomes
- Increased 30-day retention by 11%.
- Marginally increased overall conversion.
- Maintained engagement of long-term users.
My Role
- Owned: Event briefs/specs, gameplay specs, tuning targets, success criteria.
- Partnered: Analytics, A/B testing, production scheduling.
Trade-Offs and Lessons
Easing early conversion pressure led to a major lift in retention and, over time, led to higher overall conversion.
Reflection and Direction:
In long-running titles with thousands of levels, each release can unintentionally raise the barrier to entry. Without care, newcomers feel overwhelmed before they find the fun. To keep the game welcoming and exciting, smooth early reward pacing and add short, opt-in preview experiences for new mechanics so every player can sample what’s next, regardless of progression.
Christopher Magoun
Lead Game Designer at Jam City
Nick is a great asset to any team he is on and a genuine pleasure to be around.
His easygoing personality makes you want to collaborate with him on any task, and he's a font of creativity making him a valuable asset to any design team lucky enough to have him.
He's a hard working designer with a wealth of experience under his belt.
Dice Versa
Director & Producer
- Leading a nimble team of performers, editors, illustrators, and designers.
- Managing end-to-end creative direction and production workflows.
- Upholding brand voice and visual standards.
- Coordinating freelancers and vendors.
Skills
Creative Direction · Audio/Video Editing · Graphic Design · Social Media Management · Branding · Marketing
Tools
Audition · Premiere Pro · After Effects · Photoshop · Figma · Unreal Engine · Notion
Project: Narrative-First Actual Play: Shipping Content at a Sustainable Cadence
Team Size: 4
Context:
Actual plays often run long and meander. A story-driven edit with purposeful visuals could be engaging, even as a $0-budget side project.
Problem:
Keep episodes tight and watchable without burning out a small team.
Goals:
- Maintain a predictable ~monthly release cadence.
- Capture the tabletop-enthusiast audience and drive interest through story-first pacing and consistent branding.
- Grow audience steadily via organic discovery, with supplemental paid support.
Hypothesis
A narrative-first edit (cut downtime/rules discussions), purposeful visuals, and consistent cadence will grow audience; selective marketing can accelerate discovery.
Approach
- Built a lightweight pipeline: production calendar, run-of-show, edit briefs, QC checklist.
- Used Agile methods and centralized comms for team alignment.
- Created templates for thumbnails, titles, descriptions, credits, and social posts, leading to consistent branding and faster publishing.
- Established an audio-to-video editing pipeline focusing on narrative pacing and reducing re-edits.
- Ran low-spend promotions (Reddit/Google/YouTube) and CTA bumpers to increase awareness without impacting presentation.
- Created a storefront ➚ to allow fans to support the show through merch and memberships.
Outcomes
- Cadence: ~1 episode/month at 30 - 60 minutes, sustained alongside full-time work.
- Growth: ~2,400 organic subscribers via YouTube discovery and social media posts.
- Engagement Marketing: 30% increase to watch time, 33% increase to CTR, 12% increase to subscribers.
My Role
- Owned: Pipeline, estimates, CTAs, release orchestration, team coordination, community engagement.
- Partnered: Performance, edits, branding.
Trade-Offs and Lessons
- Tighter edits and bespoke visuals mean longer production times. We accepted lower output for higher quality.
- Growth-targeted promotions had stronger long-term success than targeting viewership or watchtime.
Reflection and Direction:
Dice Versa is a passion project, so viability depends on time and resources. To keep it sustainable, I’m testing a lighter format with lower post-production overhead, paired with small, repeatable growth experiments. If revenue or viewership doesn’t reach target thresholds, I’ll pause and revisit with the lighter format.
Other Work
Senior Game Designer
Product & Game Design Consultant
Game Designer & Producer
Game Designer & Producer
Assistant Designer
Content Designer
Work Samples (Non-NDA)
Khoa Hua
User Experience Designer at Onlife
Nick is a unicorn in the game & product industry. It cannot be understated how much of Nick's knowledge and experience transcends even himself.
Nick's patience and leadership protected me from much strife, allowing me to grow and develop my skills in a safe & enabling environment. His insight into complex design systems, and coming up with out of box solutions was almost sorcery.
It is rare for a designer to dabble in both Product & Game Design worlds and that's why Nick is truly a one-in-a-million designer with the entire industry on his toolbelt.
Tim Farrow
Product Owner at Onlife
Nick has an excellent breadth and depth of skills and experience.
He excelled in his design leadership, including mentoring junior members of his team, pitching game roadmaps to the exec team, working with the development teams to execute his vision, and engaging with the player-base.
One of the many outstanding qualities that I experienced working with Nick was his ability to look at the 'big picture' view by setting up frameworks and desired outcomes, and then link back all the design elements and game mechanisms to achieve the outcomes in a structured and focussed process.
