8 Years of Design-Led Transformation at Power
A look inside how I helped scale a billion-dollar home remodeling company through UX leadership, systems thinking, and bold product innovation.
Designing & Scaling Playbook
Playbook started as a scrappy style guide and became a multi-language design system powering every PR in Nitro. We went from Bootstrap overrides to a fully responsive system in Rails, React, and Swift—adopted across teams and trusted by engineering.
By pairing live code with Figma kits and prioritizing usability, we shipped faster and more consistently. The system now gets 2M+ downloads a year and supports everything from dashboards to mobile apps to internal tooling.
“Playbook isn't just a system of components.
It's a system of thinking.”
The largest design system ever built for Ruby on Rails.
*Power Stats
95%
Adoption in legacy platform
*Power Stats
+23K
Components used across all apps
+2M
Downloads
+350
Customizable
Components
5
Core
Platforms
*Estimates based on stats from main platform ecosystem, Quote based on the number of view components available to the public
Designing for Designers
and Developers
Figma Library
Visual source of truth for designers — every Playbook component, documented and ready to use.
Cross-Platform Consistency
Shared styles and behaviors implemented across Rails, React, Swift, and Figma.
Top Components
A glance at the most-used Playbook elements across the Nitro platform.
Star Rating
Interactive, accessible UI pattern used in surveys, reviews, and forms.
Component Playgrounds
Live testing environments where devs can explore, tweak, and QA components.
Kit Tracker
Behind-the-scenes tool to track component usage across apps and teams.
Home + Code
Homepage interface with direct code access — bridging design and engineering.
Gauge
Lightweight data viz component for real-time metrics and status.
Expandable Table
Complex table component supporting expand/collapse, multi-select, and actions.
Draggable
Flexible drag-and-drop pattern powering reordering, sorting, and layout controls.
Group Hover
Coordinated hover states for layered interaction design.
Typeahead
Predictive search and filter component with keyboard support.
Templates System
Pre-built page-level layouts, helping developers scaffold full views in minutes.
From Invisible to Indispensable: Launching Pulse
Pulse was our first major consumer-facing product. It started with a vision: make the chaos of home remodeling feel calm. From kickoff to launch, we ran rapid UX research, stripped away complexity, and shipped an experience customers love.
The dashboard became a daily ritual for thousands. With over 567k users and 13k+ deep engagements, Pulse changed how we connected with customers—and proved that internal systems can lead to external delight.
“Pulse didn't just track the project. It gave customers control.”
570k+
Since Creation
(Launch - March 2025)
13k+
Users in First Month
Designed Around the User
We started with listening: interviews, surveys, field visits. Users wanted less jargon, more transparency, and fewer surprises. So we mapped every moment of the remodeling journey, designed flows around natural touchpoints, and shipped fast.
The result was a clean, mobile-first dashboard that let users preview doors, confirm details, and feel confident every step of the way. Pulse became a surprise delight in a space where expectations were low.
Dashboard
Central hub for every step in the customer journey—simplified and designed for clarity.
Mobile First
Optimized for access on the go, keeping customers connected from anywhere.
Magic Link
One-tap login with no passwords—reducing friction while boosting trust.
Project Details
Key info delivered clearly—timeline, milestones, and confirmations in one place.
3D Door Preview
Lets users explore their actual product with an interactive, photorealistic view.
Payment Confirmation
A complex workflow made simple—secure payments handled directly in Pulse.
Onboarding Flow
A guided setup experience that helps homeowners start with confidence.
Before & After
How user research shaped the dashboard—showing the evolution from clutter to clarity.
Signature
An intuitive flow that lets users sign documents with clarity and peace of mind.
Designing What's Next
From COVID-19 disruptions to 3D visualization breakthroughs, this lab created space to experiment, prototype, and prove what's possible. UX R&D at Power wasn't just an after-hours side hustle — it was a core function of how we planned, pitched, and accelerated the future.
We made room for safe, low-risk exploration inside a mature org. That breathing room enabled some of our most creative outputs: from remote sales tools to internal design knowledge hubs and fully 3D-rendered product configurators.
“Not every idea shipped, but every idea sharpened the team. And many became the future of our platform.”
Innovation Highlights
Turning Vision into Velocity
The innovation lab wasn't just a sandbox — it was a pressure cooker. We took on near-term strategic bets, using design and prototyping to unlock big moves ahead of engineering. It was a place to trial the hard stuff: new platforms, new modalities (like 3D), or tools that didn't have an owner yet.
Virtual Appointments showed how to rethink an in-home model during COVID. Huddle became our design team's source of truth. The 3D Door Builder proved that sales configurators didn't have to feel like a slideshow. All were built with tiny, fast teams — and many went straight to production.
3D Door Builder
A product configurator with real-time 3D rendering - elevating the buying experience with immersive visualization.
404 Page
A playful yet purposeful design reflecting Power's brand personality, even in error states.
Nitro Branding Updates
Updating Nitro branding to match Power's new looking feel.
Solar Solutions - Presentation
Early visual storytelling tools used to communicate clean energy offerings to customers.
Solar - Virtual Appointments
Built in response to COVID - enabling remote consultations with no loss of trust or clarity.
Connect - Power's own Chat Tool
An collaboration tool for real-time sharing across teams and locations. This powers communication for the business.
Territory Mapping
Geospatial tools for optimizing sales and service regions visually, important for opening new offices and locations.
3D Door Experience
What started as an innovation experiment turned into a full product. Fully interactive product walkthrough - redefining how customers explore options.
Connect - Smart Bookmarks
Greater control over how you see your chats and conversations.
Solar - New Presentation Tools
A refined version of the solar presentation, emphasizing speed and polish.
Power's Illustration Library
Custom brand assets developed to align internal tools with the Power visual system.
Navigator Concept
Early UI concept for in field consultants to access nitro and set appointments.
Brackets System
We built a bracket system and playbook and used it all over nitro to Power promotionals.
Connect - Power's Chat App
A modern messaging experience integrated into the employee platform.
Connect - Chat App GIFs
Enhancing the chat experience with animated interactions for personality and engagement.
When UX Leads the Way
Not every problem needs a prototype — but our biggest wins all started with one. These were the major product initiatives where UX led the way through ambiguity, validated the path forward, and laid the foundation for game-changing apps.
With Home Tour, we redesigned a critical step in every customer project. With the Inventory Scanner, we connected physical product flow with digital tracking. Each helped set new patterns that influenced Nitro-wide standards.
“We built internal tools at enterprise scale, but with startup speed.”
Research-Driven Foundations
We didn't build these apps in a vacuum. Home Tour took 3 years of research, testing, iteration, and simplification before it launched. It replaced a legacy window-measuring tool and is now used on every project. The design helped frame everything: from how to capture data to how to structure handoffs to engineering.
The Inventory Scanner combined hardware and software in a tight loop. It allowed us to manage the full warehouse lifecycle of window products—from truck delivery to bay placement. And its UI design was so modern and usable, it influenced other Nitro interfaces for years to come.
Home Tour - Augmented Reality Measurement Tool
A reimagined, touch-free way to measure a window - precise, fast, and intuitive. This was an innovation project that turned into real tech.
Inventory Scanner
Warehouse management
Warehouse Scanner - Inventory Scanner
Simplified warehouse receiving workflows with a sleek scanner interface for inventory accuracy.
Home Tour - Early Concepts
One of the earliest vision prototypes that shaped Home Tour's success.
Warehouse Scanner - Swipe Interactions
Fast, gesture-driven UI for a more responsive app.
Spaces - Meeting Room Booking
Tap-to-book meeting rooms using smart scheduling from any device.
Spaces - Reservation
Find and conference rooms and spaces instantly with an elegant, responsive UI.
Spaces - iPad App
A mobile-first experience for managing meeting room reservations on the go.
Photo Gallery - Sales Tool
A tap-to-browse gallery showing real past projects—used by reps to build trust and showcase craftsmanship.
New Hire Onboarding - Onboarding System
Streamlined employee onboarding - engaging and secure.
Dojo - Power's Learning Management System
Company-wide training tool with easy navigation, rich content, and clear tracking.
New Hire Onboarding - Document Management
Upload, manage, and validate hiring documents with streamlined flows.
Custom Icons
Bespoke icons created to support Playbook and elevate product interfaces.
Fintech - KPI Financial Metrics
Track performance across teams and platforms in real-time.
Fintech - Loan Management
Streamlined loan processing for Stream Innovations.
Fintech - Accounting Tools
Financial operations simplified through design-forward tooling.
Runway - Bulk Editing
We built our own app to run our agile sprints. Update rows at once with ease and validation control.
Home Tour - Augmented Reality Live Demo
A real-world demo of Home Tour's AR-powered field measurements.
Building a Team That Builds Everything
From a team of one to a department embedded in every corner of the company, building UX at Power was a lesson in scale, culture, and momentum. We didn't just grow fast—we grew right. With intentional recruiting, clear career paths, and a strong leadership bench, we transformed UX from a support role into a strategic driver.
Our culture became our product: daily stand-ups, dual-track agile rituals, onboarding that empowered, and systems that sustained. What started as a whisper of "design" became a drumbeat across every team in the company.
“We didn't just bring in designers—we built an environment where design could thrive.”
Culture is the Operating System
A strong team is more than headcount. It's habits. We built a culture of trust, transparency, and speed. Daily UX standups gave us shared momentum. Our onboarding playbook meant every new hire could ship confidently within weeks. And with dual-track agile, we built the right thing—not just the thing that was spec'd.
Retention soared. Designers stayed not just because of the work, but because of the environment. UX became a sought-after discipline across the company, influencing hiring, engineering, and even how product was scoped.
Create Pins
Tools that empowered designers to annotate, organize, and hand off confidently.
Lean UX Framework
A visual map of how we aligned problem solving, delivery, and research.
Lean UX in Action
Showcasing how our team broke big challenges into fast, collaborative loops.
Custom Icons
More than design assets—icons built team identity and reinforced shared systems.
Handoff with Huddle
A homegrown tool that made sharing work with engineers seamless and fast.
Embedded Handoffs
Interactive specs embedded directly into workflows using Huddle.
User Flows
Our UX playbook visualized: mapping journeys to improve outcomes.
UX Dailies
Daily rituals that gave us clarity, speed, and team-wide visibility.
Team Culture
Rituals and routines that turned teammates into creative collaborators.
User Research
Research built into our rhythm—guiding every sprint with insight.
Usability Testing
Lightweight tests that led to heavyweight wins—validating early, often.