Jamal Nichols
Design Leadership

Design Leadership that inspires teams and visualizes a better future.

I'm Jamal, and this website contains some of my collected thoughts and work stories from over 10 years of working in the Software Design Industry.

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The Numbers

Career Milestones

200+
Amount of UX students I helped successfully transition into Design from a previous career
2b+
Amount of people who have used products I've designed
6
Number of Fortune 500 companies that have placed their trust in me
2
Number of FANG companies that have placed their trust in me
PROJECTS

Selected Works

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What others say

"From how you set out to understand a problem, to how we explore the spectrum of possible solutions, to how you deliver and execute on the best ideas, how you see the solution through all the way to how you report on it, share it and present it to larger audiences:
Your product thinking and breath of knowledge across all disciplines of design does not go unnoticed, not by me, nor your peers (design or cross-functional)”

Tiago Cabaco, VP Design (Uber, Facebook)

About Me

Me in 60 seconds

  • Over 10 years experience with global brands & startups in high-pressure environments
  • Bilingual, bicultural, biracial - natural ability to connect opposites
  • Dual Citizen (US/EU) - unique perspective
Style + Substance

My Design Philosophy

Solve Real People Problems

Every product I work on has to solve three fundamental questions:

What people problem are we solving?
Framing up the problems we're solving as people problems aligns our work with the communities we serve.

How do we know if this is a real problem?
What research or data do we have that confirms that this is a real problem that is hurting customers and hurting the business.

How will we know we've solved the problem?
In order to know we've solved the problem, we need to define what success looks like and how we will measure it.

Co-create with the business partners

I like to involve all the key people in a project early and get information and feedback often. Modern design, in my view, isn’t King Designer pulling grand ideas out of the ether. Design is more like a puzzle that we are all trying to solve together, and the designer facilitates and synthesizes the information into a potential vision.

Prototype Quickly

In my experience, the only thing that non-designers really understand is a prototype. As soon as you show people a prototype, you have those “aha” moments where it really starts clicking in their minds what we’re trying to accomplish, and the discussions move forward at lightning speed.

Measure The Right Things

Nothing is more important than measuring the outcome of your work. How will you otherwise know if you've solved the problem? Proper measurement creates accountability and focus in an organization. But measuring the right things requires a lot of deep thought and alignment.