Portfolio · Vol. XVII / MMXXVI

Design leader & team builder.

I'm a product design leader passionate about building strong teams and the systems that help them do their best work.

Daniel Hanawalt · UX & Product
§ 01 · About / Philosophy

People, process, & technology.

Great design organizations are built at the intersection of these three things.

Daniel Hanawalt — portrait
D. Hanawalt Plate II · MMXXVI

I build strong design organizations — partnering with product and engineering leaders, running research initiatives, and driving strategy across complex B2B SaaS platforms.

I. People

Hire for potential.

Bringing in designers at all levels creates opportunities for mentorship and growth. I foster psychological safety through honesty, humility, and accountability - because teams do their best work when they feel supported and challenged.

II. Process

Measure & document.

From customer activation to product sentiment, tracked outcomes ensure design decisions create real value. And good documentation brings clarity and creates efficiency for embedded AI systems.

III. Technology

Embrace the shift

I see AI as a force multiplier - an assistant helping designers move faster and smarter, and I champion workflow automation and well-documented design systems to deliver speed, scalability, and consistency.

UX & Product Strategy Design Systems AI-Driven Design Ops Executive Alignment Experimentation & Analytics Mentorship & Team Growth

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather the wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the endless sea.”

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
§ 02 · Selected Work

Case studies.

A small set of projects that made a difference — for the customer, for the team, or for the bottom line.

Plate 001 Email Message Editor — hero screenshot
SaaS · Marketing Cloud MMXXIV

Email Message Editor.

A drag-and-drop composition surface that took the complexity out of email design – and became an industry standard for ease of use.

+38% activation · 9-month build Read case
Plate 002 Campaign Workflow Builder — flow screenshot
B2B · Automation MMXXIII

Campaign workflow builder.

It started as an accessible way to step into email automation – and transformed into a powerful yet simple-to-use marketing platform.

12 hr → 40 min · 6 squads Read case
Plate 003 MDM Framework — system screenshot
Enterprise · Data MMXXIII

MDM framework.

A componentized SaaS system that gave life science companies a shared vocabulary for master data management — and a faster path to powerful, customized solutions.

7 product lines · 1 system Read case

“Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.”

ERIK ADIGARD

Contact. Let's talk shop.

— The fastest way to reach me

Send a connection request on LinkedIn with a short note about what you'd like to discuss. I read everything and usually reply within a couple of days.

Connect on LinkedIn /in/dhanawalt