Adam Hickey

Lead Product Designer · Minneapolis

Building design systems and AI-assisted workflows that make complex work clearer and more human.

Cargill
Ameriprise
Dr Pepper
Intel
Lund
Toro

Case studies

Each project is a different puzzle, but the approach stays the same. Align people, process, and platforms, then build the system that keeps them aligned.

Scaling enterprise product design across 40+ SAP apps

Scaling enterprise product design across 40+ SAP apps

Led UX strategy, design systems, and governance across 40+ apps.

Enterprise UX Design systems Governance
Reducing operational overhead by 80% through a grant-management portal

Reducing operational overhead by 80% through a grant-management portal

Owned research, workflows, public website design, online community, and accessibility.

Service design Accessibility Public sector
Orchestrating real-time logistics for a 450+ truck fleet

Orchestrating real-time logistics for a 450+ truck fleet

Led the cockpit UI, real-time fleet visibility, and dispatcher workflows as lead UX consultant.

Complex systems Real-time data Logistics
Designing an internal product platform for a global innovation network

Designing an internal product platform for a global innovation network

Led brand identity, campaign system, and portal design across four fiscal years.

Brand identity Campaigns SharePoint

Earlier experience

Two decades of work that built the foundation for the case studies above.

12 years as an enterprise design consultant (2013-present)

12 years as an enterprise design consultant (2013-present)

Moving enterprise teams from fragmented tools to coherent systems.

Legacy modernization Stakeholder alignment Product strategy
8 years as a hybrid designer / developer (2005-2013)

8 years as a hybrid designer / developer (2005-2013)

Designing and building when those weren’t yet separate roles.

Frontend development Prototyping Interactive design

Designing beyond the screen

Human at the center

  • UX strategy and product direction
  • Information architecture
  • Research planning and synthesis

Systems that scale

  • Design systems and governance
  • Reusable components and patterns
  • DesignOps and workflow

Measure, learn, evolve

  • Usability testing
  • Measurement and analytics
  • Mentoring and continuous improvement

My approach to designNow powered by AI

01

It starts with the destination.

Nobody books a flight for the plane. They book it for where it takes them.So before I draw a screen, I follow the people: where they start, what they’re really after, and where they get stuck. AI shows me the patterns. Understanding why is still human work.

02

Altitude reveals the paths you’d miss on the ground.

From up here, the whole landscape opens up. Every route, every dead end.AI lets me try more ideas and drop the weak ones early. But more options aren’t better ones. My job is finding the path that takes the friction off real people.

03

Good design keeps you oriented, wherever you land.

Step into a new place and the first thing you look for is your bearings.Enterprise work is dense and high-stakes. Finishing the task is just the floor. Good design shows people where they are, what’s coming, and why it matters, so the work feels calm instead of anxious.

Still evolving

When I started in design, I thought success meant visual polish. Over time, I learned the real craft lives in alignment, and that most design problems are communication problems about how people make decisions together.

What I look for now is whether the system keeps guiding people long after the project ends. That’s the test.

  1. Craft
  2. Systems
  3. Culture
View my work Let’s connect on LinkedIn

Lucy(Lucy approves of this message from her curled-up spot nearby)