Kind Words & Recognition
John Clements
Director of User Experience – GE Vernova: Grid Solutions
John managed me directly.
“I’ve had the honor of leading Chuck as part of the PERS UX team, and it's been a pleasure to see him grow as a designer and team member over my tenure with him. Amidst the team embarking on a multi-year endeavor to build a new design system while also transitioning to new design tools, Chuck rebuilt our foundations leveraging his deep knowledge of accessibility with WCAG‑compliant color updates, clear documentation, and thoughtful accessibility guidance that help our team design for the specific needs of our users. He shipped high‑quality Figma assets and set a strong standard for how we build design components. He laid excellent groundwork as we move towards capturing adoption metrics in the coming year.
With product branding shifting with the GE Vernova spin off, I asked Chuck to proactively step into that high‑visibility challenge and set a clear direction for our products. He delivered branded login assets, published styling guidelines, and kicked off rollout across multiple teams. His work is already shaping a more consistent, credible brand experience.
Chuck is proactive, thoughtful, and steady through pivots. He gets the right things out the door and sets teams up to succeed. It's been exciting to see the measurable impact his work has driven in our organization.”
❖
Amy Aragones
Senior Director Customer & User Experience – GE Vernova (retired)
Amy managed me directly. Her note reflects the work I contributed to DEX.
The successful completion of the Design Extension System (DEX), a modern UI design system that modernizes and improves the usability of, and user satisfaction with our software. This milestone represents the culmination of a three-year journey and the result of a strong collaboration between the User Experience Design Team and the UI Engineering Team.
Key Points:
54 design components representing a 36% increase in possible user interactions.
Fully tokenized components enabling seamless future state updates across our portfolio.
Over 500 unique icons supporting diverse product needs.
An estimated 20% average reduction in development time
Support overhead by consolidating multiple code bases into one.
Compliant with ISO 9241-161:2016 standards for visual user-interface elements.
Compliant with WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines for visual design.
Robust support and governance including onboarding documentation, a dedicated MS Teams channel, office hours, and a consultancy model.
Development prioritization during pre-release is already providing impact with a 30% adoption rate across 40 teams.
❖
Angelica Rosenzweig Castillo
Senior Interaction Designer – Google
Angelica worked with me at GE Digital.
Chuck has been able to quickly identify communication challenges and has used mentoring as a way to get to the root cause of communication processes that are broken. I’m thankful for his patience and openness to other perspectives.
❖
Brad Bonham
Principal User Experience Designer – Blackbaud
Brand worked with me when I contracted at Red Privet.
I had the honor of working with Chuck on a project recently, and I cannot commend him highly enough. Chuck works quickly without sacrificing quality, and moves fluidly from concept to polished deliverable based on the project's needs. He is a gifted visual communicator and facilitator and uses his craft to bring passion and productivity to creative projects.
I was especially impressed by Chuck's integrity and professionalism. He manages his time extremely well and respects others' time and attention.
One amazing thing is his ability to use visual communication as a driver of productivity. Many times in the project our team would be discussing ideas, and Chuck would encourage us to make our ideas concrete through sketches, which immediately improved the quality of our conversations and product.
Chuck has a rare combination of qualities – the ability to deliver detailed, polished designs that surprise and delight clients, but also the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances based on user feedback or a shifting work environment. He collaborates better remotely than many people are able to do on-site, and I sincerely hope he offers training on remote productivity and collaboration that other teams can use.
❖
Nathan Curtis
Design System Architect – Directed Edges
Nathan was senior to me at EightShapes, but didn’t manage me directly.
Having worked and observed Chuck grow for over three years, I can attest that he's a talented, versatile, and thoughtful designer. At EightShapes, he created new design systems and visual styles for a range of clients as well as executed detailed, interactive concepts for some of the world's most well-known brands. He worked web sites, web apps, and native apps, always with a positive attitude and creative intensity.
Two projects remind me of Chuck at his best. First, a responsive redesign of Marriott.com's (multi-billion-dollar-per-year) reservation path, where his visual talent balanced emerging designs of three distinct UX designers simultaneously while keeping the customer journey cohesive throughout. Second, a followup effort where he led a rag-tag crew of product designers to explore concepts for site-wide components across products. During the project, he injected himself to trigger better collaboration and foster effective critique that drove the team to achieve their goals over an intense, formative period.
Lastly, Chuck always contributed a point-of-view to our all-hands and practice area meetings that was polished and inspiring. Our team grew to expect quality from Chuck, and he always delivered.
❖
Dan Brown
Information Architect and Principal – Curious Squid
Dan managed me directly at EightShapes.
No finer authority on typography, color, and graphic design will you find, yet capable of translating this for the broader design team and clients alike. Chuck's sensitivity to the technical constraints of the web, plus the concerns of user experience in general, makes him an ideal visual designer. He immersed himself in the EightShapes' approach to systematic design and perfected the role of visual design in component-based design systems. Chuck's an ideal addition to any team, great at coming up with lots of ideas, and then pulling everything down to reality.
❖
Chris Detzi
Director, Enterprise and Connected Channel Experience Design – Truist
Chris was senior to me at EightShapes, but didn’t manage me.
Chuck is a wonderful designer, with a knack for honing in on the right problems to solve. He has an uncanny ability to listen and probe on core design issues and it serves him and his partners well. Chuck’s design skills, thoroughness, efficiency, and overall positivity is a rarity in this field and I’d recommend him highly.
❖
* Portrait illustrations by me – no AI here!
Kind Words & Recognition
John Clements
Director of User Experience – GE Vernova: Grid Solutions
John managed me directly.
“I’ve had the honor of leading Chuck as part of the PERS UX team, and it's been a pleasure to see him grow as a designer and team member over my tenure with him. Amidst the team embarking on a multi-year endeavor to build a new design system while also transitioning to new design tools, Chuck rebuilt our foundations leveraging his deep knowledge of accessibility with WCAG‑compliant color updates, clear documentation, and thoughtful accessibility guidance that help our team design for the specific needs of our users. He shipped high‑quality Figma assets and set a strong standard for how we build design components. He laid excellent groundwork as we move towards capturing adoption metrics in the coming year.
With product branding shifting with the GE Vernova spin off, I asked Chuck to proactively step into that high‑visibility challenge and set a clear direction for our products. He delivered branded login assets, published styling guidelines, and kicked off rollout across multiple teams. His work is already shaping a more consistent, credible brand experience.
Chuck is proactive, thoughtful, and steady through pivots. He gets the right things out the door and sets teams up to succeed. It's been exciting to see the measurable impact his work has driven in our organization.”
❖
Amy Aragones
Senior Director Customer & User Experience – GE Vernova (retired)
Amy managed me directly. Her note reflects the work I contributed to DEX.
The successful completion of the Design Extension System (DEX), a modern UI design system that modernizes and improves the usability of, and user satisfaction with our software. This milestone represents the culmination of a three-year journey and the result of a strong collaboration between the User Experience Design Team and the UI Engineering Team.
Key Points:
54 design components representing a 36% increase in possible user interactions.
Fully tokenized components enabling seamless future state updates across our portfolio.
Over 500 unique icons supporting diverse product needs.
An estimated 20% average reduction in development time
Support overhead by consolidating multiple code bases into one.
Compliant with ISO 9241-161:2016 standards for visual user-interface elements.
Compliant with WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines for visual design.
Robust support and governance including onboarding documentation, a dedicated MS Teams channel, office hours, and a consultancy model.
Development prioritization during pre-release is already providing impact with a 30% adoption rate across 40 teams.
❖
Angelica Rosenzweig Castillo
Senior Interaction Designer – Google
Angelica worked with me at GE Digital.
Chuck has been able to quickly identify communication challenges and has used mentoring as a way to get to the root cause of communication processes that are broken. I’m thankful for his patience and openness to other perspectives.
❖
Brad Bonham
Principal User Experience Designer – Blackbaud
Brand worked with me when I contracted at Red Privet.
I had the honor of working with Chuck on a project recently, and I cannot commend him highly enough. Chuck works quickly without sacrificing quality, and moves fluidly from concept to polished deliverable based on the project's needs. He is a gifted visual communicator and facilitator and uses his craft to bring passion and productivity to creative projects.
I was especially impressed by Chuck's integrity and professionalism. He manages his time extremely well and respects others' time and attention.
One amazing thing is his ability to use visual communication as a driver of productivity. Many times in the project our team would be discussing ideas, and Chuck would encourage us to make our ideas concrete through sketches, which immediately improved the quality of our conversations and product.
Chuck has a rare combination of qualities – the ability to deliver detailed, polished designs that surprise and delight clients, but also the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances based on user feedback or a shifting work environment. He collaborates better remotely than many people are able to do on-site, and I sincerely hope he offers training on remote productivity and collaboration that other teams can use.
❖
Nathan Curtis
Design System Architect – Directed Edges
Nathan was senior to me at EightShapes, but didn’t manage me directly.
Having worked and observed Chuck grow for over three years, I can attest that he's a talented, versatile, and thoughtful designer. At EightShapes, he created new design systems and visual styles for a range of clients as well as executed detailed, interactive concepts for some of the world's most well-known brands. He worked web sites, web apps, and native apps, always with a positive attitude and creative intensity.
Two projects remind me of Chuck at his best. First, a responsive redesign of Marriott.com's (multi-billion-dollar-per-year) reservation path, where his visual talent balanced emerging designs of three distinct UX designers simultaneously while keeping the customer journey cohesive throughout. Second, a followup effort where he led a rag-tag crew of product designers to explore concepts for site-wide components across products. During the project, he injected himself to trigger better collaboration and foster effective critique that drove the team to achieve their goals over an intense, formative period.
Lastly, Chuck always contributed a point-of-view to our all-hands and practice area meetings that was polished and inspiring. Our team grew to expect quality from Chuck, and he always delivered.
❖
Dan Brown
Information Architect and Principal – Curious Squid
Dan managed me directly at EightShapes.
No finer authority on typography, color, and graphic design will you find, yet capable of translating this for the broader design team and clients alike. Chuck's sensitivity to the technical constraints of the web, plus the concerns of user experience in general, makes him an ideal visual designer. He immersed himself in the EightShapes' approach to systematic design and perfected the role of visual design in component-based design systems. Chuck's an ideal addition to any team, great at coming up with lots of ideas, and then pulling everything down to reality.
❖
Chris Detzi
Director, Enterprise and Connected Channel Experience Design – Truist
Chris was senior to me at EightShapes, but didn’t manage me.
Chuck is a wonderful designer, with a knack for honing in on the right problems to solve. He has an uncanny ability to listen and probe on core design issues and it serves him and his partners well. Chuck’s design skills, thoroughness, efficiency, and overall positivity is a rarity in this field and I’d recommend him highly.
❖
* Portrait illustrations by me – no AI here!