Photo of Ben looking into the distance for some reason

Ben Huggins uses design to revitalize stale problems

Product Design Leader
California, USA
Peep some work

What do you mean, revitalize?

I believe that if you understand human behavior—and dig deep enough—there’s a way to rethink even the most established problem space. Fresh thinking on a stale problem. That’s where the best stuff lives. I’ve gotten the chance to reimagine concepts like HR at Humu, TV at YouTube, and thermostats at Nest.

I’ve led multidisciplinary teams for over a decade at companies large and small, while staying close to the work and practicing my craft.

Head of Design

Humu

A fresh take on HR tech, Humu (founded by Laszlo Bock) uses behavioral science to nudge people toward a better experience at work. As the Head of Design, I lead the strategic vision for the product and brand from MVP through series C.

  • Primary IC contributor building out suite of tools for both consumer and admin users
  • Started as only designer. Built high-impact design team of 7 across product and marketing
  • Led 2 internal rebrand efforts
Mockup of the Humu web and mobile app
Design Lead

YouTube on TV

As the design lead for YouTube’s fastest-growing screen, I concepted and executed a navigation-focused redesign of the entire app. This update eliminated major usability issues, improved key watch metrics and introduced a design system that boosted quality and speed of future UI features.

  • Created a TV navigation pattern that defined an industry standard (Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Paramount+, et al.)
TV screen in a living room showing the YouTube app for TV
Design Lead

YouTube Premium

Launching YouTube’s first subscription service (then YouTube Red) required a level of system design and cross-functional collaboration that the company had yet to experience. I led the design team that launched the service, and contributed the majority of the strategic work.

  • Growth platform placements and flows
  • Service layer across all YouTube apps
  • Signup, onboarding, account management
  • Feature education
3 mobile phones showing different screens of the YouTube premium experience
A sketched lightning bolt icon

BONUS ROUND:

At YouTube, I also built a handful of tools for content creators, including a crowdsourcing platform that allows fans to translate creators' videos into 60+ languages. Before YouTube, I designed Highlight Hunter (app GoPro adopted as "Hilight Tag" feature), worked on connected devices at Nest, and created over 120 social game campaigns for brands like Coca-Cola, Showtime, and Subway. I also make a thing called Instant Shotski, which is totally 😎. Way back in the day, I was a DJ and video artist touring with GrooveBoston.

Get in touch:

Shoot me an email or a DM @bhuggins