Recent Work
Visionary UX and product designer known for leveraging diverse expertise across multiple industries to deliver innovative, customer-focused technology solutions that align business goals with end-user needs. Tenacious problem-solver who transforms future-state concepts into reality by challenging established views, simplifying complexities, and building consensus among stakeholders. Trusted team leader skilled at driving results amidst ambiguity by owning the process from ideation to execution and inspiring others to do their best work.
I take ownership of the process to deliver concepts and implment. As a team member I take responsibility for delivering the optimal customer experience.
I partner with business, product, engineering and analytics to deliver. I'm business-minded and always focus on aligning the customer and business goals.
Have deep experience in many UX and business disciplines to guide the process and mentor excellence
...but more than that, I have successfully demonstrated how to model a process around the customer in successive iterations.
"Gray has good intuition and is good at seeing where tech is going down the road. He has the tenacity in wanting to get a successful venture and it's what distinguishes him which I think it's a great asset for success. He's creative as he comes up with innovative ideas about products and marketing”
Zack J., Principal Engineer Software Development at Oracle
“Gray is able to thoughtfully review all available data and make sound recommendations on product structure and functionality. His ability to objectively analyze information and make decisions based on logic make him a key resource in determining appropriate direction for implementation and development.”
Jennifer M., Sr. Product Manager, HR Global / Compliance at Workday, Inc
“Gray has been a designer and entrepreneur for almost 2 decades, and has seen 100s of examples of what works and what doesn't. He's good at strategy, but also good in the weeds - the 2 hats an entrepreneur needs to be able to wear!”
Felix D., UX Designer at Google
“Gray is one of the best product designers that I have worked with. He is very customer focused, innovative in his designs and proposes product designs that make products easy to use. He is also very business savvy which is a rare combination. He is a true entrepreneur.”
Narinder S., Founder at TReXGlobal.com
“Gray is *already* a great entrepreneur. His advice and thought leadership has proven valuable to me”.
Michael P., Vice President, User Experience at TIBCO Software Inc.
“He's already a successful entrepreneur in my opinion. He runs his own company - and does so successfully by blending business acumen, execution, and the delivery of value to clients.”
Erich V., Senior Director, Product Management at NETGEAR
“Gray knows how to make things happen and works with people in a way that facilitates getting it done. In building up and running his consultancy, he is a hustler behind the scenes bringing in the right talent and resources while delivering what was promised to clients in an organized manner. He has always been passionate about side projects as well and keeps lending a hand to ideas that interest him and seem to have legs. All I can say is he is a true entrepreneur that loves bringing products to life.”
Aaron R., Interaction Designer at Public Library of Science
“Gray is driven and creative, and has always displayed tremendous entrepreneurial spirit through the many years I've known him. His enthusiasm in infectious and he's an incredibly hard worker, unflagging in his pursuit of success.”
Sebastian T., Vice President, User Experience at TIBCO Software Inc.
“His passion is clear in his work... he loves the challenge”
Dan N., CEO at Networked Insights
“In terms of raw talent, Gray is a thoughtful, experienced designer. He's also just an all-around good guy and a pleasure to work with. I think he'd do well as a founder because he's always been self-motivated and independent. He's not the kind of person that needs a "boss" in order to be excited and to work. He's also already run his own design consultancy for years so he's used to hustling and selling to folks.”
Shawna H., Founder & Principal User Experience Designer at Shawna Hein Designs
”I've known Gray and a long time and seen his commitment to developing great experiences. He has the right combination of realism and idealism - every entrepreneur needs to have a vision and root that vision in a clear understanding of what people will and won't do.”
Katherine B., Co-Founder, COO at Wildflower Health
“We needed Less Ink (Gray Kuglen) to do more than design, we needed a straightforward look at our requirements to help our team understand what they were trying to accomplish. Less Ink (Gray Kuglen) applied a rigorous process and remained flexible enough to react to our earliest ideas and asking the right questions”.
Brad T., Product Manager - TIBCO
"I would highly recommend (Gray Kuglen) because he is not only a world class design expert (in the top 1%), but, and what I find unique is their total submersion and ownership of the customer problem (in the top .01%) leading to best in class products".
Pankaj S., CEO - TREX Global
“Gray is an extremely talented and thorough user experience designer. Gray helped my team to design a new support website for Veritas. I always appreciated Gray’s research in preparation for a design review. He had always thought through his proposed design extensively, and it showed. However, he was also very open to feedback that he could incorporate into an improved experience. Ultimately, he produced a vastly improved experience for our customers that was grounded in comparative site research and customer feedback. I would recommend him for any user experience design work you need!"
Kelly R., Director, Customer Experience and Process Design - Veritas
“We needed Less Ink (Gray Kuglen) to do more than design, we needed a straightforward look at our requirements to help our team understand what they were trying to accomplish. Less Ink (Gray Kuglen) applied a rigorous process and remained flexible enough to react to our earliest ideas and asking the right questions”.
Brad T., Product Manager - TIBCO