AI can build almost anything now. Which is why everything feels the same.
I’m Rod Smith — the design leader who makes AI products feel human again. Strategy and the screens, hands-on, for teams that refuse to ship something forgettable.
AI made it trivial to ship a product, so now everyone does. And they all come out the templatized: the same flows, the same chatbot bolted to the corner, the same built-by-a-machine feeling. Users can’t always name it. But they can feel it. The one thing AI can’t do is empathize with how a user feels when experiencing a product. That’s the part I’ve focused on for over a decade.
A decade of products for companies that can’t afford to get it wrong.
Regulated finance, pharma, healthcare, telecom, and CPG — environments where a confusing interface isn’t a bad vibe, it’s a bad decision with real money behind it.
I don’t just direct design. I build it.
Most design leaders hand you a deck and disappear. I sit in the leadership seat and ship the UX in Figma myself when necessary. I can call the strategy and build the thing. That overlap is rare, and it’s the whole point. It’s also why I’m dangerous on AI products specifically: I’m not theorizing about them, I’m always building.
- Chief Product Officer, stealth AI startup — building an AI intelligence platform end to end, strategy through Figma.
- Co-Led, UX Center of Excellence at Kearney — across 14+ enterprise engagements.
- Credit-risk systems at State Street — redesigned high-stakes analyst workflows where errors cost real money.
- Director of Digital — managed teams across design, eng, and content, and drove conversion lift.
Innovation that can meet you where you are.
Lead with whichever fits where you are. They tend to flow into each other.
Fractional Design Leadership
You’ve got engineers, maybe a founder designing at 11pm, and nobody senior owning the experience. You can’t justify a $200k design hire yet but you feel the gap every week. I step in 1–2 days a week as your design lead: I make the calls, set direction, and ship the work. Senior judgment, hands on the tools, none of the full-time cost.
AI-UX Consulting
You’re putting AI into your product and something feels off …pretty, but nobody uses it, or you’re not sure where it even belongs. I’ll audit it, run a working session with your team, or design the fix, and tell you straight where AI earns its cost and where it’s just noise that makes you feel like everyone else.
Digital Vntures X - Humanizing AI Products 