Hi there—I’m a product design leader and educator. I work with people, teams and complex systems so we can all use emerging technology better.

two photos of Krissi Xenakis. in the left one she is balancing on one leg looking down and in the other photo smiling and looking at the camera with one arm behind her back.

I’m not good at being serious in photoshoots.

01 EXPERIENCE STRATEGY

Design Consulting at the IBM Garage

I build product experiences, from start-ups to enterprises, using human-centered design principles to create experiences that matter to the people who use them. At the IBM Garage, I helped scope and deliver design solutions for clients, supporting over $5 million in revenue.

In my design leadership role, I drove design quality across six garage locations in North and South America. I was responsible for regional hiring, mentorship, and coaching to design team members.

Read Case Study

Product Design Foundations at Shake

Shake made it dead simple to create, sign, and send legally-binding agreements digitally—a problem that’s existed for too long. As the Head of Design at Shake, I oversaw product and brand on top of daily design execution, collaborating closely with the leadership, engineering, and UX teams. LegalShield acquired Shake in 2015.

National Geographic Magazine for iPhone

I collaborated with National Geographic Magazine and the team at Joe Zeff Design to create the magazine’s first iPhone app that interpreted traditional print content into a delightful, mobile experience. We developed a scalable experience to highlight the magazine's best material every month.

A dashboard with numbers and other information cards on a desktop computer

02 DESIGN LEADERSHIP

A Design Practice to Support Big Data Insights

I’ve led design teams to increase their impact by establishing the programs and organizational relationships they need to do their best work. At Komodo Health, I was responsible for the user experience of ten healthcare data analytic products and associated DesignOps programs.

I grew the design practice from two to six full-time hires in 12 months, launched a design system, and established a design research practice.

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Bringing Design to IBM Z

The IBM Mainframe is famous for helping NASA land a man on the moon. Today, the IBM Z mainframe provides security and resiliency to enterprises for critical services such as payment processing and airline reservations.

As the design lead for the software operating system on IBM Z, I led a team of design researchers and UX designers to improve the system admin experience. To support IBM’s worldwide design transformation, I contributed to the international design program office as the NYC IBM Design Studio Ambassador, responsible for cross-organization critiques, visiting guest presentations, and mentorship.

a classroom of students with a professor at a lectern with screen in the back

03 TEACHING

SVA Products of Design MFA Thesis Faculty

I teach advanced interaction design at SVA’s Products of Design MFA program incorporating theory with practical application through projects with AI, Big Data, and AR/VR technology themes.
Read about my teaching experience on Medium.

Speculative Futurism Workshops at NC State and MICA

I’ve led speculative futurism projects with Master of Graphic Design students at North Carolina State and with BFA graphic design students at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Whether their futures were utopian or dystopian, students had to pitch the product or service based on their imagined future at the end of the project.

Parson’s The New School Design Lecturer

I instructed 18 BFA Communication Design students in Editorial Design for mobile and digital interfaces.