TransUnion Design Culture & UX Labs

As Senior Director of Product UX & Design, I helped build a design culture inside a legacy organization by modernizing how teams collaborate, make decisions, and deliver experiences. When TransUnion made its first major investment in design in late 2019, we had the opportunity to prove that human‑centered thinking could accelerate business outcomes at enterprise scale. Over time, we evolved from being “the new kids on the block” to becoming a strategic partner—driving product clarity, system modernization, and cross‑department alignment.

Snapshot (Challenge • Role • Audience • Constraints)​

Challenge

Design was new inside a decades‑old legacy organization. Teams were distributed, UI patterns were outdated, accessibility debt was high, and cross‑functional alignment was inconsistent. Designers lacked shared rituals and frameworks; product teams lacked a clear way to integrate design into decision‑making; and stakeholders weren’t yet sure how design could drive tangible business outcomes.
 

My Role

I led the transformation of TU’s design culture—standing up the practice, establishing credibility through rapid wins, building our operating model, modernizing our design system, introducing design‑thinking rituals, and launching TU Design Labs to deliver high‑impact research, prototyping, and partner‑facing innovation.
 

Audience

Product, engineering, marketing, risk/compliance, business development, sales, and partner teams across TransUnion’s Consumer Interactive division—along with internal and external partners who relied on our UX expertise to improve consumer experiences.
 

Constraints

15‑year‑old legacy systems and patterns

Human‑centered design was brand new to the business

Strict regulatory environments

Many parallel product teams with different goals and processes

Need for speed, credibility, and business alignment from day one

Starting from zero: building credibility inside a legacy enterprise

We were a brand‑new team in a very established organization. Our first job was to listen—to understand motivations, constraints, and the decision‑making culture. To earn trust quickly, we focused on small, high‑impact wins: rapid UI improvements, tightly scoped research, and fast prototypes that solved real problems.

This combination of speed, scrappiness, and quality helped us show value immediately. Within the first year, we had introduced our own design‑thinking approach, established key partnerships across departments, and earned a meaningful seat at the table.

Linking human‑centered design to business outcomes

From the beginning, we tied design decisions to outcomes executives care about: Increasing engagement, increasing revenue, reducing support & operational costs, improving customer satisfaction, and strengthening partner relationships

Our philosophy was simple:
If we build experiences that are beautiful, usable, meaningful, and emotionally resonant, customers will feel confident and supported—and the business will grow as a result.

Putting design front and center

To build transparency and cross‑functional trust, we created the UX Design General Assembly—a monthly open forum where anyone across the company could see work in progress:

  • Rolling research insights
  • Early wireframes
  • Prototypes
  • Stakeholder feedback
  • UI demos

Attendance grew to 75+ active global participants each month. We collected ongoing feedback to measure value and refine how we communicated our work.

Celebrating the work to strengthen culture

Every year, we created a custom end‑of‑year UX recap—highlighting the most impactful projects across mobile, web, research, concept videos, and ideation workshops. These recaps became a cultural touchstone that reinforced the impact design was having across the business.
  • TU Design Culture & UX Labs
  • TU Design Culture & UX Labs
  • TU Design Culture & UX Labs

Launching TU Design & UX Labs — an internal consulting model

In 2020, we formalized our impact by creating TU Design Labs—a rapid‑problem‑solving and innovation engine that deployed UX talent to:

  • Reduce compliance risk
  • Support sales opportunities
  • Improve product quality
  • Accelerate roadmaps
  • Strengthen partner relationships
  • Drive new business

We supported major deals by “selling the experience, not the feature,” using quick-turn consumer feedback, vision prototypes, and scenario videos to help partners and executives imagine what was possible.

Outcome (Highlights)

Organization

A modern design system that improved consistency, accessibility, velocity, and quality.

Clear operating model, rituals, and governance that aligned design, product, and engineering.

A culture of transparency, shared learning, and customer empathy across departments.

Business

Faster decision‑making, reduced rework, and better alignment with product roadmaps.

Stronger support for sales, innovation, and partner enablement through TU Design Labs.

Clear linkage between UX quality and revenue, retention, cost savings, and partner satisfaction.

People

A more confident, empowered design team with stronger craft, process clarity, and growth pathways.

A reputation for being collaborative, strategic, and essential to the product development lifecycle.