Irfan Mir's Resume. AI + User Experience Designer.

Summary

Strategic AI + UX Design Leader helping teams align human needs with emerging technology.
10+ years spanning AI product design, accessibility, and public impact. I bridge cognitive research, equity-centered strategy, and stakeholder alignment to drive clarity, care, and adoption.

Download Irfan Mir's Resume (pdf).

Skills

Design Research

Design strategy, multi-platform UX (web, mobile, voice/conversational, physical)
Ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, remote testing

Systems Thinking & Equity

Service blueprints, inclusive product strategy
Accessibility (WCAG, heuristic), equity-centered storytelling

Collaboration & Communication

Stakeholder alignment, workshop facilitation, cross-functional leadership

Tools & Prototyping

Figma, HTML/CSS/JS, scalable component systems

Neuroscience & Future-Ready Design

Consciousness & Cognition in UX
Motivation, Empathy, and Ethical AI

Experience & Outcomes

AI + UX Strategy Consultant

Independent Practice (Persun AI) — Okemos, Michigan

2024 – Present

Architected and deployed a neuroscience-inspired conversational AI system with 17 specialized neural networks including novel episodic memory consolidation (mimicking hippocampal-cortical pathways) and real-time cognitive-state modeling, achieving 40x size reduction (200MB vs 7GB) and 60x faster inference (50ms vs 3s) compared to standard LLMs while maintaining contextual coherence through temporal memory networks.
Published comprehensive framework for Human-Centered AI Product Design with quantifiable metrics for transparency and steerability.
10-year research trajectory in empathetic AI systems: pioneered emotion-aware LSTM architectures (2012), evolved to cognitive load modeling (2018), culminating in production-ready multi-agent systems with discretionary engagement protocols (2025).

Experience Designer, Low Income

Consumers Energy — Jackson, Michigan

2022 – 2024

Co-created pathways for Low Moderate Income households to discover and enroll in energy savings programs.
Drove equity-centered strategy for LMI communities through journey mapping, narrative design, and co-creation workshops that influenced a 3-year roadmap and improved enrollment clarity and access to meet goal of 1:3 from 1:6 retail programs.
Unified cross-functional teams with service blueprints and mindset mapping, reducing program confusion and improving product discoverability by aligning design with customers’ everyday lived realities.
Led redesign of energy savings enrollment platform, increasing visits by 7% and cutting bounce rate 21% via rapid prototyping and usability testing in a custom Figma design system.

Human-AI Interaction Designer & Researcher

Independent Practice (Persun AI) — Okemos, Michigan

2012 – 2013 & 2016-2018

Designed and prototyped Ellsi, an empathetic AI assistant integrating Natural Language Understanding and LSTM networks to adapt interaction patterns based on users' emotional bandwidth. Applied cross-disciplinary ethnographic and cognitive research to explore responsible human-AI collaboration.
Built Question-Answering/Search Engine in Java and PHP including Natural Language arithmetic calculator with Naive Bayes and Fuzzy Logic.
Contributed towards testing of Chromium Speech Recognition API, implemented in universal hotword prototypes to trigger full speech recognition upon detection to protect user privacy.
Built with early Convolutional and Recurrent Networks in JavaScript. Moved to LSTMs pre-BERT/transformer-based era for sentiment analysis.

Experience Designer & Accessibility Expert

Addis Enterprises — Lansing, Michigan

2017 – 2018

Led accessibility strategy across public and nonprofit platforms, cutting course remediation time by 40% through scalable audits and developer-first workflows.
Key Project: Designed accessible digital experience for Bishop International Airport with complex navigation and flight tracker through leading cross-functional WCAG adoption workshops that fostered culture change.

Accessibility Specialist

Michigan State University — East Lansing, Michigan

2015 – 2016

Co-created a university-wide inclusive Design matrix—advancing accessibility standards and enabling inclusive RFP requirements for ~50 purchases and redesigns of high-impact platforms like Admissions, Scholarships Portal, and Title IX.

Accessibility Consultant Intern

Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting

2016

Conducted WCAG audits and authored actionable accessibility reports for Fortune 500 clients.

User Experience Intern

Wolfram Research — Champaign, IL

2013

Designed cross-platform interfaces for web-based Mathematica Online Integrated Development Environment and Wolfram Premier Services purchase flow and interaction design—pioneering responsive design at the org.
Conducted usability studies and prototyped voice driven emerging AI tech.

Additional Experience

Caregiver — Okemos, MI | 2018–2024: Balanced family caregiving with consulting, shaping empathetic leadership and real-world prioritization skills.

Specialist — Apple | Lansing, MI | 2014–2016: Delivered record-setting results in a non-commissioned role by aligning tech solutions with real human needs, which sharpened my empathetic problem-solving foundation.

Web Designer and Developer — Michigan State University | East Lansing, MI | 2009–2014: Designed modernized digital presence for academic departments using early HTML5/CSS3 best practices.

Portfolio Highlights (Also available on irfandesign.com)

Voice & Emerging Tech: Led conversational and multi-modal UX for AI-powered systems across platforms, pushing the boundaries of human-centered AI through empathetic interaction flows, early voice prototyping, and philosophical and design research.

Accessibility at Scale: Drove accessibility implementation at a major airport and a top research university, shifting organizational mindsets from compliance to care via developer training, usability audits, and inclusive redesigns.

Equity-Driven Strategy: Facilitated alignment across stakeholders through co-creation workshops and journey mapping, translating service complexity into shared understanding and reframing priorities around underserved users.

Irfan Mir

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