Irfan Mir

earfaun@gmail.com · Irfan Mir's Portfolio · 517.648.8009 · Okemos, Michigan

Summary

I lead with clarity, strategy, and care. For 10+ years, I’ve helped organizations design systems that meet business goals without losing human depth by bridging stakeholder alignment, practical empathy, and research in consciousness and motivation. I design for nuance and equity, especially where users are underserved or misunderstood. From AI to accessibility, I guide teams from compliance mindsets to cultures of clarity and care. I don’t just build interfaces—I design understanding that lasts.

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

Human Factors & UX Strategy Consultant

Independent Practice — Okemos, Michigan

2018 – 2021

  • Designed and prototyped multiple iterations of an empathetic AI assistant integrating Natural Language Understanding and LSTM networks to apply cross-disciplinary ethnographic and cognitive research to explore responsible human-AI interaction.

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.

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 and led 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

Education

Michigan State University
BA, Experience Architecture | 2016 — Consistent Dean’s List Scholar

Portfolio Highlights (Also available on my portfolio: irfandesign.com)