Massimo GarbagnatiProduct Design Manager

Portrait of Massimo Garbagnati

Product Designer with 10+ years of experience across design studios, startups, and product companies.

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I have built the design function from the ground up in multiple organizations, developing processes and methodologies, growing teams, and collaborating with product leadership to turn strategic vision and roadmaps into concrete, high-impact experiences. In recent years, I have focused on innovative and highly complex solutions, both from a business and technical perspective, applying AI not as a simple trend but as a tool for efficiency and effectiveness to solve real needs and pain points.

I foster a strong culture of feedback within cross-functional teams and have developed solid collaboration skills with technical roles and emerging profiles such as ML/AI engineers. My approach combines methodologies like Design Thinking and Double Diamond, yes, but always adapted to each company’s vision, people, skills, and needs, to build scalable and sustainable products.

… and honestly, you have no idea how much fun I have doing it!

Experiences

  • Joined as the first designer, I built the Product Design team from scratch, defining vision, processes, and a scalable design system. I redefined work methodologies and cross-functional processes, accelerating delivery cycles and delivering WhAI, a complex SaaS platform enabling data-driven decisions through Decision Process Mapping, scenario simulation, predictive actionable insights, and a Conversational AI component powered by Copilot between multiple AI domains, including Gen AI, Causal AI, and Agentic AI.
  • Co-responsible for product strategy with Product Leads: roadmap, user/product journeys, and vision prototyping to support PMs and tribes.
  • As a key point of reference between business, tech, design, and data, with direct interaction with the CPO and CEO, I led internal design workshops and introduced collaboration practices that improved alignment and delivery.
  • As the sole designer on the team, I maintained and redesigned the startup product, creating a completely new and robust user experience. I worked at the intersection of marketing, business, and tech, translating both business and user needs into concrete design solutions. I focused on creating scalable solutions to enhance both customer experience and internal company efficiency.
  • I conducted user research and continuously iterated on the product based on feedback from users and the community built over time by the company. By introducing processes and methodologies, I ensured the product evolved in a structured and sustainable way, maintaining a strong focus on usability, engagement, and alignment with business goals.
  • In this role, I managed the full design process end to end, from research to final delivery. I worked across UX, including competitive research, user research, personas, customer journeys, flowcharts, wireframes, and user cases.
  • On the UI side, I focused on interface design, design systems, prototyping, usability testing, and developer handoff. I also contributed to concept & future design and brand design, ensuring both innovation and consistency.
  • Additionally, I took on project management responsibilities, coordinating processes and stakeholders to ensure timelines and goals were met.
  • In this role, I worked on UI projects, conducting research and benchmarking, as well as coding responsive websites and landing pages with a strong focus on digital communication.
  • I contributed to brand design and the creation of graphic materials, advertising campaigns, and both BTL and ATL content, as well as event design, ensuring visual and communication consistency across all touchpoints.
  • Experience in art direction, graphic design, and brand design, with projects in illustration and BTL/ATL campaigns.

Skills

Tools

FigmaAI tools (e.g. Lovable, Claude Code)HotjarClickUp / Jira / Notion

I love using

SlackWhite boardDotted gridPost it

Education

MOHOLE (Milan)

Web & App

May 2014 – Sept 2015

Web design, coding

NABA (Milan)

Graphic Design & Art Direction

Oct 2007 – Feb 2011

Art Direction, Corporate and Brand Identity, Web Communication, Marketing

Certifications

IxDF – The Interaction Design Foundation

2026

  • UI Design Patterns for Successful Software
  • The Practical Guide to Usability
  • Design for Thought and Emotion
  • Perception and Memory in HCI and UX
  • User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide
  • Journey Mapping
  • Object-Oriented UI Design: Build Interfaces Users Love
  • AI for Designers
  • Design for the 21st Century with Don Norman

Fields and passions

User Experience, Design trends, cognitive psychology, human behaviour, startups growing

Some brands, startups & special projects

Reale Mutua · Juventus · Swarovski · Mont Blanc · Colmar · Franklin&Marshall · Gruppo Morellato · Lacoste · Villa Erba · Recarlo · Menarini · Electrolux · Giardini d’Inverno · Mind The Gum · The Secret Pot · Replycare · Friends of the Sea