Hi, I’m Chalen

I'm a UX Designer and Researcher in DC.

I have 8 years of experience driving impact at product companies from San Francisco to Paris.

After work I enjoy taking photos and riding my bike.

Akur8

UX Designer & Researcher / Paris, France

Case Studies

Building an AI-Powered Workflow to Level Up Copywriting

[More in progress as of August 2025]

GlobaliD

UX Researcher / San Francisco, CA

Case Studies

Creating Clear Navigation for a Web3 Identity Wallet

Optimizing Onboarding for Young Apartment-Hunters in India

Couchsurfing

UX Designer & Researcher / San Francisco, CA

Case Studies

Designing to Grow Community: How We Boosted Sign-Ups by 21%

UX Insights in 5 Days: Facilitating a Cross-Team Design Sprint

References

"Chalen led a major improvement in our research practice and empowered the entire team. . . . He has had a lasting impact on how we speak to our users. He is a talented designer and a collaborative, thoughtful team player."

Piotr Kwiatkowski

Akur8 Head of Design

"Chalen is a strong user centric designer - he is adept at effectively using user interviews, behavior, and UX best practices to identify various solutions to a design problem, and forming a strong perspective on the best path forward to get an intended outcome..."

Angie Kurdys

Couchsurfing Product Lead

"Chalen is the kind of designer any company wishes they had, not only can he design solutions with low requirements, but he can also dive deep into research to get customer insights and improve those solutions...

His remote usability tests, [design thinking] workshops, and research documentation ... gave the flexibility the company needed to move faster without ever losing track of the customer needs"