Don Martirez
Product Designer • Design Engineer • 10+ Years • 0-to-1 to Scale

I’m a product designer and design engineer who builds and ships AI-powered features end-to-end.

I partner across the stack from problem definition through production—owning the user experience across complex workflows, dense interfaces, automation, and deterministic guardrails. Figma to code to production in Next.js 16.

Location & Availability
Duarte, CA — Available
Glendale hybrid, remote, 0–2 weeks notice
Core Discipline
Product Design & Systems
Desktop workflows, token governance, AI product development
Technical Foundations
Next.js 16 • Python FastAPI
Neo4j GraphRAG, LangGraph, Docker, Google Cloud Run
View Selected WorkInteractive Design System →Lab Experiments → /lab
PRODUCTION ARTIFACTS

Selected Work

Three production systems built and shipped end-to-end. Each tackles a high-density workflow under real operational constraints.

Desktop Enterprise Terminalthe3pmdaily.com • Ships Daily
800+ Equities ➔ 4 Setups in 4.2s

3PM Daily: Closing Auction Workflow Optimization

The Problem

Traders face 800+ equities at the 3:00 PM market close with 5 minutes to act. Behavioral logs revealed extreme analysis paralysis across 15+ tabs with no clear decision brief.

The Technical System

Designed 8 dense widgets across 5 distinct workspaces. Implemented deterministic TA-Lib C-engine guards in Python/FastAPI to calculate hard entry, stop, and target brackets with zero LLM hallucination.

Verified Outcome

Reduced briefing time from 45 min to under 5 min. Operates on $18/mo Google Cloud Run infrastructure with 0.00 CLS and 100/100 Core Web Vitals.

View Case Study →Visit Live Site (the3pmdaily.com) ↗
Pedagogical Graph • EdTechartstache.app • Live Pilot
Neo4j AuraDB • COPPA Sanitized

Artstache: Graph-Grounded Child Developmental Analysis

The Problem

Parents hoard stacks of children's artwork out of guilt or default to empty praise (“Good job!”) during busy dinner windows, lacking the developmental vocabulary to nurture creative confidence.

The Technical System

Modeled 80 years of developmental psychology (Viktor Lowenfeld) as property graph triples in Neo4j. Built a 5-node LangGraph Village DAG with deterministic grounding gates and the tactile “No-Line” paper elevation system.

Verified Outcome

Delivers a 60-second non-clinical Ghost Guide with 0% out-of-order milestones, ~513ms median latency, and complete client-side COPPA EXIF sanitization.

View Case Study →Visit Live Site (artstache.app) ↗
Meta-Portfolio • Token Enginedon-the-imaginator.com • $0/mo Infra
82% ➔ 12% Bounce Reduction

Don The Imaginator: Reserved Landing + Lab Architecture

The Problem

V1 forced an email-gated authentication screen that created an 82% bounce rate in 12s. High-intent decision makers expect immediate, verifiable proof-of-work in under 5 seconds.

The Technical System

Dismantled the auth gate and split information architecture into a reserved Geneva Swiss landing page and an experimental /lab route powered by a 5-archetype CSS token engine and client-side Pocket-Synth AI.

Verified Outcome

Reduced bounce rate to 12% with a 3.4x session duration increase. Zero layout shift across 21 production routes with 100/100 Core Web Vitals.

View Case Study →Explore The Lab (/lab) →
PROCESS • DISCOVERY TO DELIVERY

End-to-End, Artifact-First

How I partner across product, design, and engineering teams to transform fuzzy problem spaces into deterministic production systems.

01
Discovery

Start with the defect, not the idea.

I lead with behavioral analytics and broken funnels before opening Figma. For my own portfolio, GA4 telemetry proved that an email-gated login screen triggered an 82% bounce rate within 12 seconds. I tear flawed assumptions down to build software guided by what users actually need.

02
Research

One surface cannot serve two clocks.

I map workflows by user time budgets rather than static demographic personas. High-velocity hiring leads have a 30-second window across 40 portfolios and need sub-10ms proof of work. Technical co-founders have a 30-minute diligence window and demand deep AST and database inspection. That tension created the / landing vs /lab architecture.

03
Systems

Deterministic math guards vs LLM context.

Math does math; language models provide context. Never confuse the two. In 3PM Daily, TA-Lib C-wrappers calculate hard entry, stop, and target levels deterministically. In Artstache, Neo4j property graphs enforce child developmental chronology so an AI agent never hallucinates a milestone.

04
Craft

Restraint is the deliverable.

I proved I could build a 5-archetype CSS runtime engine that swaps complete design systems with zero layout shift (CLS 0.00). Then I chose restraint: a single, disciplined Geneva Swiss editorial canvas (#FAF9F6) for the primary experience. Senior craft is knowing what to remove.

05
Operations

Ship like it’s production — 0.00% downtime.

A portfolio is a live production system, not a static screenshot gallery. When free-tier cloud databases sleep after inactivity, I wrote automated daemon watchdogs that keep Neo4j and API containers hot. 100% verified uptime, 1,420+ cycles, and 100/100 Core Web Vitals.

06
Architecture

Reserved landing vs experimental lab.

Information architecture is leverage for trust. The root landing page is reserved, high-craft editorial design with instant legibility and zero theme picker friction. The /lab route is where live AI agents, GraphRAG queries, and multi-theme runtime playgrounds live.

07
Outcome

Check ego, prove depth, choose restraint.

82% to 12% bounce reduction, 3.4x session duration, and zero layout shift. But the real outcome is a repeatable design engineering point of view: diagnose the defect, respect user time constraints, prove technical depth, and deliver uncompromising visual craft.

TECHNICAL LEDGER • PRODUCTION STACKS

Core Competencies & Technical Capabilities

Specialized execution across product strategy, applied AI systems, and design engineering.

Product Leadership & UX

  • •Product Management & Discovery: User journey mapping, workflow analysis, rapid defect isolation.
  • •Design Systems & Tokens: Multi-archetype governance, semantic CSS token architectures, zero CLS.
  • •Accessibility & Standards: WCAG 2.1 AA/AAA compliance, strict 4.5:1 contrast ratios.
  • •Prototyping: High-fidelity Figma design, interactive prototypes, live code proof-of-work.

Applied AI & Evaluation

  • •LLM Integration: Gemini Flash, Claude 3.5, OpenAI GPT-4, Llama 3 via clean API clients.
  • •GraphRAG & RAG: Neo4j AuraDB property graphs, deterministic Cypher query traversals.
  • •Multi-Agent Orchestration: LangGraph state machines, multi-agent debate pipelines.
  • •Evals & Guardrails: Golden set benchmarking, regression checks, trace analysis, LLM-as-a-judge.

Design Engineering & Ops

  • •Frontend Engineering: Next.js 16 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS JIT.
  • •Backend Services: Python, FastAPI, TA-Lib C-wrappers, RESTful APIs, WebSockets.
  • •Cloud & DevOps: Docker containerization, Google Cloud Run, CI/CD GitHub Actions, Git.
  • •Modern AI Tooling: Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI for high-velocity full-stack shipping.
DESIGN SYSTEMS PHILOSOPHY

Disciplined typography, zero layout shift, mathematical order.

Over a decade across agencies, enterprise brands, and 0-to-1 startups, I’ve operated at both extremes: inside environments with 200-page design systems where 1px was a compliance risk, and early-stage companies where I authored the entire foundation from scratch.

In strict enterprise contexts, constraints are leverage. The small details matter: AA/AAA contrast ratios, 0.00 CLS, and sub-1ms CSS variable inheritance.

3PM Daily • 5 Production Theme Presets (the3pmdaily.com)<1ms Swap • Zero CLS
Preset NameBackgroundAccentVibe & Purpose
Tokyo MidnightDark Mode#0A0E17#06B6D4High-tech institutional night desk; low glare.
Geneva SwissLight Mode#F8FAFC#2563EBClean daylight contrast; paper-grade legibility.
DARPA RadarDark Mode#040804#00FF66Monochrome green CRT phosphor; tactical telemetry.
Amber 1981Dark Mode#0D0902#FFB000Bloomberg monochrome amber tribute; warm eye comfort.
CME SynthwaveDark Mode#0B0914#8B5CF6Chicago trading floor pit sunset; neon violet energy.
LET'S TALK • DUARTE, CA

Building systems where operational trust matters more than speed?

I partner across the stack—product, brand, design systems, and full-stack implementation. Based in Duarte, CA (91010); available for hybrid roles in Glendale/Los Angeles, remote, or on-site.

Get in Touch →All Work (/work)