Ed Chen

Product Designer for Authenticated Financial Platforms

4+ years scaling secure client portals and trading systems across 40+ countries

Proven C-suite collaboration β€’ ASIC/SEC/FINRA compliance β€’ Zero violations over 2+ years

150+ Figma components β€’ 100K+ users β€’ Enterprise-scale design systems

πŸ”’ Metrics abstracted for confidentiality. See public evidence β†’
View Case Studies LinkedIn
Authenticated Enterprise Systems

Authenticated Financial Platforms at Enterprise Scale
ACY Securities: 4+ Years Designing Secure Login-Protected Client Portals Across 40+ Countries

Led UI/UX design for authenticated financial platforms serving 100K+ active users across 40+ countries. All platforms feature secure login-protected environments with role-based access controls, session management, and KYC/AML compliance flows. Built design system unifying 5 product lines, partnering with Engineering, Legal, and Product teams to deliver secure, compliant, scalable experiences. Zero compliance violations over 2+ years under ASIC/SEC/FINRA regulatory frameworks.

ACY Securities platform ecosystem showing integrated design system across multiple products including trading terminals, web platform, and mobile apps with unified visual language
Regulatory Foundation

Built compliance architecture supporting 2+ years of regulatory updates without rework

Scope

Brand + Web + Platform

Business Impact

Enterprise-scale platform, 40+ countries, 5+ product lines unified

System Scalability

Design system enabled autonomous implementation across 5 product lines

ACY Securities Ecosystem

Built the design system unifying 5 product lines across a global trading platform. Partnered with Engineering on technical implementation, Legal on regulatory compliance, and Product teams on roadmap prioritization. Platform compliance architecture supported design decisions across 40+ regulated jurisdictions (per ACY public disclosure) with zero design-related regulatory violations over 2+ years.

My Design Contribution
β€’ Designed component system that reduced avg. implementation time from 3 days β†’ 2 days per component (30-40% improvement, n=30 components tracked via project management system, see calculation methodology)
β€’ Collaborated with Legal to build compliance patterns supporting zero violations over 2+ years
β€’ Built scalable compliance architecture enabling platform to adapt to 8+ regulatory updates without architectural rework (Awwwards team recognition validates cross-functional execution quality)
View Complete System β†’

Top-Tier Platform Evaluation

Independent broker reviews testing 80+ platforms. While evaluating the entire ACY ecosystem, these reviews specifically highlight the intuitive user experience and clean interface as key competitive advantagesβ€”validating our design strategy's impact on brand perception and user trust.

Independent broker review highlighting platform usability and clean interface design
β€” ForexBrokers.com (2025)
Independent review examining ACY's multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance framework
β€” Independent Broker Analysis (2026)
Finlogix Platform

Finlogix

Authenticated market data platform redesigned for traders processing 1,000+ real-time data points daily. Secure login-protected environment with session management and data access controls. Reduced cognitive load for time-critical decisions.

Authenticated Platform Data Viz
LogixTrader

LogixTrader

Authenticated trading terminal for institutional clients β€” secure login-protected environment optimized for sub-second decision-making. Redesigned interface to minimize cognitive load in high-frequency trading environments where UI latency directly impacts P&L.

Authenticated Trading Performance
ACYVerse

ACYVerse

Gamified social trading platform. Algorithmic strategies meet community engagement. Complexity hidden behind simplicity.

Predictive UX Social UX
LogixPanel

LogixPanel CRM

Authenticated enterprise CRM with role-based access controls for internal operations teams. Secure client data management supporting large-scale account operations, compliance tracking, and scalable onboarding workflows.

Authenticated CRM Enterprise
TradingCup

TradingCup

Authenticated copy trading platform with secure account linking and real-time portfolio mirroring. Democratizing expert strategies through transparent risk visualization in login-protected environment.

Authenticated Platform Risk UI

The System

40+ components. 12 interaction patterns. 1 coherent design language.
Built to unify 5+ products under a single, maintainable system.
Measurably reduced developer implementation time.
Includes responsive behavior from mobile to 4K,
prototype animations on CodePen for zero-gap developer handoff.

ACY Design System comprehensive overview displaying color palette with brand colors, typography scale with font weights and sizes, component library with 40+ UI elements, and animation principles documentation
Explore Design System β†’
Regulatory Design Expertise

Navigating Compliance
Across 5+ Jurisdictions

Translating regulatory requirements into design systems that teams can reuse across compliance updates.

ASIC (Australia)

Gambling UX restrictions, leverage caps, fund segregation UI

FINRA / SEC (US)

Suitability questionnaires, risk disclosure placement

COPPA (US) ⚠️

Age-gating architecture, parental consent flows, per-message liability prevention ($14M+ penalty exposure witnessed)

ESMA (EU)

Inducement bans, cross-border marketing restrictions

FTC / FDA (US)

Claims substantiation, Prop 65 compliance

WCAG 2.1 AA

Global accessibility standards for inclusive financial terminals β€” view accessibility strategy

Prevention Systems I've Built

150+

Pre-tested Compliance UI Components

Forms, modals, consent flows, disclosure patterns. Typical time saved on urgent compliance projects: 40–60%

~15

Red Flags Caught Proactively

Region-specific compliance checklists (FINRA, ASIC, FCA, GDPR, ESMA) catch issues before they escalate.

8+

Projects Avoided Rewrites

Modular architecture approach β€” independent modules that swap without breaking the system when regulations change.

⚠️

COPPA (US) β€” Designing Within Regulatory Constraints

Early in my career, witnessing a high-stakes COPPA enforcement case redefined my approach to product strategy: "Design decisions are legal decisions." A platform faced $14M+ in FTC penalties β€” not because of intent, but because one UX sequencing decision (age-gate placed after data collection, not before) multiplied into per-message, per-child liability. The code shipped. Legal signed off. The design architecture was the failure point.

How I design to prevent this:

  • Age-Gate First: Hard verification before any data collection β€” no exceptions.
  • Parental Consent Flows: Verifiable, FTC-compliant β€” not a checkbox.
  • Per-Feature Liability Auditing: Every data-touching interaction evaluated as an independent violation vector.
  • Data Minimization by Design: Zero data collected from <13 users. Not "collected with consent."

Ref: FTC COPPA Enforcement Β· $43,792 per violation (2023 rates)

I'm a designer, not a compliance officer. My role is translating regulatory requirements into design patterns β€” in close partnership with Legal. They interpret the law. I make it usable.

For US Financial Institutions: My ASIC (Australian) regulatory experience directly translates to SEC/FINRA contexts. ASIC's inducement prohibitions mirror FINRA Rule 2111 (suitability), leverage disclosure requirements align with SEC Reg T margin rules, and gambling-prevention UX principles apply to options trading risk disclosure. The design patterns I built for multi-jurisdictional compliance (ASIC, FCA, ESMA) provide a systematic framework for navigating SEC/FINRA while maintaining product velocity.

AI & Emerging Technology

LLM-Based Application Development
Practical AI Integration, Not Theoretical Expertise

I'm not an "AI expert" β€” I'm a designer who knows how to use AI tools to solve real product problems. My approach: integrate LLM APIs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) and automation platforms (MCP, n8n) to build functional prototypes that demonstrate design concepts. I focus on explainable AI architecture β€” showing confidence intervals, distinguishing probabilistic from deterministic data, and designing transparency into high-stakes financial contexts.

What I Do

  • β€’ API Integration: ChatGPT API, Gemini API, Claude API β€” implementing LLM-based features in production prototypes
  • β€’ Workflow Automation: MCP (Model Context Protocol), n8n automation β€” building AI-assisted design workflows
  • β€’ Explainable AI UX: Designing interfaces that show confidence intervals, data provenance, and probabilistic reasoning
  • β€’ Practical Prototyping: Using AI tools to rapidly validate design concepts with functional demos (not just mockups)

What I Don't Claim

  • βœ— I'm not an ML engineer β€” I don't train models or build custom algorithms from scratch
  • βœ— I'm not an AI researcher β€” I don't publish papers or develop novel architectures
  • βœ— I don't claim to "deeply understand AI" β€” I use existing tools effectively, I don't build them
  • βœ— My AI work is prototype-stage, not production-scale infrastructure β€” validating concepts, not deploying at scale

Practical AI Projects (LinkedIn Documented)

These are real projects I've built using LLM APIs and AI tools β€” not concepts, not research. Each demonstrates practical application of AI in product design contexts.

Nova

Portfolio analysis platform with explainable AI β€” confidence intervals for financial predictions

HorizonSync

AI-powered timezone coordination for distributed teams β€” algorithmic scheduling optimization

Resumake

Open-source resume builder built with AI assistance β€” professional features without the subscription cost

CEREBRO

Cognitive assessment platform with adaptive difficulty and real-time score analysis

TrueWorth

AI-powered valuation analysis β€” integrating LLM reasoning with financial data

Jupiter

Collaborative digital art platform empowering artists to build dynamic, colorful visual art

Verification: All projects documented on LinkedIn with screenshots and project details. Available for detailed technical walkthrough during interview.

Featured: Nova AI β€” Explainable AI Architecture for Finance

Nova demonstrates my approach to AI transparency in high-stakes contexts. Instead of hiding algorithmic uncertainty, I designed interfaces that explicitly show:

  • β€’ Confidence Intervals: Every AI prediction shows probability ranges β€” users see "70-85% confidence" instead of false precision
  • β€’ Data Provenance: Clear labels distinguishing "historical price data" (deterministic) from "AI-generated forecast" (probabilistic)
  • β€’ Risk Disclaimers: Regulatory-compliant warnings that AI predictions are not financial advice (ASIC/FINRA pattern applied to prototype)

This project was tested with 8 retail traders. User feedback: "Finally, an AI tool that doesn't pretend to know the future." Nova is a prototype, not production-ready β€” but it demonstrates how I design AI features for regulated environments.

View Nova Case Study β†’
Evidence Ledger

Outcomes, Ownership,
and Verifiable Signals

Summarizing ownership, measurable outcomes, and verifiable signals. Measurable impact (detailed metrics shared during interview).

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

System Impact Through Process Discipline

  • System Scalability: Designed a component system that scaled across 40+ countries by building flexible patterns into core architecture from day one.
  • Design System Governance: Architected a modular system reused across 5+ product lines with clear documentation and engineering syncs.
  • Engineering Velocity: Improved implementation speed by 35% through structured handoff processes and Storybook documentation standards.
  • Error Prevention: Built compliance architecture that supported ASIC/FCA updates by treating regulatory requirements as strict technical constraints.
MY DESIGN ROLE

Design Contribution Within Cross-Functional Team

  • UI/UX Design Leadership: Established design standards across 5 product lines β€” defining interaction patterns, visual systems, and research frameworks that enabled engineering teams to execute autonomously. Built documentation and handoff processes that scaled design decisions beyond my direct involvement.
  • Design System Architecture: Authored 150+ components, interaction patterns, motion language, documentation framework, and developer handoff standards. Worked closely with frontend engineers to ensure technical feasibility and production implementation.
  • Scaling Design Through Systems: Designed component infrastructure that enabled a 150-person cross-functional organization to deliver consistent, compliant UIs across 40+ countries β€” empowering PMs and engineers to assemble interfaces autonomously. This systems-first approach ensured design quality scaled beyond individual output through systematic governance.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnered with Legal on regulatory requirements, Product Management on roadmap prioritization, Engineering on technical constraints, Marketing on content strategy, and C-suite on strategic vision. Design decisions were informed by collective input, not made in isolation.
  • Executive Communication Support: Designed presentation materials for C-suite stakeholders (investor briefings, board decks, strategic planning documents). Rapidly iterated on data visualizations to meet executive-level clarity standards.
  • End-to-End Design Process: Led user research, strategic framing, prototyping, and visual QA. Success depended on exceptional execution by engineering (bringing designs to life with sophisticated animations), PM (coordinating timelines), and legal (ensuring regulatory compliance).
DOMAIN DEDICATION

Bridging the Knowledge Gap

  • Yale University: Financial Markets (Robert Shiller) β€” When I joined ACY Securities, I realized I could design trading interfaces but didn't truly understand what I was designing. I knew how to make "Buy/Sell" buttons, but I didn't understand derivatives pricing, risk management frameworks, or why certain regulatory disclosures existed. To fix this, I completed Yale's Financial Markets course (taught by Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller) to systematically learn:
    • Market structure: How derivatives, options, and futures actually work (not just their UI representations)
    • Risk models: Why leverage limits exist and how margin calls cascade through systems
    • Behavioral finance: Why users make irrational trading decisions under stress (and how design can prevent catastrophic losses)
    • Regulatory rationale: The economic reasoning behind disclosure requirements (not just "Legal says we need this")
    Applied Learning: This wasn't academic curiosity β€” it directly improved my design work. For example, understanding margin call mechanics (from Shiller's course) helped me design ACY's leverage warning system that shows traders exactly how much price movement would trigger liquidation before they enter a position. Beautiful UI is worthless if it doesn't prevent users from destroying their accounts. Today, my design decisions are driven by market realities and regulatory rationale β€” not just UX heuristics. I don't have a finance degree, but I've systematically filled the gaps to ensure I'm designing products I truly understand.
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Navigating Stakeholder Disagreement

  • Legal vs. UX Trade-offs: When Legal required adding 47 disclosure fields to onboarding (ASIC/FCA compliance), data showed 73% drop-off. Proposed tabbed information architecture with error prevention gates β€” Legal initially rejected. Built interactive prototype demonstrating all fields visible within 2 clicks. After 3-week negotiation involving C-suite mediation, Legal approved conditional implementation with audit trail.
  • Engineering Constraints: Design system required Canvas API animations for trading charts. Engineering cited performance concerns for low-end devices. Conducted joint profiling sessions, identified specific bottleneck (re-render loops). Redesigned animation architecture using requestAnimationFrame batching. Engineering validated solution, became advocate for design system adoption.
  • Executive Misalignment: C-suite pushed for "Robinhood-style minimalism" in B2B trading terminal. Professional traders in user research explicitly rejected simplified UI (verbatim: "I need density, not whitespace"). Presented side-by-side usability data (task completion 40% slower with minimal UI). CEO initially defended vision. After sharing full session recordings showing trader frustration, CEO approved information-dense design with "clean chaos" visual language.
  • Reality Check: These conflicts took weeks to resolve, not one meeting. Success required building trust through repeated collaboration, not "winning" with a single data point.
RESEARCH PROCESS

Data-Driven Decision Making

  • Research Methodology: Established 5-step research-to-design pipeline using Hotjar (170+ session recordings) to convert behavioral data into stakeholder-convincing evidence
  • Hypothesis Testing: Qualitative testing of 3 design variants with 15 traders uncovered critical usability gaps β€” directional findings validated post-launch through production telemetry, with order placement improving from 8.2s β†’ 2.9s (65% faster)
  • Stakeholder Persuasion: Used quantitative data ( heatmaps showing 85% CTA visibility) to win executive approval for design system investment by proving user behavior, not just defending opinions
  • Note: Detailed research protocols and methodology shared during interview.
Selected Works

Selected
Projects

These projects show how I work from problem framing to shipped output.

01
PawsRoam

PawsRoam

0-to-1 Startup Β· Product Strategy

Founded and scaled a dual-sided pet adoption marketplace from zero to 1 launch in Japan. End-to-end product ownership: market research, UX strategy, SEO architecture, multi-market expansion across JP/US.

Product Strategy SEO Architecture 3 Markets

Proves: Entrepreneurial product thinking β€” from zero users to market leadership without paid acquisition

Visit Platform β†’
02
Christie's International Real Estate

Christie's Real Estate

Luxury Brand Translation at Global Scale

Translated 250 years of Christie's brand heritage into a digital editorial platform serving high-net-worth audiences globally. Partnered with brand stakeholders across NYC and London to establish design standards that balanced performance constraints with luxury expectations.

Brand Strategy Stakeholder Alignment Luxury UX Performance Design

What this project shows: Navigating brand constraints and technical trade-offs in high-stakes environments

Live Platform β†’ Case Study β†’
03
ReactΞ©

ReactΞ©

Production-Ready Component System

50+ typed React components with monorepo structure and documentation. Built from recurring implementation needs in product teams.

React 18+ TypeScript Canvas API Turborepo

What this project shows: Design system thinking with implementation discipline

Live Library β†’ GitHub β†’
04
HorizonSync

HorizonSync

Distributed Team Coordination Platform

Algorithmic timezone orchestration for global teams. Built to solve a real pain point in managing cross-timezone workflows for international product teams.

AI Integration Data Visualization System Design

What this project shows: Product strategy applied to team operations

View System β†’ Case Study β†’
View Full Case Study Archive (12 Projects) β†’
Design Stance

Embracing Constraints as Design Architecture

Compliance isn't just a hurdleβ€”it's a guide. In finance, the best products feel right because they respect every rule of the game.

I've learned to view ASIC leverage caps, GDPR consent flows, and FCA marketing restrictions not as obstacles to clean UI, but as design constraints that reveal which solutions are truly robust.

In regulated environments, designers who thrive aren't the ones who tolerate constraints β€” they're the ones who use constraints to build better systems.

Constraint-First Framing

Map regulatory, technical, and business constraints before sketching a single screen. The constraints ARE the brief.

Prototype the Risk

Build the compliance-critical path first. If the hardest flow works, everything else follows.

Ship with Legal in the Room

Compliance review isn't a gate at the end β€” it's a collaborator from day one. Zero post-launch violations.

Systemize for the Next Crisis

Every solved problem becomes a reusable pattern. When regulations change, the system adapts in days, not months.

Multidimensional Design

Beyond the Screen

Design isn't just what I do β€” it's how I see the world. From regulated enterprise platforms to culinary experiments, every domain teaches me something new about systems, constraints, and craft.

Global Design Leadership
🌏 Cross-Cultural Design Leadership

Designing Across Markets: SF Β· Tokyo Β· Taipei

Led design initiatives across APAC and Western markets, navigating regulatory frameworks (ASIC, FCA, FINRA) and cultural expectations. Trained distributed design teams on localization beyond translation β€” from hierarchy perception to risk disclosure patterns.

40+
Countries Supported
5+
Regulatory Jurisdictions
3
Time Zones Coordinated
"We are made of star stuff."

β€” Carl Sagan

Design, like the cosmos, is about finding order in complexity.

Every regulation is a constraint β€” like gravity shaping a star's evolution. Every user flow is a chemical reaction β€” small decisions cascading into system-wide outcomes.

I don't fight constraints. I use them to build better systems.
The best financial products feel inevitable β€” not because they're simple, but because every variable has been considered, every edge case anticipated.

I Partner with Engineering to Ship, Not Just Spec

My designs don't stop at mockups. I collaborate closely with engineering teams throughout implementation β€” from technical feasibility discussions to production QA. This partnership ensures design intent survives the build process, not just the handoff.

I've Navigated a Regulatory Crisis

When ASIC issued a 14-day compliance order, I contributed a design-system-based approach to the team's crisis response. The proposal was adopted, and we shipped a compliant system together. Zero violations post-launch.

I Design Across Cultures, Not Just Languages

I've designed for 40+ countries, navigated both APAC and Western regulatory frameworks, and shipped localized products across three time zones. Cross-cultural design isn't just translation β€” it's understanding how trust, hierarchy, and risk perception differ across markets.

I Build Systems, Not Screens

One design system governs 5 product lines and measurably reduced implementation time. When regulations change, the system adapts in days. That's not a portfolio claim β€” it's how ACY actually operates.

Let's Talk

Looking for a product designer who's navigated ASIC audits, shipped production design systems,
and independently architected compliant FinTech experiences serving 100K+ users?
Let's talk about Product Designer, Senior Product Designer, or Principal Designer roles.

ed@edwson.com LinkedIn β†’

Available in: San Francisco, Tokyo, Taipei

Open to relocation and remote opportunities

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