Ed Chen

Enterprise Systems

ACY Securities
Product Ecosystem

Led UI/UX design for a global trading platform serving 100K+ users across 40+ countries. Built the design system unifying 5 product lines, partnering with Engineering, Legal, and Product teams to ship compliant, scalable experiences.

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. ACY.com's Awwwards recognition reflects the exceptional execution of our cross-functional team.

Key Contributions

• Design system reduced dev time by ~35%
• Zero compliance violations over 2+ years
• Awwwards nominee (team achievement)

View Complete System →

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 advantages—validating our design strategy's impact on brand perception and user trust.

"The user interface is incredibly clean, making execution seamless."
— ForexBrokers.com

"It's rare to see a platform tackle this level of regulatory complexity so elegantly."
— TopTierTrader Review

Finlogix

Redesigned information architecture for a real-time market platform serving traders who process 1,000+ data points daily. Reduced cognitive load for time-critical decisions.

Platform UX Data Viz

LogixTrader

Trading terminal optimized for sub-second decision-making. Redesigned interface to minimize cognitive load in high-frequency trading environments where UI latency directly impacts P&L.

Trading UI Performance

ACYVerse

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

Predictive UX Social UX

LogixPanel CRM

Enterprise CRM supporting large-scale client operations. Designed operational workflows for account management, compliance tracking, and scalable onboarding.

CRM System Enterprise

TradingCup

Copy trading interface. Democratizing expert strategies through transparent risk visualization.

Copy Trading 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.

Explore Design System →

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

FCA (UK)

Negative option marketing, financial promotions

ESMA (EU)

Inducement bans, cross-border marketing restrictions

GDPR (EU)

Consent architecture, data processing flows

FTC / FDA (US)

Claims substantiation, Prop 65 compliance

JPX-R (Japan)

Listing rules, disclosure requirements (in progress)

WCAG 2.1 AA

Global accessibility standards for inclusive financial terminals

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 — independent modules that swap without breaking the system when regulations change.

Partnered with legal and compliance teams to translate requirements into reusable patterns — enabling faster execution on future regulatory updates.

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 — 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: I built a design infrastructure that empowered a 150-person cross-functional organization to deliver consistent, compliant UIs across 40+ countries — enabling PMs and engineers to assemble interfaces autonomously. This systems-first approach ensured design quality scaled beyond any individual's direct output.
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).

VERIFIABLE SIGNALS

Public References

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 — 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 — directional findings validated post-launch through production telemetry, with order placement improving from 8.2s → 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

0-to-1 Startup · 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 — from zero users to market leadership without paid acquisition

Visit Platform →

02

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 → Case Study →

03

ReactΩ

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 → GitHub →

04

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 → Case Study →

View Full Case Study Archive (12 Projects) →

Design Stance

Embracing Constraints as Design Architecture

Compliance isn't just a hurdle—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 — 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 — 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 — 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.

🌏 Cross-Cultural Design Leadership

Designing Across Markets: SF · Tokyo · 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 — from hierarchy perception to risk disclosure patterns.

40+

Countries Supported

5+

Regulatory Jurisdictions

3

Time Zones Coordinated

"We are made of star stuff."

— Carl Sagan

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

Every regulation is a constraint — like gravity shaping a star's evolution. Every user flow is a chemical reaction — 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 — 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 — 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 — 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 — it's how ACY actually operates.