I'm a product designer with 15+ years of e-commerce and mobile app experience, from startups to large corporations.
Open to design roles in Vancouver
hi@mike-barker.com
Featured projects
I transformed mobile commerce through process change
Led end-to-end app redesign & design sprints
2018–2019
I led the complete redesign of Canadian Tire's flagship mobile app while fundamentally changing how the company approached product design development. I introduced and implemented a design sprint process, shifting the team from waterfall to iterative delivery.
The mobile app needed to be replaced — built on an out-of-date web framework and lacking platform features including accessibility, it tried to unnsuccessfully to give an experience familar to both iPhone & Android. Typically outside agencies were contracted to deliever an entire app design in 6 weeks, and the development team expected all mockups before work could begin. There was no room for user testing or validation. This had to change.
Changed organizational capability—design sprint process continues to be used. Delivered complete app redesign while maintaining rigorous user research and testing standards. Raised app's App Store rating to 4.8 from below 3-stars.
I reduced e-commerce friction & drove revenue
Sr. Product Designer
2022–2023
I designed the back-in-stock notification feature for lululemon's mobile app and website. Working with Product and UX research, I used the double-diamond process to take the competitivee user testing insights and foundational research to better define the core problem and constraints before crafting site-wide solutions that were narrowed down to a prototype for further usability testing, refined and delivered to the developers.
Captured in foundational research, guests couldn't purchase popular products as they are often out-of-stock , creating a dead-end shopping experience. Customers regularly called customer support asking when popular products would be back-in-stock.
Partnered with Product to build tactical feature with broader retention strategy. Beat first year sales target months early, increased account engagement, and reactivated dormant accounts.
— cinnamoncacao, reddit post
I crafted a research-led mobile commerce strategy
Sr. UX/UI Designer
2023–2024
I led a comprehensive research initiative to understand customer mobile behavior and inform strategic investment decisions. I conducted usability testings and behavioral studies to identify pain points and opportunities.
After migrating the e-commerce platform, MEC had a solid happy path experience but many modern features were missing, and future plans would mean we first needed to address all mobile experience paper-cuts.
Delivered evidence-based strategy and feature recommendations that influenced mobile product roadmap. Provided leadership with customer insights to guide multi-year mobile commerce decisions. I began implementing the strategy and designed several new mobile features including save for later, back-in-stock notifications, and in-store availability.
I created a public transit digital experience strategy
UX Specialist
2023
I created comprehensive design strategy to improve website experience and accessibility for provincial transit system. Compressed end-to-end project included research, user interviews, insights & pain-points, early concept low-fi wireframes, design system, phased roadmap recommendations. designer/developer hand-off. Presented recommendations to executive leadership and development partners.
Delivered strategic roadmap as foundation for website redesign. Demonstrated ability to navigate public sector requirements while maintaining human-centred approach.
About me
I'm a designer with 15+ years of experience—from solo designer at a startup to leading teams at scale—grounded in a formal graphic design education. I work end-to-end across the full design process, from discovery and strategy through to shipped product, and I adapt to new tools and constraints without losing sight of what actually makes something work.
Based in Vancouver, Canada
Get in touch:
Copy email address: hi@mike-barker.com
Connect on LinkedIn ↗
Side-projects
Over the years I've built a few experiments and side-projects in my spare time, often to follow an interest, or test my technical depth. Long before LLM tools have allowed experiments built by AI, I would design, code and ship. Below are a few example side-projects that I am most proud of.
IKEA Store Opening Visualization
Data visualization project featured in Buzzfeed & Hacker News, and recognized by IKEA
Dew coffee finder app
Designed & coded third-wave coffee discovery app to explore location-based UX patterns and modern development frameworks (Objective-C)
SwiftUI Protottyping ↗
Created educational resource teaching designers to build high-fidelity prototypes for better user testing