Leslie Herring

I strive to design beautiful and functional interactive experiences for web, mobile, and more.

I'm passionate about user-centered design that's intuitive and enjoyable. Problem-solving is my jam.

 

Experience

I’m a multi-faceted designer who specializes in user experience and interface design. I’ve helped anyone from large companies to small startups communicate their ideas to achieve their goals through interactive design; whether that's an app, or an immersive experience on a trade-show floor. 

I’ve managed teams of designers and developers crafting agile project roadmaps to take products through cycles of releases from MVP features, enhancements, to production release. I incorporate user feedback and business data to make products better over time.

 

Huge

Experience Design Lead – Jul 2025 - Present

Senior Designer II – DEC 2024 - JUL 2025

Huge is a design and technology company creating digital products and experiences that grow ambitious brands. My former company Hero & Huge merged in late 2024.

I continue to work for a team embedded onsite with one of the Bay Area’s top Fortune 100 technology companies. As the lead designer on my current product, I manage other designers and work closely with business strategy, product owners, developers, and users in California, Texas, and India to build scalable products that empower the future of the company. I specifically have been designing a custom content management system for over 7 years in this position. We launched our product officially in Jun 2023 and continue to enhance and add features.

Hero Digital

Senior Designer II – Feb 2022 - DEC 2024

Senior Designer – Dec 2017 - Feb 2022

Hero Digital is a Customer Experience agency specializing in multi-channel design. I worked for a team embedded onsite with one of the Bay Area’s top Fortune 100 technology companies. As the lead designer on my product, I managed other designers and worked closely with business strategy, product owners, developers, and users in California, Texas, and India to build scalable products that empowered the future of the company.

I conducted user experience workshops and applied UX design methodology such as user journey mapping, wireframes, UI design and prototyping to my projects, which ranged from customer facing web pages, to internal tools, web-apps, and CMS design.

First Person

User Experience Lead – May 2017 - Sept 2017

Interactive Art Director & UX/UI Designer – Feb 2014 - May 2017

Interactive Designer - Aug 2013 – Feb 2014

First Person is a creative agency with a broad range of disciplines including Graphic Design, Video and Motion Graphics, Digital Campaigns, Content Development, Branding, Strategy, Experience Design, and Development. I worked on a variety of projects including presentations, apps, websites, and touch screen experiences. I was also the Interactive team lead, managing a small team of both designers and developers throughout project workflow.

Westernized Productions

Interactive Designer - Dec 2010 – Aug 2013

Westernized Productions was a boutique design firm specializing in moving images and animation. I started as an interactive design intern, and was hired full time shortly after. I worked on a range of products from websites to touch-screen experiences as a designer and developer.

Freelance

Web Design – 2009-Present

Worked in various mediums including web design, mobile app design, front-end development, graphic design, branding, and email marketing for small businesses, non-profits, and other partnerships.

 

Academy Of Art University

Web Design & New Media

Bachelors of Fine Art

General Assembly

User Experience Design

Certificate of Completion


Awwwards

Honorable Mention

First Person Website


What people Say

“I had the pleasure of working alongside Leslie, and I can say without hesitation that she is one of the best designers I’ve encountered in my career.

Her designs are consistently thorough, clean, and polished. What truly makes Leslie stand out is her unique ability to identify and address edge cases — something rarely seen in even the most experienced designers. This level of attention to detail was evident across every feature she worked on.

It was a genuine pleasure collaborating with Leslie, and any team would be lucky to have her!”
— Saranya Kumar, Product Owner - Apple
“Leslie is one of those rare design leads who genuinely elevates everyone around her. She ran our project with a level of clarity and rigor that made even the most complex UX challenges feel solvable. Her design systems thinking is exceptional - she sees both the macro structure and the micro details, and nothing slips through. She’s also incredibly skilled at navigating client relationships, keeping things aligned and productive without ever losing the thread of what’s best for the user. On top of all that, she’s just a wonderful person to work with - thoughtful, direct, and always willing to dig in alongside the team. I’d work with Leslie again in a heartbeat and can’t recommend her highly enough.”
— Marat Stary, (via Apple) Founder & UX/Product Design Leader at Kollective
“Leslie has a wonderful combination of design and organization. She approaches each design challenge with a very clear idea of how to architect and organize information and then finds the simplest way to visually display it. This was a natural fit for User Experience. She helped design the User Experience for a host of different platforms: a wayfinding kiosk for Simon Mall, a web application for Apptourage, and many websites and microsites.

Leslie also grew into a leadership role at First Person, managing a team of three people. She tasked the team with all of their day to day assignments and ensured on time delivery. She also was instrumental in creating SOWs and project requirements. Leslie is an exceptionally hard worker and a real asset, able to wear a number of hats. I give her my highest recommendation. ”
— Drew Fiero, CEO - First Person