L Dante Guarin — Product Designer

Brass Tacks

Over 10 years designing where complex systems and real user need overlap on the Venn diagram. Marketo, Upwork, Meroxa, Teamshares, T-Mobile.

AI products need designers who can hold the product together when the rules don't exist yet. That's been my whole career.

Selected work

Case Study

Teamshares

Payroll reporting

Saving Teamshares ~$3.1M annually without adding or subtracting headcount.

Case Study

Teamshares

A hiring engine for a company of companies

Reframing a recruiting tool into talent pipeline infrastructure for 90+ acquired businesses.

Case Study

Marketo / Adobe

The design system that survived an acquisition

Built Sky's design system from the ground up. Patterns contributed upstream to Adobe Spectrum.

Case Study

Marketo / Adobe

733% adoption increase through trust-first migration

Users were resistant to disruption. That was a design problem.

Case Study

Meroxa

Pivoting from a builder to a data observability platform

How a discovery in research forced a pivot that opened doors for Meroxa.

Perspective

What I've learned building design systems that last

On governance, breaking patterns intentionally, and why the org chart matters more than the component library.

Perspective

Why financial platforms are systems problems

On fragmentation, dual personas, and what payroll across 90+ companies taught me about designing for money that moves.

Perspective

Designing platforms where two sides need each other

On dual-persona design, the craft of making both sides feel served, and what payroll networks share with creator platforms.

Perspective

Designing infrastructure people trust with their money

On visibility, complex workflows, and why the design patterns in traditional payments carry into digital currency.

Perspective

Designing for people who live in the product

On cognitive load, multi-persona platforms, and what full-day software demands from a design system.

Perspective

Software for people who are standing up

On designing operational tools for physical environments — and why the interface that works at a desk often fails completely on a shop floor.

Perspective

When the data is about you

On designing financial products where the user is also the subject — and why that asymmetry changes everything about how you build trust.

Perspective

When AI does the work and humans stay accountable

On designing clinical AI — where automation and professional responsibility share the same interface.

Perspective

Designing at the moment of care

On building products for users whose minds are elsewhere — and what healthcare taught me about designing for the moments that matter most.

Perspective

The governance layer

On why enterprise design systems fail — and why contribution models, intake workflows, and audit discipline matter more than the components themselves.

Perspective

When the system is the product

On building design systems as production infrastructure — and why the gap between Figma and shipping is a design problem.

Perspective

The control plane problem

On designing for administrators and end users at once — and why the person who configures the system is the most overlooked user in enterprise software.

Perspective

The platform underneath the art

On designing workflow infrastructure for creative industries — and why the best operational tools are the ones the user never has to think about.

Perspective

The instrument is the interface

On designing music software for people whose expertise is in sound, not UI — and what that changes about how you work.

Perspective

The digital front door

On designing the public web presence of a healthcare institution — and why the stakes are categorically different from most product work.

Perspective

When trust is the whole product

On designing for data governance and privacy compliance — and why the hardest part isn't building the controls, it's making them understandable to the people who live in them.

Perspective

When both sides have to win

On designing two-sided marketplaces where GCs and subs share a platform but have different jobs, different stakes, and sometimes directly opposing incentives.

Perspective

When the system has to hold the brand

On designing systems that scale across surfaces without flattening the thing that made the brand worth scaling in the first place.

Perspective

When security gets the UX it deserves

On designing products where friction isn't just annoying — it's a vulnerability. And why the strongest security posture starts at the interface layer.

Perspective

When the user is the business

On designing AI for home service pros — and why making automation reliable is a harder design problem than making it impressive.

Thoughts & Observations

Thoughts

Charlie Murphy's Law

Surprises in product design come in a few flavors. There are the ones you bring on yourself…

Thoughts

Navigating Ambiguity

There are two kinds of fog. Confusing them is how teams end up solving the wrong problem with confidence.

Thoughts

Growing leaders

On the quiet work of helping people find their direction — and why the real legacy isn't the projects or the pixels.

Thoughts

Squidward would never. SpongeBob would.

Squidward is the designer who's seen it all. Too experienced to be surprised…

I design systems

Brass Tacks

Payroll reporting

A hiring engine for a company of companies

The design system that survived an acquisition

733% adoption increase through trust-first migration

Pivoting from a builder to a data observability platform

What I've learned building design systems that last

Why financial platforms are systems problems

Designing platforms where two sides need each other

Designing infrastructure people trust with their money

Designing for people who live in the product

Software for people who are standing up

When the data is about you

When AI does the work and humans stay accountable

Designing at the moment of care

The governance layer

When the system is the product

The control plane problem

The platform underneath the art

The instrument is the interface

The digital front door

When trust is the whole product

When both sides have to win

When the system has to hold the brand

When security gets the UX it deserves

When the user is the business

Charlie Murphy's Law

Navigating Ambiguity

Growing leaders

Squidward would never. SpongeBob would.

Payroll reporting

A hiring engine for a company of companies

Pivoting from a builder to a data observability platform

How does Dante match up?

Strengths

Considerations

Review these case studies

Am I a fit?