Mark Tse
email: [email protected]
Professional Experience
Starlyte Imaging ( January 2024 - current)
Role: Chief Design Officer
Starlyte Imaging was founded to bridge the gap left by μManager in the microscopy space. As a self-funded startup, we are committed to making advanced microscopy more accessible. I led the design of intuitive interfaces and cohesive branding, transforming complex workflows into seamless experiences.
Inpulse Inc ( August 2019 - December 2023)
Role: VP of Product and Design
Inpulse was founded by Lucio Campanelli and me to tackle the growing problem of screen addiction and the monotony of app-based tasks dominating the tech industry. Lucio envisioned a world where technology empowered people instead of burying them in endless screens. Together, we created a wearable device designed to offload tedious tasks, providing a seamless, autonomous experience without the need for a display. Starting with innovations in contactless payments and access control, our mission was to free humanity from the constraints of a screen-centric tech landscape and redefine how we interact with technology in a more meaningful and liberating way.
Role: Contractor/Consultant UI UX Designer
I founded a design firm specializing in helping startups achieve their MVP milestones by delivering end-to-end user experiences through research, ideation, prototyping, and validation. In addition to startups, I have also done contracts and consulting for established companies who have project needs. As a designer, I have worked across multiple industries—including containerized security, networking security, commerce, automotive, and fintech—to create exceptional, user-centered design solutions that align with business goals and user needs.
Collaborating closely with product managers, engineers, data scientists, and content strategists, I ensure that designs are executed effectively and to the highest standards. With 13+ years of experience, I have led cross-functional teams, mentored designers, and championed design thinking to drive product success.
Alkira ( June 2021 - September 2022)
Role: UX Engineer, Autonomous Networking
Alkira is a pioneering cloud networking company redefining how enterprises connect and manage their multi-cloud environments. By offering the industry’s first Cloud Networking as a Service (CNaaS) platform, Alkira enables businesses to build and operate secure, scalable, and agile networks across multiple cloud providers without the complexity of traditional infrastructure. With Alkira’s intuitive, fully integrated solution, enterprises can seamlessly design, deploy, and manage their entire cloud network.
Spiketrap.io (October 2020 - February 2021)
Role: Principal UX Designer, LLM and AI Product
At Spiketrap.io, I helped refine an LLM-powered sentiment analysis tool capable of detecting sentiment even in sarcasm and slang. During my six months there, I established best practices for a scalable Figma library and pushed product initiatives that positioned the company for a successful acquisition. Though my time ended due to financial constraints after the loss of a major client, I’m proud to have contributed to Spiketrap’s journey and celebrated its eventual acquisition by Reddit.
Accomplishments:
Sysdig ( August 2019 - March 2020)
Role: Security Product UX Designer, AI and Automation
Sysdig is a leader in cloud and container security, providing a unified platform for securing, monitoring, and troubleshooting cloud-native applications. At Sysdig, I contributed to designing user-centered solutions that empower DevOps teams to efficiently manage Kubernetes environments and cloud infrastructures. While it was a very short time, I was able to complete many features. Due to the uncertainty of the Covid Pandemic, much of the staff was let go. My manager Lucio Campanelli and I began our 4 year journey to try our hand at Inpulse.
Cisco (December 2018 - August 2019)
Role: Senior UI UX Designer
I contributed to a dashboard based on CX and customer success by following the life cycle of a product in terms of stages of adoption. We created personas to represent a customer success agent, a sales manager stakeholder, and the customer user, then interviewed roles of people who matched closest to our personas. Our design followed each customer through various stages and what would prevent them from being fully adopted into a Cisco product solution. Our team was an agile development team but unique where design and product were combined roles.
SAIC Motors (June 2018 - December 2018)
Role: UX/UI HMI Designer, Autonomous Vehicles/AI
SAIC Motors (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China and a global leader in the automotive industry. Headquartered in Shanghai, SAIC Motors produces a wide range of vehicles, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs), under brands such as MG, Roewe, Maxus, and Wuling. I lead a team of 4 designers to come up with a user interface for the experience of an autonomous rideshare vehicle called the Nexus. Our persona was modeled after students at UC Davis which was our test bed. I created user flows, style guides and worked along side the UX researcher who conducted user testing. We developed in an agile structure. The development was done for both iOS and Android.
Ford Motor Company (July 2017 - June 2018)
Role: UI Motion Designer, Autonomous Vehicles
Health 2047/ The American Medical Association (September 2016 - July 2017)
Role: Senior UI/UX Designer, Health Care Automation
Health2047 was a startup ventured by the American Medical Association. My role was to design the user interface for an app for physicians and patients to communicate and is HIPPA compliant. It was developed in react Native. While this was a short lived role, we were always aware that our prototype was mainly a minimal viable product to present as an ideation concept. We were always aware that this was potentially not a long term role.
Ex'pressions College (August 2015- April 2016)
Role: Adjunct Professor
I worked at Ex’pression College for two terms, during which time the Animation and Visual Effects department was being phased out as part of a broader strategic shift. The college chose to sunset the program and redirect its focus toward promoting its Sound Engineering department. This pivot limited opportunities within the animation program, which ultimately led to the conclusion of my tenure there.I taught 3d modeling for Games, Hard Surface Modeling, Organic Modeling, UI/UX Design. I taught on and off various semesters while working full time at other companies.
Gloops International Inc./ Nexon M (March 2012 - October 2013)
Role: Senior Game Artist/Technical Lead ( My work was essential for the company acquisition $468.4M )
Role: Game Graphic Artist
Role: Chief Design Officer
Starlyte Imaging was founded to bridge the gap left by μManager in the microscopy space. As a self-funded startup, we are committed to making advanced microscopy more accessible. I led the design of intuitive interfaces and cohesive branding, transforming complex workflows into seamless experiences.
- Designed UI/UX for Starlyte Nebula, an advanced microscopy imaging software
- Mapped user journeys for confocal microscope workflows to identify pain points and enhance usability.
- Created a robust design library of components for Python-based development.
- Developed a Figma prototype for seamless hardware integration and control via custom drivers.
- Created the Starlyte Website (https://www.starlyteimaging.com/) along with all branding material, digital photo retouching and manipulation
Inpulse Inc ( August 2019 - December 2023)
Role: VP of Product and Design
Inpulse was founded by Lucio Campanelli and me to tackle the growing problem of screen addiction and the monotony of app-based tasks dominating the tech industry. Lucio envisioned a world where technology empowered people instead of burying them in endless screens. Together, we created a wearable device designed to offload tedious tasks, providing a seamless, autonomous experience without the need for a display. Starting with innovations in contactless payments and access control, our mission was to free humanity from the constraints of a screen-centric tech landscape and redefine how we interact with technology in a more meaningful and liberating way.
- Validate the Inpulse bracelet with stakeholders
- Green light features and worked with manufacturing of the bracelet using casting techniques to incorporate features.
- Reach out for customers to use as a test case/ early adopter of Inpulse bracelets.
- Create partnerships with 3rd party developers of RFID/NF technologies to incorporate into contactless payment technology
Role: Contractor/Consultant UI UX Designer
I founded a design firm specializing in helping startups achieve their MVP milestones by delivering end-to-end user experiences through research, ideation, prototyping, and validation. In addition to startups, I have also done contracts and consulting for established companies who have project needs. As a designer, I have worked across multiple industries—including containerized security, networking security, commerce, automotive, and fintech—to create exceptional, user-centered design solutions that align with business goals and user needs.
Collaborating closely with product managers, engineers, data scientists, and content strategists, I ensure that designs are executed effectively and to the highest standards. With 13+ years of experience, I have led cross-functional teams, mentored designers, and championed design thinking to drive product success.
- Client List: ARC, BD, Coraid, Livefyre, Mindlance, Nimble Storage/HPE, OmniAb, John Deere, SAIC Motors, Satwic
Alkira ( June 2021 - September 2022)
Role: UX Engineer, Autonomous Networking
Alkira is a pioneering cloud networking company redefining how enterprises connect and manage their multi-cloud environments. By offering the industry’s first Cloud Networking as a Service (CNaaS) platform, Alkira enables businesses to build and operate secure, scalable, and agile networks across multiple cloud providers without the complexity of traditional infrastructure. With Alkira’s intuitive, fully integrated solution, enterprises can seamlessly design, deploy, and manage their entire cloud network.
- Designed and managed the Alkira Design Library using Figma
- Migrated the designs from Sketch Cloud and Invision to Figma
- Collaborate on features approved by the Product Team from customer and POC asks
- Design end to end features using the library components.
- Overhauled the legacy topology view of a cloud networking infrastructure to be able to handle thousands of connectors and still be functional when it comes to diagnostics of the connectors.
- Overhauled the feature to view policies by showing where in the CXP do these policies affect.
Spiketrap.io (October 2020 - February 2021)
Role: Principal UX Designer, LLM and AI Product
At Spiketrap.io, I helped refine an LLM-powered sentiment analysis tool capable of detecting sentiment even in sarcasm and slang. During my six months there, I established best practices for a scalable Figma library and pushed product initiatives that positioned the company for a successful acquisition. Though my time ended due to financial constraints after the loss of a major client, I’m proud to have contributed to Spiketrap’s journey and celebrated its eventual acquisition by Reddit.
Accomplishments:
- Established a scalable UI/UX design process and implemented a component library in Figma.
- Developed a streamlined design-to-development workflow, ensuring quality and consistency.
- Explored innovative UI solutions for AI and machine learning applications.Spiketrap.io is an LLM based tool that can detect sentiment of comments even if there is sarcasm and slang. While I was only there for 4 months. I established best practices for building out a Figma Library and pushed product in a way that set them up for the best possible acquisition. At the time Spiketrap was mostly self funded and with the loss of a large client, my role had to come to an end though I am so proud to be a part of the company and praised its eventual acquisition by Reddit. Accomplishments: Established a scalable UI/UX design process and implemented a component library in Figma. Developed a streamlined design-to-development workflow, ensuring quality and consistency. Explored innovative UI solutions for AI and machine learning applications.
Sysdig ( August 2019 - March 2020)
Role: Security Product UX Designer, AI and Automation
Sysdig is a leader in cloud and container security, providing a unified platform for securing, monitoring, and troubleshooting cloud-native applications. At Sysdig, I contributed to designing user-centered solutions that empower DevOps teams to efficiently manage Kubernetes environments and cloud infrastructures. While it was a very short time, I was able to complete many features. Due to the uncertainty of the Covid Pandemic, much of the staff was let go. My manager Lucio Campanelli and I began our 4 year journey to try our hand at Inpulse.
- Worked on the Secure product line in the Sysdig platform. On a higher level this involves understanding containerized infrastructure security and Kubernetes. designing a layout for the user to be able to scan their builds, their runtime deployments for vulnerabilities, against polices and check against compliance standards. My philosophy is to create visualization that informs the user/security engineer of a narrative allowing them to quickly make a decision based on the surfaced data.
- Worked in Cross Functional teams
- Worked alongside product, stakeholders and clients to influence product and design.
- Developed user journey stories.
- Designed solutions in Sketch Cloud
Cisco (December 2018 - August 2019)
Role: Senior UI UX Designer
I contributed to a dashboard based on CX and customer success by following the life cycle of a product in terms of stages of adoption. We created personas to represent a customer success agent, a sales manager stakeholder, and the customer user, then interviewed roles of people who matched closest to our personas. Our design followed each customer through various stages and what would prevent them from being fully adopted into a Cisco product solution. Our team was an agile development team but unique where design and product were combined roles.
- I contributed to a dashboard based on CX and customer success by following the life cycle of a product in terms of stages of adoption. We created personas to represent a customer success agent, a sales manager stakeholder, and the customer user, then interviewed roles of people who matched closest to our personas. Our design followed each customer through various stages and what would prevent them from being fully adopted into a Cisco product solution. Our team was an agile development team but unique where design and product were combined roles.
- Collaborated on CX platform products such as the Living Journey Map using Sketch.
- Published motion graphics and video documentations for CX products such as the Customer Portal and the Living Journey Map
SAIC Motors (June 2018 - December 2018)
Role: UX/UI HMI Designer, Autonomous Vehicles/AI
SAIC Motors (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) is one of the largest automotive manufacturers in China and a global leader in the automotive industry. Headquartered in Shanghai, SAIC Motors produces a wide range of vehicles, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and electric vehicles (EVs), under brands such as MG, Roewe, Maxus, and Wuling. I lead a team of 4 designers to come up with a user interface for the experience of an autonomous rideshare vehicle called the Nexus. Our persona was modeled after students at UC Davis which was our test bed. I created user flows, style guides and worked along side the UX researcher who conducted user testing. We developed in an agile structure. The development was done for both iOS and Android.
- I lead a team of 4 designers to come up with a user interface for the experience of an autonomous rideshare vehicle called the Nexus. Our persona was modeled after students at UC Davis which was our test bed. I created user flows, style guides and worked along side the UX researcher who conducted user testing. We developed in an agile structure. The development was done for both iOS and Android.
- Designed wireframes and userflows for an autonomous ride hailing vehicle for iOS
- Designed several themes for the digital dashboard cluster, centerstack, infotainment center, and facial recognition experience of vehicles for the Maxus flagship vehicle.
- Design for a SAIC motors sports car to be released in 2020
- Utilize Sketch plugins like Magic Mirror and Squid to create user flows/site maps.
- Conducted user research and user testing along with the Sr. UX researcher at SAIC motors.
- Conducted qualitative and quantitative user studies.
Ford Motor Company (July 2017 - June 2018)
Role: UI Motion Designer, Autonomous Vehicles
- I worked on motion graphics for the dashboard cluster, centerstack, infotainment and hvac controls for vehicles at Ford Motors. This includes the F150 and an EV car project.
- Designing the layout and motion graphics for digital Displays of "Next Generation" vehicles.
- Worked on the center stack console for a sports crossover and the F-150 Sync reskin.
Health 2047/ The American Medical Association (September 2016 - July 2017)
Role: Senior UI/UX Designer, Health Care Automation
Health2047 was a startup ventured by the American Medical Association. My role was to design the user interface for an app for physicians and patients to communicate and is HIPPA compliant. It was developed in react Native. While this was a short lived role, we were always aware that our prototype was mainly a minimal viable product to present as an ideation concept. We were always aware that this was potentially not a long term role.
- Develop UI patterns for three different products, create design and symbol library in Sketch.
- Drive design discussions with stakeholders, product, development, and design.
- Collaborating UI Visual Designs for the Switch mobile app and web services with the UI/UX Director.
- Creating Animations in Animate (formerly Flash) and After Effects.
- Designing with React Native in mind
- Understanding HIPAA compliance and implementation into mobile apps.
Ex'pressions College (August 2015- April 2016)
Role: Adjunct Professor
I worked at Ex’pression College for two terms, during which time the Animation and Visual Effects department was being phased out as part of a broader strategic shift. The college chose to sunset the program and redirect its focus toward promoting its Sound Engineering department. This pivot limited opportunities within the animation program, which ultimately led to the conclusion of my tenure there.I taught 3d modeling for Games, Hard Surface Modeling, Organic Modeling, UI/UX Design. I taught on and off various semesters while working full time at other companies.
Gloops International Inc./ Nexon M (March 2012 - October 2013)
Role: Senior Game Artist/Technical Lead ( My work was essential for the company acquisition $468.4M )
- Responsible for creating 3D art as well as development pipeline.
- Illustrated, modeled, and animated vehicles and mechs for this real-time strategy game for iOS
- Shadow Alliance (2012), Apoc Wars (2013), Untitled (2013)
Role: Game Graphic Artist
- Responsible for creating 3D art, concept art, graphic art, production art, illustration for social games.
- Setup 3D technology and pipeline for Marvel: Avenger’s Alliance
Education
Academy of Art University Department of Animation and Visual Effects, San Francisco, CA (2005-2008)
Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Visual Effects, emphasis in 3D Modeling
Binghamton University (2001 - 2005)
Bachelor of Science in Anthropology, emphasis in Biological Anthropology Studies
Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Visual Effects, emphasis in 3D Modeling
Binghamton University (2001 - 2005)
Bachelor of Science in Anthropology, emphasis in Biological Anthropology Studies
Skills
UI UX Skills
3D Animation, 3D Modeling, Layout, Prototyping
- Communication with devs, product, stakeholders.
- Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Invision
- Familiar with Google Ventures Design Sprint
- Soft people skills (Empathetic, able to work through blockers between teams)
3D Animation, 3D Modeling, Layout, Prototyping
- Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Paintcode
- Autodesk Maya, Cinema 4D, Crazy Bump, Headus UV layout, X-Normal and Z-Brush