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About

About

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Originally from the bustling metropolis of Glens Falls at the base of the Adirondacks in New York State. I grew up with an affinity for design and an unusual obsession with typography and print. As a child, I designed and printed (with stationary from a local store and my brand new ink jet printer) my cousin’s wedding invitations. Much later, I attended the Conservatory of Art & Design at Purchase College in Upstate NY (yes, I consider Westchester “upstate” please don’t @ me). Post-graduation, I moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn (this was pre-Girls and when I first experienced agoraphobia) where I interned for McCall Associates in Tribeca where I once accidentally, after being buzzed in, closed the door behind me thinking Richard Serra was a stranger (and not the very close friend of founder Anthony McCall). My first job in New York City was at the newly opened Apple Store on West 14th St in Chelsea. I started freelancing shortly after. Eventually, I joined the Fintech startup world as employee #10 at insurance shopping platform and Forbes’ best start-up employers, Policygenius. I still freelance, I still love typography and print, and I still live in Brooklyn with my partner Dan and daughter, Frankie*.

*She’s a Boston Terrier, but I still stand behind what I said. If you’re reading this, why don’t you donate to my favorite animal charity RedRover whose mission is to bring animals out of crisis and strengthen the bond between people and animals through emergency sheltering, disaster-relief services, financial assistance, and education.

READING

READING

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Rejection
by Tony Tulathimutte

LISTENING

LISTENING

Search Engine
'It's Nice That'
Podcast

WATCHING

WATCHING

Common Side Effects
'The Rehearsal'
Season 2

MY WEEKLY EMAIL

MY WEEKLY EMAIL

Measured Miscellanea
Measured Misc.

BONUS-BONUS CONTENT

What's your sign?

+

Wow! Cool last name. Are you some kinda Indian or something?

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I heard you're a car guy?

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BONUS-BONUS CONTENT

What's your sign?

+

Wow! Cool last name. Are you some kinda Indian or something?

+

I heard you're a car guy?

+

BONUS-BONUS CONTENT

What's your sign?

+

Wow! Cool last name. Are you some kinda Indian or something?

+

I heard you're a car guy?

+

RESUME

RESUME

Download PDF

Download PDF

Phillip Blackowl

Available for freelance work

Senior Product & UX Designer — Fintech

Brooklyn, NY

2:35 PM

Phillip Blackowl

Available for freelance work

Senior Product & UX Designer

Brooklyn, NY

2:35 PM

Phillip Blackowl

Available for freelance work

Senior Product & UX Designer

Brooklyn, NY

2:35 PM

Experience

Senior Product & Growth Designer

Zinna (formerly Policygenius, acquired in 2023)

New York, NY | Fintech Insurance Platform | 2023–2024

Led brand and acquisition design for Zinnia’s B2C and B2B insurance products across web, CRM, and partner ecosystems. Focused on scalable systems, performance-driven UX, and cross-functional collaboration in a high-growth environment.

  • Design lead for the 2024 Zinnia.com redesign, including full design system refresh and responsive component library aligned with updated brand strategy (incomplete).

  • Owned end-to-end design of Acquisition and Partnership landing pages—concepting, prototyping, building, and QA-ing high-converting experiences.

  • Designed and implemented a modular landing page system in HubSpot, improving consistency, scalability, and team adoption across product marketing workflows.

  • Developed and rolled out a CRM module system in HubSpot, enhancing email production efficiency and ensuring brand alignment across lifecycle touchpoints.

  • Partnered with cross-functional teams in Marketing, Growth, and Engineering to align UI with performance goals and integrate design seamlessly into CMS workflows.

Senior Product & Growth Designer

Policygenius

New York, NY | Fintech, Insurance SaaS | 2015–2023
Series A–E | Employee 10 → 800+ employees

Projects

  • Led UX/UI and growth-focused design for Policygenius’ consumer and B2B platforms, shaping the brand from startup to industry leader. Owned high-impact acquisition initiatives across search, referral, and CRM channels.

  • Launched Policygenius Pro, a white-label insurance SaaS tool, from 0→1, designing multi-platform UI for advisors and internal teams.

  • Designed a modular CRM design system, improving cross-team alignment and reducing build time by 30%.

  • Delivered conversion-optimized landing pages, partner flows, and App Store assets—contributing to double-digit growth in user acquisition.

  • Created a reusable design system (Helix) for patient-facing education tools, increasing content engagement by 45%.

  • Designed and executed 5-city OOH campaign, including TV spots and airport placements—driving top-of-funnel awareness and cross-channel engagement.

  • Partnered with product, marketing, and strategy teams to prototype, A/B test, and launch acquisition experiments across web and mobile.

  • Collaborated directly with co-founders and C-Suite, producing investor decks and brand initiatives aligned with funding goals.

  • Owned end-to-end creative for internal brand moments, including $10MM office design projects that doubled as employer branding touchpoints.

Freelance & Independent Work

Blackowl LLC

Remote | Digital Health, Fintech, E-commerce | 2008–Present

Projects

  • Designed for startups and mission-driven orgs in lifestyle, podcasting, and wellness.

  • Led UX and visual design for mental health and lifestyle startups, including CRM modules, onboarding flows, and e-commerce platforms.

  • Designed CRM system for a mortgage pre-approval fintech app (OwnUp), focusing on form clarity, trust signals, and mobile conversion with updated UI.

  • Created branding, identity, and end-to-end UI for LGBTQ lifestyle e-commerce brand, scaling from idea to full fulfillment system.

  • Delivered email systems, podcast visuals, and landing experiences for Nightvale Presents and Zipcar UX/UI capstone prototype.

Senior Product & Growth Designer

Zinna (formerly Policygenius, acquired in 2023)

New York, NY | Fintech Insurance Platform | 2023–2024

Led brand and acquisition design for Zinnia’s B2B insurance products across web, CRM, and partner ecosystems. Focused on scalable systems, performance-driven UX, and cross-functional collaboration in a high-growth environment.

  • Design lead for the 2024 Zinnia.com redesign, including full design system refresh and responsive component library aligned with updated brand strategy (incomplete).

  • Owned end-to-end design of Acquisition and Partnership landing pages—concepting, prototyping, building, and QA-ing high-converting experiences.

  • Designed and implemented a modular landing page system in HubSpot, improving consistency, scalability, and team adoption across product marketing workflows.

  • Developed and rolled out a CRM module system in HubSpot, enhancing email production efficiency and ensuring brand alignment across lifecycle touchpoints.

  • Partnered with cross-functional teams in Marketing, Growth, and Engineering to align UI with performance goals and integrate design seamlessly into CMS workflows.

Led brand and acquisition design for Zinnia’s B2C and B2B insurance products across web, CRM, and partner ecosystems. Focused on scalable systems, performance-driven UX, and cross-functional collaboration in a high-growth environment.

  • Design lead for the 2024 Zinnia.com redesign, including full design system refresh and responsive component library aligned with updated brand strategy (incomplete).

  • Owned end-to-end design of Acquisition and Partnership landing pages—concepting, prototyping, building, and QA-ing high-converting experiences.

  • Designed and implemented a modular landing page system in HubSpot, improving consistency, scalability, and team adoption across product marketing workflows.

  • Developed and rolled out a CRM module system in HubSpot, enhancing email production efficiency and ensuring brand alignment across lifecycle touchpoints.

  • Partnered with cross-functional teams in Marketing, Growth, and Engineering to align UI with performance goals and integrate design seamlessly into CMS workflows.

Senior Product & Growth Designer

Policygenius

New York, NY | Fintech, Insurance SaaS | 2015–2023
Series A–E | Employee 10 → 800+ employees

Projects

  • Led UX/UI and growth-focused design for Policygenius’ consumer and B2B platforms, shaping the brand from startup to industry leader. Owned high-impact acquisition initiatives across search, referral, and CRM channels.

  • Launched Policygenius Pro, a white-label insurance SaaS tool, from 0→1, designing multi-platform UI for advisors and internal teams.

  • Designed a modular CRM design system, improving cross-team alignment and reducing build time by 30%.

  • Delivered conversion-optimized landing pages, partner flows, and App Store assets—contributing to double-digit growth in user acquisition.

  • Created a reusable design system for client-facing education tools, increasing content engagement by 45%.

  • Designed and executed 5-city OOH campaign, including TV spots and airport placements—driving top-of-funnel awareness and cross-channel engagement.

  • Partnered with product, marketing, and strategy teams to prototype, A/B test, and launch acquisition experiments across web and mobile.

  • Collaborated directly with co-founders and C-Suite, producing investor decks and brand initiatives aligned with funding goals.

  • Owned end-to-end creative for internal brand moments, including $10MM office design projects that doubled as employer branding touchpoints.

Freelance & Independent Work

Blackowl LLC

Remote | Digital Health, Fintech, E-commerce | 2008–Present

Remote | Digital Health, Fintech, E-commerce |
2008–Present

Projects

  • Designed for startups and mission-driven orgs in lifestyle, podcasting, and wellness.

  • Led UX and visual design for lifestyle startups, including CRM modules and onboarding flows.

  • Designed CRM system for a mortgage pre-approval fintech app (OwnUp), focusing on form clarity, trust signals, and mobile conversion with updated UI.

  • Created branding, identity, and end-to-end UI for LGBTQ lifestyle e-commerce brand, scaling from idea to full fulfillment system.

  • Delivered podcast visuals and landing experiences for Nightvale Presents.

Education

Fashion Institute of Technology
UX Design Certificate
SUNY Purchase, School of Art+Design
BFA Graphic Design
Fashion Institute of Technology
UX Design Certificate
SUNY Purchase, School of Art+Design
BFA Graphic Design

Core Skills & Tools

UX/UI Design
A/B Testing
Conversion Optimization
Growth Experiments
Prototyping
Mobile & Web Design
Motion
Design Systems
Design Strategy
Visual Communication
Cross-functional Collaboration
Accessibility
Tools
Figma
Adobe CC
Sketch
Hubspot
Webflow
Contentful
Miro
Unbounce
Hotjar
HTML/CSS (basic)
Asana
AI Skills (ChatGPT)
UX/UI Design
A/B Testing
Conversion Optimization
Growth Experiments
Prototyping
Mobile & Web Design
Motion
Design Systems
Design Strategy
Visual Communication
Cross-functional Collaboration
Accessibility
Tools
Figma
Adobe CC
Sketch
Hubspot
Webflow
Contentful
Miro
Unbounce
Hotjar
HTML/CSS (basic)
Asana
AI Skills (ChatGPT)