Michael Miller

Background | Let's Collaborate

I’m a design leader who stays in the work, setting direction for a team one minute and building components in Figma the next. I’ve worked inside a global agency network, with early-stage startups, and through two studios of my own. I care most about systems that scale and keep teams aligned, and tools like AI that make good work faster.

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How I Work

Leadership | Systems | AI

Team Leadership

I lead from inside the work, directing a rotating team of designers through creative direction, design reviews, and hands-on feedback from first concept through delivery. I also mentor designers across the studio.

As lead design partner to Brightspeed’s e-commerce leadership, I present strategy to executives and align product, UX, strategy, and engineering early, so design is built in from the start.

Design Systems

I architected Brightspeed’s Figma ecosystem: three foundations, 30+ files, and 6 component libraries spanning web and app.

I set the standards, governance, and accessibility practices behind it, organized how libraries and shared assets work together, and led the full migration from Sketch to Figma, so designers and engineers build from the same source.

AI Workflows

AI is part of my daily process. Agentic workflows with Claude Cowork, Figma MCP, and Figma Make speed up how I explore, document, and build.

On the creative side, I work across Figma Weave, Midjourney, Runway, Kling, and Suno for cover art, motion, and RetroWisp, my AI-assisted video and music pipeline. The tools speed up the making; the creative direction stays mine.

Background

My roots are in graphic design and brand work, and I founded and ran Ghost Stag, a creative production studio building immersive environments for festivals and events. Motion, real-time 3D, and XR in Unreal Engine and Unity still shape how I design.

BA, Communication & Graphic Design, CSU Chico. UI/UX training through Springboard and XR design through Circuit Stream.