Ryan Bilello Email & Phone Number

Chicago, IL, US

• Design Leadership: Led UX, product design, and creative projects for brands and agencies, delivering tailored, data-driven solutions that enhance user experiences and drive success.
• Client Collaboration: Communicated effectively to understand client goals, adapting to various challenges and timelines.
• Different, But Better: I believe great design doesn’t just stand out—it creates lasting value and impact. "Different, but better" means challenging conventions, crafting solutions that resonate deeply with your.

• Project: Designed a unique visual identity for the “Refer a Friend” program, specifically enhancing its appeal to the student paid search audience.
• Impact: Developed a flexible design system that adapted seamlessly to various audiences, reinforcing brand cohesion and storytelling.
• Innovation: Introduced overlapping visual elements, combining lifestyle imagery with Discover’s shape language to create a distinct, adaptable design system.

• Project: Designed a new digital e-commerce platform for Zales.com.
• Impact: Enhanced user experience, increasing average order value to $875-$900 while maintaining a strong conversion rate.
• Innovation: Translated complex ideas into intuitive design solutions for a seamless shopping experience.
• Collaboration: Aligned with cross-functional teams to address user pain points and meet business goals.
• Strategy: Developed a UX strategy using wireframes, user flows, and interaction models to clarify the project vision and secure stakeholder buy-in.

• Project: Developed a virtual & AR experience for a series of GM vehicles.
• Impact: Defined the UX strategy and created relevant UI designs to streamline the efforts of technology and design teams.
• Human-Centered Design: Prioritized user needs by creating intuitive interactions, reducing complexity, and enhancing overall vehicle exploration.
• Innovation: Utilized 8th Wall’s WebAR with world tracking for immersive vehicle exploration and customizations.

• Project: Led the design of a new digital experience for U.S. Polo Association.
• Impact: Aligned the design with brand goals, creating a cohesive, user-centric experience that enhanced engagement and remained flexible for future content.
• Results: Increased new visitors by 50.64% and returning visitors by 40.41%, while pages per session decreased by 9.77% and the bounce rate decreased by 1.40%, indicating reduced cognitive load.
• Design System: Refined visual hierarchy, typography, color palette, and interactive elements to elevate the user experience.
• Stakeholder Management: Presented design concepts & data-driven insights to stakeholders, understanding their goals and pain points, and using a “yes, and” approach to foster alignment and secure buy-in for a.

• Project: Led digital transformation within philanthropic giving for Mayo Clinic.
• Impact: Enhanced user engagement and streamlined donation processes.
• Systems Thinking: Mapped interactions between people, processes, and systems to identify improvements.
• Project: Defined the North Star vision for Mayo Clinic Health System, creating a roadmap focused on patient care, digital health, and system-wide collaboration.
• Impact: Defined the future state of Mayo Clinic Health System, providing a clear vision to guide long-term strategic direction.
• Research & Insights: Identified key pain points, including lack of awareness of digital tools, confusing appointment scheduling, and challenges with self-triage. These findings shaped a more user-centric digital.

• Project: Developed creative for the “Hello, Perfect” campaign making HP’s printer shopping experience more human.
• Impact: The pitch won the agency the hp account.
• Design Approach: Used the HP logo as the focal point to reinforce brand equity, integrating lifestyle imagery to enhance storytelling.
• Recognition: Received a thank you note from an executive, acknowledging my significant design contribution to the pitch.

• Project: Designed a best-in-class e-commerce shopping experience for Michigan-based Lume Cannabis Co.
• Impact: Improved Lume’s e-commerce, driving growth to nearly $200 million and solidifying its position as a leading cannabis retailer.
• Prototype: Created a prototype to enhance client communication, showcasing elements that boost customer loyalty and attract new customers.
• Agile: Seamlessly integrated design and development processes using Jira.
• Workshops: Facilitated cross-functional team alignment by creating customer personas and user journeys, ensuring smooth design execution.

• Project: Distilled and purified the brand experience for the posh Chicago restaurant Maple & Ash.
• Impact: Increasing sales to approximately $20.3 million, ranking them 24th on Restaurant Business Magazine's 'Top 100 Independents' list that year.

• Project: Led the business case to redesign Discover’s bill payment experience.
• Impact: Created a design system that provides a cohesive framework for personalized content, campaigns, and online services.
• Achievement: Secured executive approval and $12 million in funding for project.

• Project: Developed marketing materials for McDonald’s U.S. "Our Food. Your Questions." campaign.
• Impact: Engaged over 40,000 customers through social listening, generating 5.7 billion media impressions, and improving brand perception among millennials, restoring trust in McDonald’s food.
• Visual Storytelling: Designed infographics illustrating the farm-to-restaurant process, creating a system that enabled the PR team to answer questions in real-time, changing how big brands communicate.
• Project: Developed McDonald’s "Holiday Gift-Fest" campaign.
• Impact: Produced the "Impossible" OLV, using storytelling to evoke holiday magic and drive engagement for McDonald’s cash and prize giveaways.

Chicago, Illinois, US

• Impact: Crafted brand storytelling for new product and platform launches.
• Innovation: Reshaped the brand narrative and design system for the music platform, Copper Label Side B transforming a previously challenging campaign into a successful project.

Chicago, Illinois, US

• Project: Designed an immersive and user-friendly e-commerce platform for the U.S. launch of Li-Ning.
• Impact: Drove brand growth through a tailored online shopping experience that enhanced customer engagement.
• Design Strategy: Developed a visually cohesive platform aligned with Li-Ning’s brand identity, tailored for the U.S. market.
• User-Centered Approach: Applied user insights to create an intuitive shopping experience, enhancing customer engagement.

New York, NY, US

Clients include: Allstate, Children's Memorial Hospital, Square Enix, Walter E Smithe

Elmhurst, Illinois, US

• Clients include: Allstate, Bankers Insurance, CNH, Gold Eagle, Hanesbrands, National Association of Realtors and Optimer Brands.
• Feat: Gold Tower Award for Best in B2B Marketing Communications - Maddock Douglas Online Newsletters in-house.

• Accomplishments include: Helped develop, define and launch a new website experience for consumers.
• Feat: This led to the successful sale of TicketsNow for $265 million in January 2008.

Chicago, IL, US

Clients include: Bridgestone, Friendly's

Chicago, Illinois, US

Clients include: Boss Snowplow, Carl Buddig, Leinenkugel’s, Mercury Marine and Sargento.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Graphic Design

Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies, General