Hey, I'm Austin 👋

I lead and design
products that people love

I design and grow products people love

From humble startups to software used by billions, I’ve had a blast designing things that people love. At Google, I'm proudly building the future of Chrome alongside some of the industry's greatest innovators. Previously, I helped establish and lead UX at HubSpot while working remotely from around the world. Join me as I continue to explore tech, break things, and share what I learn through it all.

Lead Designer at Google
Previously HubSpot
Based in San Francisco, CA
Previously Boston & Rio de Janeiro
Advisor at Sequoia Capital
Mentor at Columbia and Stanford
Co-Host of the UX & Growth and Decrypting Crypto podcasts
Advocate for remote work, user data privacy and the open web

I've had the honor of designing products that impact billions of people around the world. Today, I'm working on the future of Google Chrome. Previously, I helped lead UX at HubSpot while working remote from Rio de Janeiro.

Product Designer at Google
Based in San Francisco, CA
Advisor at Sequoia Capital
Mentor at Columbia and Stanford
Co-Host of the UX & Growth and Decrypting Crypto podcasts
Advocate for remote work, user data privacy and the open web

Work

What I've been up to

Globally adopted software, high converting websites, emerging technology and beyond. This is a detailed chronicle of the stories, processes and results behind a curated selection of projects that I've led and contributed to.

Globally adopted software, high converting websites, emerging technology and beyond. Here are the stories behind my work.

Coming soon

This case study is still being written

Evolving the browser

Chrome is one of the most visible and widely-used products ever made. This is a look at how we evolved it beyond its core browser roots.

Timeline of Work
2003 • Lexington, KY

My first website

I built my first site (and taught myself how to design and code) by reverse-engineering sites that I admired. It was hosted on freewebs.com and had a phpBB forum.

2011 • Lexington, KY

Starting a non-profit

Motivated to combat human trafficking, I founded a 501(c)(3) and built a robust site (for awareness, crime tracking & fundraising), videos, presentations and more.

2012 • Lexington, KY

My first design job

I conducted an unsolicited audit of a local company's website, and as a result, was brought in to lead their design and marketing efforts. This is where my career began.

2014 • Cincinnati, OH

Joining an early stage startup

In a leap of faith, I joined Petbrosia as its UX & Acquisition Lead and dropped out of college. We raised $5M in funding and grew to 100K+ monthly site visits and 10K+ customers.

2015 • Boston, MA & Rio de Janeiro, BRazil

Rapid growth at HubSpot

Brought in as HubSpot.com's first UX Designer, I established our process, helped take us international and led the site through design changes that multiplied its conversion rate.

2018 • San francisco, CA

Big impact at Google

Today, I'm designing the future of Chrome for over 3 billion people around the world. From new technologies like PWAs, to critical EM capabilities, to better privacy and beyond.

Multiplying conversion rates

How our small multi-disciplinary team iteratively built one of the most-visited SaaS sites on the web, multiplying conversion and revenue in the process.

Growing a startup

A revolutionary idea and a tight timeframe would result in this critical redesign of our fledgling startup's website and product experience.

Building for billions

I'm designing for and performing field research with Google's Next Billion Users, who are coming online for the first time in places like Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, India and Indonesia.

Designing for a crisis

In a unique partnership between Google and Apple, I helped design the COVID-19 exposure tracing app that would be used around the world.

Password required
A word of thanks

This was a team effort

I'm fortunate to have worked with some truly incredible people. From distinguished PhDs, to early pioneers of the internet, to future household names. I’m humbled to call such remarkable people my friends and collaborators. None of this would’ve been possible without them.

Entering virtual reality

One of my favorite side projects, building a fully functional WebVR experience from scratch.

Coming soon

This case study is still being written

Experiments and fun

ML models, viral products, bots and beyond. Here's what happened between the case studies.

Case Studies

Doubling conversion rates

How our small team built one of the most-visited SaaS sites on the web, multiplying conversion and revenue in the process.

Growing a startup

A revolutionary idea and a tight timeframe would result in this critical redesign of our startup's website and product experience.

Entering virtual reality

Two weeks and a blank HTML document would turn into one of my favorite side projects. A fully functioning WebVR experience.

Coming soon

This case study is still being written

Involvement

Advising

I advise startup founders at Sequoia Capital, a VC firm based in Silicon Valley, China, India and Israel with a portfolio of companies that represent an aggregate public market value of $3.3 trillion.

Inquire about advising

Mentoring

I mentor students and entrepreneurs entirely for free at educational institutions like Columbia and Stanford, trade schools like DesignLab and General Assembly, and on an individual basis.

Ask about mentoring

Advising

I advise startup founders at Sequoia Capital, a VC firm based in Silicon Valley, China, India and Israel. The firm has invested early in companies like Apple, Google, Alibaba, PayPal, HubSpot, Stripe, Airbnb, Instagram, Dropbox, and YouTube. Today, its portfolio of companies represent an aggregate public market value of $3.3 trillion.

Inquire about advising

Mentoring

I mentor students and entrepreneurs entirely for free at educational institutions like Columbia and Stanford, trade schools like DesignLab and General Assembly, and on an individual basis. I've been thrilled to see the people I've worked with go on to start businesses and secure roles at some of the world's most respected companies.

Join my mentoring list
Kind
Words
As a manager, you hope to hire people who are smarter than you, driven to make a big impact, and who constantly push themselves to grow–and Austin was certainly that. I learned a lot from him (his knowledge in UX design is unparalleled) and it was a joy working together.
Jessica Meher
Austin, for being relatively young, exhibits the experience and talent of someone twice his age in years. He is an incredible leader and has a way about him to get the most out of anyone. But most importantly, he's always eager to help others learn, grow and improve.
Jack Farrell
What I enjoyed most about working with Austin was his mix of to-the-point creative vision and direction, while providing it in one of the most humble ways I’ve encountered.
Dan Crask

Writing

Notes from the field

In-depth essays, on-the-ground research reports, and product teardowns. Travel with me to Africa, or take a quick pass through a product onboarding flow. This is where I share my thoughts on design, research and leadership.

In-depth essays, on-the-ground research reports, and unfiltered thoughts on design, research and leadership.

UX
Design
Guide
Tools for and by practitioners
Around the web
Press & Interviews
Podcast

Good Design is Humble

Article

Lean UX & The Death of Ego

design
leadership
research
Essay
The Case for Remote Work
The shift to remote work represents perhaps the single greatest modern opportunity to improve your company's happiness, diversity, economics, productivity, agility, talent pool and environmental impact.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Don't Defend Your Work
The impulse to defend one's work feels natural in design. But as we start to examine design reviews in the context of user-centered design, it becomes clear that defensiveness may not be the best response. Designers are much better off when they focus on collaborating with their stakeholders, listening to their feedback, and asking questions to get the deepest insights.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Want to Be a Better Designer? Travel.
Psychological studies have shown that an individual's level of creativity (and the open-mindedness that facilitates it) can be directly influenced by the amount of traveling that they do. But perhaps more surprisingly, the creative benefit that an individual gains from traveling can be drastically impacted by how immersed they become into the culture that they're visiting. Designers should not just aspire to travel, but also to immerse themselves into the different cultures, languages, and experiences that they encounter while abroad.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Design Debt
A less commonly discussed side effect of adopting an iterative and experiment-driven design process is the incurring of something called Design Debt. This is where the cohesion and consistency of a design deteriorates over time as new experiments are run and new elements are introduced into the design. Strong design direction and regular refactoring can help to periodically unify the design and uphold its structural integrity.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Good Design is Humble
Humility and design go hand-in-hand; it's just in the nature of design. Designers should strive to be humble in their work and organizations should reinforce this in their cultures.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Design is not Art
While design and art do share many overlapping qualities, they are two fundamentally different disciplines. They are informed through two different sets of data, they are created through two different processes, and they perform two different functions. More than anything, these distinctions demonstrate that design decisions cannot be based purely on intuition, opinion, or ego. Humble design is good design.
design
leadership
research
Essay
The Case for Remote Work
The shift to remote work represents perhaps the single greatest modern opportunity to improve your company's happiness, diversity, economics, productivity, agility, talent pool and environmental impact.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Don't Defend Your Work
The impulse to defend one's work feels natural in design. But as we start to examine design reviews in the context of user-centered design, it becomes clear that defensiveness may not be the best response. Designers are much better off when they focus on collaborating with their stakeholders, listening to their feedback, and asking questions to get the deepest insights.
design
leadership
research
Essay
Want to Be a Better Designer? Travel.
Psychological studies have shown that an individual's level of creativity (and the open-mindedness that facilitates it) can be directly influenced by the amount of traveling that they do. But perhaps more surprisingly, the creative benefit that an individual gains from traveling can be drastically impacted by how immersed they become into the culture that they're visiting. Designers should not just aspire to travel, but also to immerse themselves into the different cultures, languages, and experiences that they encounter while abroad.

Podcasts

Thoughts worth hearing

Some conversations just need to be recorded and shared. I happily co-host two fully non-profit podcasts, where I've had the pleasure of speaking with some of the brightest minds in design and tech, all in front of a microphone.

Some conversations just need to be recorded and shared. I co-host two podcasts, where I've had the pleasure of speaking with some of the brightest minds in design and tech.

UX and Growth Podcast

Stories, debates and advice

I regularly sit down with my friends from around the world to take deep dives on design, conversion, and leadership. As part of this, I welcome a different co-host with every episode, giving you access to unique and fresh perspectives that are designed to challenge the ways you think. These aren’t interviews; they’re conversations between practitioners discussing real-world experience, and sharing actionable advice. I invite you to join in this journey of learning with me.

Recent co-hosts
Hannah Lee
Casey Yee
Aarron Walter
show facts

100,000+ episode downloads
Non-profit and independently run
New co-hosts with every episode
Monthly release schedule

top listener countries
United StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaCanadaGermany
IndiaBrazilIsraelNetherlandsPoland
SwedenFranceJapanSpainDenmark
Listen & Subscribe
Spotify
Apple
Google
Castbox
Soundcloud
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
show facts

100,000+ episode downloads
Non-profit and independently run
New co-hosts with every episode
Monthly release schedule

top listener countries
JapanBrazilUnited StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaCanadaGermanyIndiaIsraelNetherlandsPolandSwedenFranceSpainDenmark
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
the Decrypting Crypto podcast

Blockchain tech, without the buzzwords

Every week, Matthew Howells-Barby and I sit down to "decrypt" blockchain technology and explain it in ways that everyone can understand. We're learning too, so we often enlist the help of prominent and diverse guests in the space. Whether you're completely new to tech, have a growing interest in crypto, or have been building blockchains for years, we'll always have something for you to enjoy. And we'll offer it from an objective, tech-driven perspective without paid-for interviews or hype.

Recent Guests
Amy Wan
Bram Cohen
Jerry Cuomo
show facts

150,000+ episode downloads
Non-profit and independently run
Top guests from the blockchain space
Weekly release schedule

top listener countries
United StatesUnited KingdomCanadaIndiaAustralia
GermanyIrelandMexicoBrazilNetherlands
SpainSingaporePhilippinesIsraelFrance
Listen & Subscribe
Spotify
Apple
Google
Castbox
Castbox
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
show facts

150,000+ episode downloads
Non-profit and independently run
Top guests from the blockchain space
Weekly release schedule

top listener countries
BrazilUnited StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaCanadaGermanyIndiaIsraelNetherlandsMexicoSingaporeFranceSpainPhilippinesIreland
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts

speaking

Keynotes and connections

I’ve had the honor of speaking at over 50 events in some of the most beautiful and vibrant parts of the world. I'm intent on challenging the ways we think about design, and being present in places that aren’t frequented by big conferences.

I’ve had the honor of addressing audiences at over 50 events in more than 25 beautiful countries. Here's a small sampling of those.

From the sun soaked shores of Rio,
to the arctic peaks of Tromsø

I've purposely exited the major tech hubs and traveled far to meet with local creatives, delivering talks about design, research and leadership in new places.

Previous Talks
Current Topics

JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out
A look at how Google designs for Digital Wellbeing, and the research behind it.
‍
Design at Planet Scale
How products with billions of users are built and scaled across every dimension.

Book me for a speech
AltCity

Beirut, Lebanon

UX Belgrade

Belgrade, Serbia

Booster Conference

Bergen, Norway

UX Bucharest

Bucharest, Romania

Amuse UX Conference

Budapest, Hungary

Hacker Paradise

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Pixel Up!

Cape Town, South Africa

Mixed Reality UX

Dublin, Ireland

WebTomorrow

Ghent, Belgium

Squares

Grapevine, Texas

UXistanbul

Istanbul, Turkey

UX Slovenia

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Conversion Conference

London, United Kingdom

IMS Medellín

Medellín, Colombia

HUG Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico

Design Talks

Osijek, Croatia

World Usability Day

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

O'Reilly Fluent

San Francisco, California

IAB Chile

Santiago, Chile

Product Tank

Tirana, Albania

MCE^3

Warsaw, Poland

São Paulo, Brazil
Cape Town, South Africa
Budapest, Hungary
Book me for a speech
Pixel Up!

Cape Town, South Africa

Design Talks

Osijek, Croatia

Amuse UX Conference

Budapest, Hungary

UX Bucharest

Bucharest, Romania

MCE^3

Warsaw, Poland

Product Tank

Tirana, Albania

UXistanbul

Istanbul, Turkey

Mixed Reality UX

Dublin, Ireland

Squares

Grapevine, Texas

WebTomorrow

Ghent, Belgium

HUG Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico

Hacker Paradise

Buenos Aires, Argentina

O'Reilly Fluent

San Francisco, California

IAB Chile

Santiago, Chile

AltCity

Beirut, Lebanon

Squares

Grapevine, Texas

Mixed Reality UX

Dublin, Ireland

WebTomorrow

Ghent, Belgium

IMS Medellín

Medellín, Colombia

Pixel Up!

Cape Town, South Africa

MCE^3

Warsaw, Poland

Let's be friends
Whether you need a keynote speaker or a humble mentor, my inbox is open.
Join my email list
Say hello
I
Austin Knight • Disclaimer
The views expressed here are entirely my own and are not those of my employer
The views expressed here are entirely my own and are not those of my employer
Austin Knight • Disclaimer