Hey There, My Name is Thomas Hajny
I am a UI/UX Designer dedicated to distilling complex problems into clear, accessible user experiences. I specialize in building atomic design systems for global products, bridging the gap between technical constraints and human-centered design through close collaboration with engineering and business teams.
My Work
Orature
I was the lead designer for Orature, a desktop-based oral translation tool that launched with limited adoption. This case study reflects on the product’s outcomes, extracts key lessons from its release, and outlines what could have been approached differently from a design and product strategy perspective.
BTT Design System
I collaborated with our software developers to create a cross-product design system. The system reduced design debt, improved visual consistency and accessibility, and enabled both designers and developers to work more efficiently using shared semantic tokens and standardized components.
Spotlight
I was the lead designer for Spotlight, a mobile lexicon designed to improve translation quality for teams working in languages without standardized orthographies, where phonetic spelling often leads to inconsistency. This case study outlines my role in shaping the product from concept through delivery, the timeline of its development, and its impact on promoting spelling consistency and stronger linguistic alignment in the field.
Coming soon…
Dovetail
I am the lead designer for Dovetail, an in-progress product shaped through rigorous user research, iterative testing, and deep product definition. This case study highlights my end-to-end design leadership, the cultural shift toward earlier validation and structured discovery, and the significant influence research has had on the product’s direction and overall design maturity.
About Me
I’m Thomas Hajny, a UI/UX Designer with 10 years of experience designing products for global, low-resource environments. Much of my career has been spent at Wycliffe Associates, where I’ve led design for field-deployed tools used by thousands of translators worldwide.
My approach is rooted in collaborative ownership. At WA, I shifted the internal culture by bringing developers and managers directly into the design process—moving away from "handoffs" and toward co-creation. By constantly advocating for core design principles and proving the tangible efficiency of our atomic design system, I helped our teams see design not just as a final coat of paint, but as a shared strategic tool.
Whether I’m conducting field research in diverse cultural contexts or mentoring junior designers, I prioritize clarity and accessibility. I thrive in constraint-driven environments where limited hardware and connectivity demand pragmatic, high-impact solutions.
Core Skills: Product discovery • UX research • Interaction design • Mobile & accessible design • MVP validation • Design systems • Cross-functional collaboration • Rapid prototyping • Agile / Scrum