# Ariel Norling > Product Designer & Writer Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/arielnorling ✨ New profile loading ✨ ## Work Experience ### Writer @ I Know a Spot Jan 2020 – Present I write a real estate newsletter that features distinctively designed homes for sale. Substack has featured me as one of "the most interesting independent writers on Substack" and my newsletter has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Today Show, Dwell, Connecticut Public Radio, and Morning Brew's Sidekick. ### Capstone Role Mentor - Design @ Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2023 – Present I work with students in the Masters in Educational Technology and Applied Learning Science program who are working as designers in their multi-disciplinary capstone team. This includes instruction on design skills and how to work as a product designer, offering critique and guidance for their design work, résumés, and portfolios; coaching them on how to work with and collaborate with other roles; working with feedback from clients, professors, and other stakeholders; and job hunting. ### Founding Designer & Product Manager @ Plumb Jan 2020 – Jan 2024 | San Francisco Bay Area I joined Murmur as the first employee and designed the initial branding, marketing, onboarding, and product experience. I hired, mentored, and managed the other full-time and freelance designers. I also led product management at the company, helping us to ship Murmur's open beta and navigate the pivot to Plumb. ### Product Designer @ Front Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, California, United States I was the designer for the core product experience team, where I worked on ways to help people quickly and collaboratively respond to messages. ### Senior Product Designer @ Webflow Jan 2019 – Jan 2020 | San Francisco, California I was the designer for the Dynamo team which covered a broad swath of Webflow's product. I predominantly worked on improving the CMS and the ways in which people can design, prototype, and build with dynamic data. I was heavily involved in the design team's and much of Webflow's operations. I helped refine the Product Designer and Product Design Manager hiring process, define the career levels, redesign our meeting and critique processes, and plan the team's offsite. I overhauled the Product Designer onboarding experience. I worked with the HR department to refine the interviewing and onboarding process for other departments. I was also a founding co-chair for "Intersections" the affinity group for marginalized genders. ### Senior Product Designer @ Copper Jan 2018 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco, CA I was the Design Lead for the Relationships pod, where I worked on making the platform more friendly and collaborative and helped craft the vision for the future of a Customer Relationship Management tool that actually helps salespeople build meaningful, fruitful relationships with their customers. I was also the designer for the Fields pod, where I work on refining and enhancing the ways that users input information into the application and customized the platform to their needs. ### Product Designer @ Casetext Jan 2016 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco, CA I started as the only product designer at Casetext where I helped to flesh out their research assistant feature into a full product experience. I ultimately led a complete product redesign, overhauled the visual design for marketing, and hired and managed 2 designers. ### UX Designer @ EdSurge Jan 2016 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco Bay Area I worked with the Summits team to redesign their website. The project involved working with stakeholders across EdSurge to conduct needfinding, creating a new information architecture schema and content strategy, and designing sketches, flow diagrams, wireframes, and mockups. ### Senior Designer @ Whil Concepts, Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2016 | San Francisco, CA I was the only product designer at Whil. I helped flesh out their product from a dashboard and content library to a full product experience, including designing the home page, course experience, and engagement features like badges and training reminders. I also redesigned their content discovery experience, pricing pages, and onboarding flow. I facilitated a collaborative, data-driven, and user experience-focused process between teams. I was also a member of the Culture Team where I helped to organize team bonding events and decorate the office. ### Design Intern @ NoWait, Inc. Jan 2014 – Jan 2014 | Pittsburgh, PA I designed the user flows and visual styles for new features and participated in product planning and research. I designed presentations and print materials for the marketing and sales teams. I also created the style guides for NoWait’s guest iOS and Android apps. ### Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer @ BetaMatch Jan 2013 – Jan 2013 I designed all of the branding, user experience, and visual designs. I collaborated with engineers to code the front-end. I also conducted market research and user feedback sessions and wrote and edited copy. Part of 4.0 Schools' Spring 2013 Launch Cohort. ### Graduate Assistant @ Syracuse University Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | Syracuse, NY I was the Graduate Assistant for the Information Technology, Design, and Startups minor. I was a teaching assistant for the classes “What’s the Big Idea?” and “Idea2Startup.” I also ran independent sessions during which I helped students refine their product/business ideas. I recruited students to enroll in classes and the minor. I also collaborated with other organizations across campus to help students find resources, discover their passions, consider entrepreneurship, explore ideas, and accelerate their businesses. ### Co-founder & CEO @ YouShouldDate.Me Jan 2012 – Jan 2013 | Syracuse, NY I had the idea for an online dating site that would make the experience far less creepy and much more conducive to dating people in real life. So I assembled a team, created the branding, user experience and interface designs, programmed the front-end, designed all of the marketing collateral, and raised angel investment. I taught myself web design and front-end development (not to mention just about everything else) on the fly to build our site and run a company. I was featured on Innovation Trail and Syracuse University Alumni, and asked to be a panelist for #140Cuse Conference because of YouShouldDate.Me. The company is also being used as a case study for Introduction to Entrepreneurship classes at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. ### Research and Development Intern @ EdLab, Teachers College Columbia University Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | New York, NY I led a team in the creation of an education entrepreneurship event and developing online courses, conducted product and market research, created branding concepts, and developed marketing and outreach strategies. I also organized the group Walkabout NYC field trip, recruited speakers for weekly seminars, and wrote about education and entrepreneurship-related developments on the EdLab blog. ### Teaching Intern @ High School for Leadership and Public Service Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 | New York, NY I taught high school seniors in a class called Participation in Government, and was an assistant teacher for AP U.S. History and Government classes. I rewrote class objectives and curriculum, wrote lesson plans, taught five class periods, and created the curriculum and lesson plans for a new career discovery class. My students also named me "Most Adorable", the certificate hangs on my wall today. ### Intern for Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez (TX-20) @ United States House of Representatives Jan 2010 – Jan 2010 | Washington, D.C. I wrote memos and policy recommendations, participated in Congressional staff meetings and briefings, conducted policy research, wrote and sorted constituent mail, answered phone calls, and lead Capitol tours. ## Education ### Master's Degree in Educational Technology and Applied Learning Science Carnegie Mellon University Jan 2014 – Jan 2015 ### B.A. in Policy Studies Syracuse University - Maxwell School Jan 2009 – Jan 2012 ### M.S. in Information Management (withdrawn) Syracuse University Jan 2012 ### Certificate of Proficiency in Real Estate Salesperson Chabot College Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 ### Real Estate Salesperson Licensing Fordham University Jan 2023 – Jan 2024 ### Carpentry Laney College Jan 2025 – Jan 2025 ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/arielnorling - Portfolio: http://arielnorling.com - Portfolio: https://iknowaspot.substack.com/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/arielnorling JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/arielnorling/resume.json Last updated: 2026-03-25