Alex Rekas

Design Lead with 12+ years designing end-to-end products for complex, regulated domains — healthcare, government, and enterprise SaaS. I turn dense policy and operational logic into simple, trustworthy workflows and partner closely with engineering to ship them. An industrial design and brand background gives me an eye for visual craft alongside systems thinking. Brought a multi-state platform’s design system to WCAG AA / Section 508 compliance, and I use AI tools (Claude, Figma Make) daily for research synthesis and rapid prototyping.

IdeaCrew / Design Lead

7/2020 – PRESENT, DC & REMOTE

 

Lead design for a multi-state health-insurance marketplace platform (DC, Maine, Massachusetts), covering eligibility, income verification, and subsidy workflows.
Redesigned core task flows through heuristic reviews and user feedback, cutting support calls by 32%.
Designed the Enroll App from concept through launch in Maine’s Individual Market.
Translate complex healthcare policy into clear, step-by-step workflows that reduce administrative burden for applicants and staff.
Led all design for a $1M+ platform modernization (Bootstrap 3 to 5), improving UX across dozens of screens and bringing the full design system into WCAG AA / 508 compliance.
Partner with product, engineering, and policy/compliance leads from problem framing through delivery, shaping user stories, design patterns, and implementation decisions.
Prototype and validate new product concepts with AI tools (Claude, Figma Make), then lead design reviews to align cross-functional teams.
Own and maintain the design system engineers use to ship consistent, accessible UI.
Established design as an equal partner in product planning within an engineering-driven organization.

 

Contract & Freelance / Designer

4/2016 – PRESENT, DC & REMOTE

 

Newmark Knight Frank

Conducted user interviews with current and prospective users to inform product decisions and surface unmet needs.
Communicated design rationale and key UX objectives to stakeholders through wireframes and structured presentations.
Contributed to front-end implementation of new software features alongside design work.

 

Marriott International

Led product and UX design for employee training systems, improving usability and learner experience.
Provided creative direction for brand photography, design systems, and print media for internal communications.
Designed logo identities and visual systems for internal teams and events within Marriott’s brand standards.

 

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)

Built wireframes for cdc.gov aligned with newly established federal design guidelines.
Conducted a heuristic evaluation of the CDC website, producing a prioritized report of usability findings and recommendations.
Developed storyboards for digital content deployed across the website and social media channels.

 

Various Clients

Designed brand identities and marketing websites end-to-end for startups and established companies.
Delivered UX/UI for mobile and web applications from concept through launch.
Ran research and discovery sessions to build personas that anchored design decisions.

 

Distributed Solutions / Designer

4/2013 – 4/2016, RESTON VA

 

Designed wireframes and high-fidelity mockups for new features and iterative updates across a multi-product enterprise software suite.
Built front-end implementations of designed screens using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, bridging design and development.
Maintained visual guidelines and a shared asset library to enforce consistency across the product portfolio.