Hi, I'm Derek Stein!

UX researcher and designer turning friction into clarity, backed by psychology.

UX Research & Design

Atmosfy

Identified and resolved social friction patterns across a multi-million user discovery platform, leading 84+ moderated sessions over 7 months that drove shipped design changes to onboarding, engagement, and retention flows.

84+ sessions 7 months Shipped designs
Atmosfy feed view
Atmosfy creators nearby
UX Research

Intersight AI

Led discovery research for an AI communication coaching concept in healthcare, rebuilding the question bank, moderating stakeholder interviews, and identifying adoption barriers that shaped product positioning.

10-15 discovery sessions 5 stakeholder groups
Intersight AI dashboard screenshot
E-Commerce UX/UI Design

Belle D'Amour

Redesigned the end-to-end shopping experience for a women's fashion brand, rethinking collection browsing, product pages, filtering, and navigation to improve discoverability and conversion.

Full site redesign 5 core pages Live on Shopify
Belle D Amour collections page
UX Research & Design

Tesla Control Center

Researched the transition from physical controls to touchscreen UI across 48 Tesla owners, identifying safety-critical pain points and designing a data-backed interface improvement.

48 participants Mixed-methods $0 budget
Tesla Model X interior with touchscreen
Open to opportunities
Derek Stein ©2026
Derek Stein

Psychology-trained UX researcher and designer. I turn user behavior into product decisions.

I’m a UX researcher and designer with a master's degree in psychology, focused on understanding how people actually behave and turning that into better product decisions.

I got into UX through studying human behavior and applying it to real product work. Since then, I’ve run 80+ moderated usability sessions, identified recurring behavioral patterns, and translated those insights into changes to onboarding, engagement, and core product flows.

I work across both research and design, from defining problems and running studies to designing solutions based on what users actually do, not what we assume.

Research Methods

  • Moderated Usability Testing
  • User Interviews
  • Discovery / Generative Research
  • Survey Design (Mixed Methods)
  • Behavioral Analysis
  • Competitor Analysis
  • Thematic Synthesis
  • Journey Mapping

Design Tools

  • Figma (UI, prototyping, design systems)
  • FigJam (flows, ideation)

What I Bring

01
Research that drives product decisions

I don’t hand off reports and walk away. Findings are structured so teams can act on them immediately, shaping what gets built next.

02
Behavior → design translation

I turn observed user behavior into clear product changes. Patterns don’t just get documented, they get designed into better experiences.

03
From insight to interface

From writing a screener to designing the solution. I run the study, synthesize the findings, and create what comes next.

Open to opportunities
Derek Stein ©2026