Mitch Soper — Retro Terminal

mitch@portfolio — 100×32

whoami

// Design Leader · Product Design & UX Strategy · Systems Thinker · Creator

Mitch Soper

I'm Mitch and I make experiences

/*
For over a decade, I've made complex systems feel simple and work smoothly, serving both the user and the business. Anthropology taught me to understand people first; classroom teaching taught me how to advocate for them across verticals.

Pencils sharp. Pixels perfect. Coffee black. */

years_practice12+

client_engagements50+

iterations∞

cups_of_coffee674,520

ls -la ~/case-studies

case_01 — bartrack_x_nuco2

IoT Monitoring Platform for NuCO2 Equipment Service

0→1 platform design for physical-equipment monitoring, built and stress-tested directly with field operators and an AI-assisted computer-vision prototype.

case_02 — nissan

Dealer Performance Dashboard for Aftersales

A stock-ticker heat map that turned scattered Tableau reports into one conversation starter for field managers.

case_03 — big_tech_client

Engineering Onboarding

Mapping a six-month new-hire arc into a platform and a personalized wizard.

case_04 — southwest_airlines

Seat Selection Rollout

Retrofitting 50 years of open seating into web, iOS, and Android at once.

case_05 — navihealth

Patient Transition Suite

Reorganizing a clinical workflow tool around how care coordinators actually work, not how the database was built.

case_06 — hca_healthcare

Website Experience Redesign

31 interviews and a decade of drift, rebuilt into one governed system.

ls -la ~/clients

-rw-r--r--4.1KappleTechnology

-rw-r--r--3.8KamazonRetail / Tech

-rw-r--r--3.2Ksouthwest_airlinesTravel

-rw-r--r--2.9Kthomson_reutersMedia / Legal

-rw-r--r--3.5Khca_healthcareHealthcare

-rw-r--r--2.4KvanderbiltEducation

-rw-r--r--2.1Ktractor_supplyRetail

-rw-r--r--1.9KmarsConsumer Goods

-rw-r--r--1.8Kmorton_saltConsumer Goods

-rw-r--r--2.6KnavihealthHealthcare

-rw-r--r--1.7KtbiGovernment

-rw-r--r--2.2Kdignity_healthHealthcare

ls -la ~/experiments && cat *.md

Current AI explorations — using AI to explore ideas, revisit old projects, and take them further.

road_trip_calendar.app

A shared trip planner for friends to track me on the road, built while living as a digital nomad.

ride with me

oughta.app [protected]

Connects startup ideas directly with designers who can build them.

get access

dice_goblin.app

A dice roller for the D&D games I play with friends, built just because I can.

roll some dice

nissan_aftersales.app

An AI-rebuilt, interactive version of a dealer dashboard I scoped for a client.

explore the dashboard

// more coming soon

This section grows as I keep experimenting. Check back for what's next.

cat design-ai.log

AI as a design multiplier — actively exploring how AI expands what's possible in product design.

RESEARCH & SYNTHESIS

Faster insight, deeper understanding

I use AI to speed up research synthesis. Patterns across interviews, transcripts, and usability sessions surface faster, without losing what makes the findings meaningful.

IDEATION & PROTOTYPING

From concept to testable faster

I bring generative tools into early ideation to explore more of the solution space before locking in a direction. It gets me to something testable faster, with fewer assumptions baked in.

PRODUCT STRATEGY

AI-informed product thinking

When AI features show up in a product, I think hard about how they're designed. Transparency, user control, and trust aren't nice-to-haves. They're the job.

TEAM ENABLEMENT

Helping teams move smarter

I've been introducing AI tools into design workflows to cut out repetitive work and give designers more time for the thinking that actually matters.

cat how_i_think.txt

// I.

Simplify the complex. That's the whole job.

Whether it's an enterprise platform or a patient portal, the work is always the same: take something hard and make it feel obvious. That's not just UX. That's product strategy.

// II.

Inclusion is a design requirement, not a feature

Designing for the edges improves the whole. Accessible, inclusive practice is built into the process from day one, not retrofitted after the fact.

// III.

Sharp pencils before sharp pixels

The most expensive design decisions happen before anyone opens a tool. I spend real time understanding users, the business context, and what success actually looks like. That clarity is what makes the work focused instead of decorative.

// IV.

Strategy first, solutions second

Good design isn't just solving the problem in front of you. It's making sure you're solving the right one. I push teams to align on user needs and business goals early, so the work has direction before it has form.

// V.

Design leadership is people leadership

The best work comes from teams that are trusted, challenged, and given space to own their craft. My job is to build that environment and then get out of the way.

// VI.

Design without business context is decoration

I work closely with product, engineering, and business leadership to make sure design is driving real outcomes, not just shipping deliverables. User needs and business goals should be the same goal.