HEIKE RAPP, SAN FRANCISCO

VP DESIGN

Award-winning design executive and systems thinker with a passion for human-centered design, and how technology extends people’s reach. Design strategist who knows how design adds value to a business. Accomplished storyteller and speaker on topics ranging from the future of design, to the art and science of storytelling, and the power of brands. Facilitator of design thinking and innovation methodologies with up to C-level attendants. Empathetic, inspirational leader of high-performing teams that design engaging experiences in new or emerging fields. Maker of things.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CROWDSMART.AI, San Francisco, CA,

Chief Design Officer, December 2023 - current

CrowdSmart accelerates the collective power of human and artificial intelligence. CrowdSmart transforms how teams collaborate to achieve preferred outcomes with our AI platform that automates the capture and use of collaborative intelligence at scale.

  • Translate the business strategy and technical concepts into a viable, novel product experience that can scale.

  • Collaborate with CEO and founders on product-market fit to usher in the third wave of AI, which harnesses the power of human collective intelligence.

  • Balance shipping immediate product improvements with future vision of human-centered AI product platform by collaborating with key customers.

Planet Labs, San Francisco, CA

VP Product Design, January 2022-October 2023

  • Inaugural VP Product Design at Planet Labs, a satellite and Earth observation data company. Led UX/UI Design, UX Research, Content Strategy and Design Ops. Grew the team from 3 to 12 people in one year,

  • Created the Future Vision, Design Strategy, and E2E Prototype on how to translate the Product Strategy of becoming an Earth Data Platform into a viable product experience that 800+ customers will love.

  • Built the Design Foundation, including a Design System, Brand- and UX writing guidelines to be able to express the Planet Labs brand appropriately across the multi-modal customer touch points.

  • Shipped continuous UX improvements, launched and tested new AI services that were based on actual user needs as indicated by UX Research and the Product Advisory Board.

  • Served on the Ethics committee and co-wrote AI guidelines.

Collibra, San Francisco, CA

VP Design, August 2020 - January 2022

  • First VP Design at Collibra, the Data Intelligence company. Collibra’s valuation doubled during my tenure from $2.3B to $5.25B.

  • Grew the team in one year from 8 UX Designers to 35 multi-disciplinary, globally distributed members in UX/UI, User Research, UX Writing, Tech Writing, UX Architecture, Design Ops. 

  • Initiated the robust creation of the Collibra Design System.

  • Designed a viable Data Shopping experience to expand customer reach by 300%.

  • Created the Collibra Customer Council. 

  • Collaborated closely with Marketing on how to express the Collibra brand in product.

SAP SE, Palo Alto, CA

VP Product Design, June 2018 - February 2020

  • In this newly created position, led the creation of a unified User Experience across all SAP-CX pillars, which are the Marketing-, Commerce-, Sales-, Service- and Data clouds.

  • Activities included user research, human-centered design methodology, definition of detailed use cases and end user personas, interaction and visual design, all done in close collaboration with senior executives, developers and product management.

  • Implemented Minimum Viable Product Design across all clouds.

  • Member of the 20 person Global Design Council who shaped and oversaw the design and implementation of the Fiori design system, including CUI.

  • Integrated Qualtrics Product Experience data collection functionality into SAP’s S4 flagship product. 80% of the world economy runs S4.

Autodesk, Inc. San Francisco, CA January 2012 - May 2018

Sr Director, Brand Strategy & Global Design, December 2016 - May 2018

  • Raised global brand awareness by 30%. Autodesk’s market cap increased from $7.9B to $35B during my tenure. 

  • Led, managed and mentored a combined team of 150+ people. Team included Brand Strategy, Brand Management, Customer Experience, Design, Writing, Project Management, Digital Asset Management and agencies..

  • Advised and collaborated with advanced technology divisions, such as the chatbot AI, ML, data science, life science, generative design groups, on how to express the brand in emerging technologies. 

  • April - November 2017, was asked to lead the Subscriber Platform Group UX team of 10 people, UX/UI designers, information architects, researchers, visual designers. Designed a more coherent subscription experience that reflected the business strategy for a $1B market.

Sr Creative Director, Global Brand, October 2014 - November 2016

  • Developed and implemented Autodesk’s Brand Strategy across all touchpoints, including software, global Autodesk Gallery experiences and largest customer events.

  • Conducted international market research which aligned with expectations from C-suite to MarCom.

  • Created Brand Enablement platform for 9,000 employees and for external agencies.

Creative Director, Global Brand, January 2012- October 2014

  • Led and inspired the Autodesk Global Brand Creative Team consisting of 21 Designers, Writers, Content Strategists, and Project Managers. The team’s charter was to establish, implement and manage a long-term Brand Creative Strategy to enable an increase in Autodesk’s brand awareness worldwide.

  • Redesigned and implemented the Autodesk global brand (corporate identity) with a talented in-house Creative Team in 7 months. 

  • Hired Erik Spiekermann to design a custom typeface for Autodesk, named Artifakt. The tagline and typeface are still used today.

Gap Inc. Direct, San Francisco, CA, October 1998 - December 2011

Director, Old Navy Online Canada, October 2009 - December 2011

  • As business lead, launched E-commerce presence in Canada and drove the growth of Oldnavy.ca, the first international, digital presence of Old Navy. 

  • Hired a team of Buyers, Inventory Specialists, Associate Producer, and Translator. 

  • Oldnavy.ca significantly overdelivered on financial goals (35% above plan), and exceeded customer expectations.

Creative Director for oldnavy.com, October 2000 - December 2011

Art Director, Oct 1998 - Oct 2000

  • Started as employee 1 in the Old Navy e-commerce group, built a 25 person strong creative team from the ground up. 

  • Delivered the online brand’s front-end facing customer experience, UX and UI, the creative identity, look and feel, and human interface design standards for the site. 

  • Art directed on-figure fashion photo shoots, still live photography, and video shoots.

  • Managed the team’s $1.8 M budget. 

Additional Work Experience

frogdesign inc., Menlo Park, CA

Industrial Designer

Duties included creation and definition of ideas, coordination of project budgeting and timing, coordination between client and frogdesign, coordination of modelmaking.

EDUCATION

MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts, Pioneer Class.

“The MBA in Design Strategy is a ground-breaking program teaching the skills, tools, principles and strategies for leading change, transforming organizations, and building solutions that are sustainable, meaningful, profitable, and truly innovative.” Nathan Shedroff, Chair of the dMBA

BFA in Industrial Design, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

Bronze Tablet at the University of Illinois (top 3% of all students)

It’s so good, I want to download it