About

Designer using research and AI for sensemaking in challenging and ambiguous environments.

Michael Silvestre

I have over five years experience designing solutions within complex domains. As a designer, I’m attracted to the kind of work that enables people to do their best work. I’ve dived into manufacturing shopfloors, datacenters, and industrial workspaces. I love to roll up my sleeves, work on a messy problem, and make some magic happen.

My strengths as a designer are in my adaptability throughout the design lifecycle. I have no problem speaking with customers to discover unmet needs, spinning up a Claude Code prototype to test a new idea, or jamming with a developer on the best way to deliver a solution regardless of the constraints. I can be a designer who PMs, a researcher who prototypes, and solve challenges your org faces.


Experience

Hexagon logo

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence

Senior Experience Designer

Eaton logo

Eaton

UX Research + Design Lead

2022

Designed a tool to communicate complex equipment failures for busy factory Operations Managers.

Read case study →
2021

Brought smarter battery health forecasting to datacenter operators, cut the noise in their notification alerts, and made their devices easier to browse.

Carnegie Mellon University logo

Carnegie Mellon University

M.S. Human-Computer Interaction

2020

Worked with Honda R&D to build a research tool that links interview notes, generates presentations, and synthesizes insights into one platform, helping findings win executive buy-in.


Expertise

Product DesignUX ResearchDesign SystemsUsability TestingUser InterviewsConcept TestingCard Sorting & Tree TestingPrototypingInformation ArchitectureJourney MappingWorkshop FacilitationCross-functional LeadershipFigmaMiro

Outside Work

DJing ambient recordsWong Kar Wai filmsPerfecting tomato sauce

Favorite Books of 2025

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard

An American Childhood

Annie Dillard

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

The Ghost Writer

Philip Roth

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

If Beale Street Could Talk

James Baldwin

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

Yukio Mishima

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved

Toni Morrison

The Years by Annie Ernaux

The Years

Annie Ernaux

Independent People by Halldór Laxness

Independent People

Halldór Laxness

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon

The Crying of Lot 49

Thomas Pynchon