Zack (@labadie.eth) is a product designer at Uniswap, where he’s part of a close-knit design team working on the mobile app, browser extension, and main trading interface.
With around 10 years of experience in digital product design, Zack has long embraced a generalist mindset—well before it became a buzzword. He thrives on tackling diverse problems and enjoys contributing across all phases of the design process.
He’s currently enjoying his first summer in the Midwest after relocating from Asheville to Chicago last year.
I’ve been told that I’m very detail-oriented and strong at thinking from first principles, which I think makes me particularly good at tackling large, complex problems that require thinking in systems. I really enjoy making sense of big messy problem spaces by teasing out relationships, dependencies, and finding patterns that others might miss. There’s something really satisfying about taking something overwhelming or chaotic and breaking it down into its components until you can see the underlying structure.
In 2019, I designed a full end-to-end health insurance enrollment platform. Navigating that maze so that people could more easily get the healthcare they deserve was really rewarding. A more recent example is diving diving deep into EIP-7702 and its edge cases to deliver a simplified, cross-platform smart wallet experience.
I got married in May, which was an absolute dream. The entire planning process felt like one big design project in a lot of ways, but I really had fun spinning up a little visual identity for the wedding. I designed everything from our website and invitations to the menus and some special gifts for our guests—including a zine that was probably the highlight of the whole thing.
The zine had a crossword we created, a really sappy letter to our guests, tons of old photo collages, and Q&As with responses from everyone who was coming. Between the content and the form factor, I think it was a really authentic and heartfelt reflection of my wife and I. Seeing the people I love most on this earth smile, laugh, and cry as they flipped through it was one of the best feelings imaginable.
Writing is almost always the first and most important step in my process. It’s how I clarify my thinking and synthesize ideas. It’s how I wrap my arms around a problem space and develop a perspective on what we’re actually trying to solve. From there, I can adapt my workflow accordingly and leverage the right tools for the job without getting prematurely boxed in by artificial constraints. Whether it’s a PRD, user stories, or random stream of consciousness, putting thoughts into words forces me to think more clearly about the problem at hand.
I’m a firm believer that sometimes there’s no substitute for time. You need time and space away from a problem—even if it’s just a long walk or a good night’s rest—to let things marinate and approach with a slightly different perspective.
Aside from that, I have a habit of thinking in analogies. If I’m struggling to make something complex or tricky more accessible, I’ll often try to find parallels in everyday life to see how others have approached similar problems. There’s almost always something to learn from how people solve challenges in completely different domains.
A car dashboard, hands down. Bring back tactile interfaces! I think there’s a huge opportunity to improve the driving experience and, more importantly, make it safer. We’ve gotten so caught up in putting touchscreens everywhere that we’ve forgotten how much better physical controls can be when you need to keep your eyes on the road. The aggressively bad UI on most of those touch interfaces is just insult to injury. This becomes a moot point once autonomous vehicles go fully mainstream, but until then there’s something to be said for adjusting your climate control or change the volume without having to look at a screen.
Euro NCAP will release new testing guidelines in 2026.
My dad is the owner and operator of a small bakery in Lewiston, Maine that has been family-owned since opening 100 years ago. We were actually one of the first bakeries to ever make whoopie pies, which are a classic New England regional dessert that people either love or have never heard of.
I’m incredibly proud of the bakery’s role in the local community, and the family history tied to it.
Work hard, but stress a little less. Especially early on in my career, I had real difficulty maintaining separation between work and personal life. 12-hour days, work always on the back of my mind…
I think part of this was due to working at small early-stage startups so early in my career. Part of it was having a strong work ethic and being an overachiever at heart. I really wanted to prove myself. For a while, it felt like my life’s trajectory was on the line and I think at a certain point I started to almost take pride in this sense of, like, martyrdom or think it was a necessary part of the process.
I don’t regret putting in the hours or leaning in as much as I did, but I do wish I had maintained a little more space for personal time without feeling guilty about it. These days, I try to hold myself to that the same degree of speed and intensity in my work, but take relaxation just as seriously. Burning out doesn’t help anyone.
I’m always trying to improve my communication skills. You can pixel-push and finesse drop shadows all day, but ultimately I believe that making an impact with your work—and enjoying the process along the way—means being able to empathize with people, build strong relationships, communicate clearly, and just be a better person overall.
I’d like to think I do pretty well on this front, but there’s no finish line. For me, design is really about improving the lives of others. I think that means an essential part of the job is making a bonafide effort to understand people and care for them.
Thank you Zack for joining us today!
You can connect with Zack:
design @uniswap • zack.design
design @uniswap * zack.design
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Read the previous Designer Of The Week Featuring Derek from Native here:
Derek Brown (@derek on Farcaster, @derekbrown on Twitter) is the founder of Birthday Labs, a company focused on building digital economies that expand human freedom. He is best known for launching Native ($NATIVE - /nativefun), a digital city inhabited by both human and agentic citizens who co-create entertainment and economic value.
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The Design Channel’s from /design on Farcaster is a publication that extends the conversation beyond casts — featuring essays, interviews, and deep dives from the Farcaster design community. It’s a space to document ideas, share process, and explore how design shapes the products we use every day. Designer Of The Week is hosted by the /design channel and releases each Monday at 3pm GMT+1 / 7am PDT/ 2pm UTC Interested in writing for The Design Channel? Drop us a DM on Farcaster or 0xdesignchannel@gmail.com.
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