Stefan Regehr
Professional Summary
I am an accomplished Product Design leader with over a decade of experience delivering impactful user experiences and building high-performing teams. I specialize in defining product vision, creating scalable and cohesive design systems, and driving strategic initiatives that achieve measurable results for users and businesses.
- A versatile full-stack designer experienced in leading UX strategy and contributing to hands-on implementation within agile product teams.
- Skilled facilitator and collaborator, experienced in running workshops that align cross-functional teams around user needs and business goals.
- Dedicated mentor and coach, supporting designers and researchers in their professional growth and helping them deliver their best work.
- Technically proficient, with the ability to collaborate closely with front-end developers to build and refine great user experiences.
Stefan Regehr
Strategic thinker, empathetic researcher, and front-end whisperer.Principal Product Designer @ Knak
Product Design Strategy
Design for Human Outcomes
UX Research is most effective when integrated into the development process, where new features are assessed against defined UX outcomes and measurable success metrics to ensure they create value for both users and the business.
Lead with Design Principles
Every design decision should be carefully considered and validated against core design principles tailored to the specific user context and goals.
Facilitate Collaboration & Shared Success
Design is most effective when informed by cross-functional collaboration, with designers facilitating discussions across a broad range of stakeholders and actively involving them in UX research.
Build Fast, Iterate and Test Frequently
Rapid prototyping, using tools that best suit the goal—whether Figma or an HTML prototype—is essential for validating design ideas and success metrics.Featured Case Studies
With over 15 years of experience, I've had the privilege of designing and developing dozens of web applications, introducing major features and enhancements, and crafting several robust design systems, including those for Knak, Arctic Wolf, InFlight and D2L. My work spans from shaping innovative products from concept to launch to driving impactful solutions in Education and Enterprise markets. Here are a few standout projects that best showcase my expertise and the value I bring to every challenge.
AI Subject line and Preview Assistant
I led the design of Knak's first AI-powered feature: the Subject Line and Preview Text AI Assistant, powered by Google Gemini. This feature was designed to help users craft high-performing subject lines and preview text with ease, optimizing email campaigns for better engagement. I collaborated closely with Google on early iterations, ensuring the integration of their advanced Gemini AI technology into our platform. The result was a feature that not only enhanced user productivity but also reinforced Knak’s reputation for innovation in marketing technology.
Business Problem
The demand for AI-driven features in the email marketing space is rapidly growing, with competitors rushing to release solutions that often prioritize ticking feature boxes over addressing genuine user needs. At Knak, we’re tackling this gap by creating an AI-powered assistant that enhances both subject lines and preview text. Our solution goes beyond basic generation, leveraging the content of the email asset to intelligently match tone, surface the most relevant information, and empower users with impactful, on-brand messaging.
How our design solved the problem
Knak’s AI Subject Line and Preview Text Assistant solves this problem by seamlessly integrating AI capabilities into the email creation process. Unlike generic tools, our assistant analyzes the content of the email asset to generate tailored subject lines and preview text that align with the desired tone and messaging. It also improves existing copy by highlighting the most relevant details, ensuring every email resonates with the audience and stands out in inboxes. This thoughtful, user-centric approach empowers marketers to create high-performing, on-brand communications effortlessly.
Challenges
Implementing Knak’s AI Subject Line and Preview Text Assistant presented several challenges. We had to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI large language model (LLM) services, adapting to new capabilities and constraints in real-time. Simultaneously, we were learning and iterating as we built the feature, requiring agility and quick problem-solving. A key focus was ensuring a seamless, intuitive user experience that went beyond simple AI-generated content; our solution needed to intelligently enhance and work with existing user-provided content. Balancing these technical and design complexities was essential to delivering a solution that truly met our users’ needs.
What I learned
Working with rapidly evolving AI technologies like Google’s early Gemini AI service required us to stay flexible and open to change. The dynamic nature of AI advancements reinforced the importance of iterative development and regular reassessment of our approach. A key takeaway was the necessity for AI to enhance existing content rather than solely generate new material. Users value tools that respect and build on their input, providing assistance that feels collaborative, not prescriptive.
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Design Systems at InFlight and Arctic Wolf
I have researched, designed and implemented several Design Systems in both Angular and React front-end frameworks.
Business Problem
InFlight Engineering teams were building a lot of the same features and functionality but there wasn't a centralized library of components or documentation to support them. This resulted in rushed implementations, lesser quality and increased maintainability cost.
How our design solved the problem
I advocated and received investment for the intitiative, hired two UI Developers and a UI Designer to design and implement the InFlight Design System. We ended up building a new Design System from the ground up (based on Nodejs and Angular and NPM for package management) and a repeatable process for incorporating new components and adding documentation. As a result, new implementation times were cut dramatically (3-4x) and quality and feedback from customers was dramaticly improved and seen almost immediate.
Challenges
It's difficult to argue for investment in a Design System when there's competing priorities and time commitments. We also had to build an entirely new build process and versioning system to ensure that we had full control over who and when new versions were rolled out.
What I Learned
Design Systems are an ongoing commitment and require investment and time allocation to keep them up-to-date. Just releasing is never enough - it's a new mindset shift and needs buy-in from everyone. It should be managed like a product and resourced with intention and measured by value added.
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HBS Online Learning
In collaboration with HBS, I lead the Design and Implementation of two new flagship products - D2L Calendar and D2L Seating Charts
Business Problem
Harvard Business school needed an online and mobile solution for the students in their Masters and Executive programs. They relied heavily on scheduling and content integration and chose to work directly with D2L to design and implement a solution.
How our design solved the problem
I lead the entire design process and worked directly with HBS to build two new Apps from the ground up Calendar and Seating Charts (Desktop, Ipad, and Mobile). We created a small team at D2L of all the best UI people (Platform and UX) and successfully launched two new Products D2L Calendar and D2L Seating Charts. Both tools were launched on time and used extensively by HBS Masters and Executive programs.
Challenges
HBS was a very demanding customer and the deadlines were almost laughable. I traveled to their campuses to meet with their leadership teams and directly with students to test features and improvements in a real-world setting. Because the timelines were so tight, we formed a dedicated team at D2L and relocated to a meeting room for two months to work in tight collaboration until the dev done date.
What I learned
This was such a challenging project on multiple fronts. I learned so many things during this project, most importantly the value and necessity of collaboration - both with the customer and internal teams to deal with and work around constraints without sacrificing quality.
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