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System-thinker, Storyteller, Connector.
My mission is to foster a more fair, efficient, & inspiring world for the underdogs through design, technology, & leadership.
I'm Lawrence Humphrey, the Head of Product Design & Founder at Pearl with 10+ years of experience in design and 9+ years in AI. Not a fan of labels; big fan of making good stuff with good people.
In addition to the companies below, I've had the honor to work with global clients, including American Express, Bank of America, DHL, Mural, Mayo Clinic, Vodafone, Royal Bank of Scotland, Watson Foundation, Dream Con, and more.
My work has been featured in the likes of Fast Company, The New York Times, AP News, Fortune, NPR, Spectrum News, Axios, Business Insider, and more.
Design Craft
(Sketches, Figma Code)
Technical & Product
Collaborate & Lead
(Product, Engineering, Research, etc.)
Let's Jam.
I'm currently open to work and speaking engagements. If this resonates with you, I'd love to meet you!
Pearl
I led the 0-1 product end-to-end, from user discovery, concepting, prototyping, and delivery, turning customer insights into a live platform.
IBM
I partnered with senior executive leaders to define strategic priorities and drive alignment across leadership teams.
I worked cross-functionally (consulting, product, research) to define best practices for AI design and helped accelerate AI adoption across IBM’s enterprise.
Tech Can [Do] Better
I led the formation of the organization, built the team, and aligned them around the topmost-level goals.
Tradeblock
Tradeblock is a sneaker marketplace for trades. I designed and built the platform’s data infrastructure, enabling insights and automation. My role focused on optimizing data models, pipelines, and analytics.
IBM
Internship focused on design thinking. Strong emphasis on radical collaboration, working very closely with other front-end developers, as well as user researchers, visual designers, and user experience designers.
Qualcomm
Designed and developed an Android application, including UI/UX decisions, UML diagrams, and Java server programming within Qualcomm's Research Division.
University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign
Courses include: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Algorithms, Data Structures, Data Visualization, Probability Theory, and Linear Algebra.
Design Leadership Initiative
The Design Leadership Initiative is a three year program that emerged from conversations with diverse design leaders in business, social design and education, about the immense changes that have occurred in their work over the last several years. Organized by the Watson Foundation, and hosted by Stanford University, I was among 18 design leaders selected.
24 Startups to Watch in 2024
Identified and featured in Austin Inno's 24 Startups to Watch in 2024
(US 11657141B2) Providing an indication of user-tailored password strength
Patent issued with co-author, Hyun Seo.
DivInc Startup Accelerator
One of seven companies admitted into DivInc’s startup accelerator.
"As a long-time design and product leader, I’ve worked with many talented people, but Lawrence stands out—not just for his rare ability to seamlessly blend design, engineering, and business, but for his relentless curiosity, resilience, and ability to bring clarity to ambiguity."
"Beyond his technical and design acumen, Lawrence is a connector at heart. Whether facilitating cross-disciplinary discussions or championing new ideas, he consistently amplifies the effectiveness of his teams. His passion, adaptability, and leadership make him a force for innovation."
"Over the three years we worked together on IBM Design for AI, Lawrence became the team’s bridge to understanding the technology and tying it to design and strategy. His ability to thrive in ambiguity, take initiative, and be a self-starter made him invaluable to our team."
"Lawrence has the rare ability to take complex, abstract challenges and distill them into beautifully intuitive experiences. But beyond his talent, he’s just an incredible person to collaborate with—thoughtful, generous, and constantly pushing the work (and everyone around him) to be better."
"Of the people I have worked with in my career, few have been as curious, ambitious, and strategically-minded as Lawrence... The best testimonial that I could give is that I would hire Lawrence if I could—I already have once! He is technical, strategic, and has proficiency across ALL of the design disciplines."
"I admire his drive, candidness, and dedication to others – all aligned to a great sense of individual purpose and perspective. For these reasons among others, I actively look for opportunities to work with him. He quickly indoctrinates his team and clients with a fail-fast, learn-fast mindset – encouraging bold thinking and risk taking, positioning himself as a leader and driving significant change on high impact projects."
Sights & Sounds
Everything on here focuses on what goes out. This is what is going in.
Reading
Non-fiction has my heart. I geek out about about business, economics, history, and why humans are so weird. Follow what I'm reading here.
Hearing
It's a good chance I'm listening to music as you're reading this. Here are meticulously crafted playlists [for the AM] [for the PM] [for serotonin].
Seeing
Below are some of my favorite shots from my favorite places. Yes, I might be genuinely addicted to cool colors.
Thinking?
According to Ray Dalio and Adam Grant, I'm a Shaper, Explorer, and Inspirer. Other types: ENTJ-A, Type 3, Type D.
Get in Touch
Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss a project, collaboration, or just want to connect.