UX Designer & Product Strategist · Brooklyn, NY
Grant
Thomas
I help cross-functional teams translate messy, complex problems into elegant product experiences — without losing the strategic intent somewhere between Figma and production.
For the past 9 years I've been the lead designer on Eli Lilly's enterprise design system — a platform serving 100k+ employees, 50+ global pharmaceutical brands, and products used by millions of patients worldwide.
See the Work ↓Selected Work
2014 — Present
How I Pushed Back on Wieden+Kennedy and Built Eli Lilly's Color System
W+K proposed a brand red that failed accessibility and was too close to J&J's identity. I came back with data, an alternative, and the color architecture that now powers Lilly's entire brand portfolio.
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Untangling 8 Years of Documentation Debt for 100k+ Employees
Comprehensive research and redesign of enterprise design system documentation — reducing support requests, accelerating deployment cycles, and finally giving 100k+ employees a resource worth using.
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Modernizing an Outdated Component Across a Global Design System
A post-refresh audit revealed compounding issues in a single enterprise component. The fix was surgical — the impact was system-wide.
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Turning a Team Audit Into a Strategic Advantage
Built a SQL-powered skills system that replaced gut-feel staffing decisions with real data — and surfaced capabilities leadership didn't know they had.
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The Game That Made Two Strangers Fall in Love
Built a week-long social strategy game from scratch. The mechanics were so good at creating genuine connection, two players who met through gameplay got engaged.
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I Built the Tool I Couldn't Find
A fan-made critter tracker for Animal Crossing: New Horizons — because the right one didn't exist. Filter all 200 critters by month, hemisphere, type, and catch status. Still live today.
View Case Study →About Me
The work. Nine years on Eli Lilly's enterprise design system. Researcher, designer, Scrum Master, Product Owner, lead architect — I've held nearly every role because I've always believed you make better design decisions when you understand everything surrounding them.
The approach. Deep discovery before solutions. Accessibility as a baseline, not an afterthought. Staying in the room through the build — not tossing work over the wall.
Outside of work. Boulderer, street photographer, reader. Happiest somewhere unfamiliar.
Full Bio →Research & Strategy
- Qual & Quant Research
- User Interviews
- Data Analysis & SQL
- Product Strategy
Design & Systems
- Design Systems
- Information Architecture
- Figma & Prototyping
- Visual Design
Product & Leadership
- Product Ownership
- Scrum Master
- Stakeholder Management
- Cross-functional Collab
Technical
- Front-end Development
- Google Sheets / SQL
- API Specification
- Analytics & Metrics