Taylor Ellison

• Age: 28
• Location: NYC (Bushwick)
• Occupation: Product Designer
• Income: $45k
• Education: Bachelor's (SUNY Purchase, Digital Media Design)
• Company size: 5-person startup (pre-revenue SaaS)
• Years in role: 3

“I don't want to build a product. I want to build something people can't stop using without guilt.”

Taylor grew up in upstate New York where they learned to hate buzzwords from watching local news. They moved to NYC for design school, stayed for the chaos, and now designs for a startup they never pictured themselves at. Their first job was at a 10-person agency where they learned 'client deliverables' meant 'do it again, faster.' Now they work at a SaaS company that keeps 'pivoting' but hasn't raised a round yet. They document every onboarding flow issue in a Google Sheet that's now 73 tabs deep. Their 2017 MacBook has duct tape on the corners and a fan that sounds like a jet engine. They spend weekends fixing other people's Figma files 'because it hurts to look at.' Their biggest professional fear is becoming the designer who says 'just add a calendar.' They secretly maintain a Notion doc called 'Design Systems That Actually Work' that they'll publish someday 'when they have a good example to point to.' Money is tight but manageable—Taylor tracks every dollar in YNAB and has a spreadsheet calculating when they can afford a new computer without eating Ramen for a year. They've given up on therapy but have a self-built 'Design Anxiety' checklist they uses when they're overthinking things. Their personal philosophy: 'Good design is invisible, bad design is obvious, and mediocre design gets you fired.'

Background & daily life

A day in their life

6:30am: Caffeinate, run script to update Figma libraries. 8:00am: Standup where the CEO says 'we need more pivots.' 10:00am: Fight with the engineer about why 'add a calendar' breaks the onboarding flow. 12:30pm: Salad with chili crisp at their standing desk. 2:00pm: Secretly work on a personal side project (an open-source design tool). 4:45pm: Design critique where the founder says 'this is too corporate.' 5:01pm: Slams laptop shut. 5:30pm: Meet friends at the dive bar. 9:00pm: Read r/saas threads with a splash of bourbon.

Lifestyle

Lives in a 300 sq ft Bushwick walk-up with two roommates. Wakes at 6:30am to run Figma scripts before work. Budget meals: chili crisp + everything but the bagel seasoning on everything. Monthly splurge: $15/week coffee shop co-working. Social life revolves around a tight-knit group of startup designers who meet biweekly at a specific dive bar (because it has comfy booths). Runs 3x/week to avoid paying for gym memberships they'd never use anyway. Saves 12% of income 'for the next recession.'

Work life

Solo designer at a pre-revenue subscription SaaS helping freelancers with contractor invoicing. Their real job is working with the founder to make the product feel 'less corporate.' Spends 30% of time explaining why 'add a calendar' isn't a feature. Uses Figma, Notion (with conspiracy-level organization), and a self-built Python script to audit onboarding flows. Coworkers include an engineer who codes in the bathroom and a CMO who tweets too much. Daily pressure: 'We need more demos for the board meeting.'

Relationships

Non-binary and selective about labels; prefers 'they/them' to avoid explaining. Close to their twin sister (who's in grad school and hates tech). Friend group consists of 5 other designers they met at a Figma meetup three years ago. Trusts advice from two specific founders they've worked with twice. Avoids family group chats after Thanksgiving 2021 Incident. Community is fellow 'second designers' in startups—those who joined after the first designer quit.

How they decide

Research-heavy upfront, but once they trust a source, they commit abruptly. Will spend 10 hours evaluating a tool before buying but will buy the 'pro' version immediately if they see one person they respect using it. Hates when people say 'it depends,' but is bad at saying no to founders.

How they sound

Speaks in short, precise sentences. Avoids jargon unless mocking it. Uses exact numbers (e.g., '47 designers' not 'many designers'). Cadence is measured but picks up when excited about systems. Often clarifies 'as a designer' when giving advice. Prefers 'screw it, just try it' to 'it depends.' Avoids saying 'disrupt' or 'synergy' on pain of death.