Own end-to-end
From vague problem to shipped solution. I write briefs with goals and success metrics, run discovery, design, validate, and stay through launch and iteration. I don't hand off and disappear.
Maciej Ogonowski
Lead product designer helping teams makebetter product decisions
My approach
How I work
Research + experiments
Qualitative and quantitative. Surveys, interviews, usability tests, and in-product experiments, including ones that failed. Data informs direction; craft makes it land.
Agentic AI in my workflow
I use Cursor and agentic AI to build interactive prototypes in code. Not to replace thinking, but to compress the loop between intent and something testable. I disclose AI use transparently. Product decisions, trade-offs, and taste are mine.
Case studies
Work
AirHelp Plus: when travel stopped, we rebuilt the product
In 2020 our assumptions broke overnight. COVID reduced global air travel by over 50%. The membership product suddenly had almost no value because people weren't flying. Our challenge wasn't improving an existing experience. It was answering a much harder question: Why would anyone subscribe to AirHelp if they weren't travelling?
As a sole designer in the product team, I led the design from vision to launch, conducting research and experiments.
My role involved continuous iteration, feedback loops, and refining the vision to ensure the product fit the dynamic market during one of the most challenging times ever for the travel industry
Problem
Before COVID, AirHelp Plus was built around disruption: compensation claims after something went wrong. When flights stopped, that value chain collapsed. Members who stayed subscribed had little reason to open the app. Retention and satisfaction depended on events we could no longer count on.
Insight
Travel would return, but subscriptions needed value today. Research showed passengers felt helpless throughout the journey, not just after landing. We reframed the product from a compensation subscription into a full-trip companion with proactive benefits: flight monitoring, lounge access, and remote medical help.
Solution
Expanded the membership beyond post-trip claims. Shipped remote doctor access, airport lounge passes for delays, proactive flight status, and onboarding that front-loaded trip value. Asked members to add flights upfront so we could help before disruptions, not only after.
Research insights
58%
Didn't know they had right for compensation
74%
Had to change their plans due to a flight disruption
59%
Incurred additional costs because of a disruption
64%
Missed information about their flights during a disruption
What we built
Stay up to date and informed
We equipped passengers with their personal dashboard and asked them to add upcoming flights, so we could help them proactively when something changed.
Live flight status
Displays any changes to flight schedule
Email and in-app notifications
Updates about any changes with instructions
Get help with compensation
When a flight was delayed or cancelled, travellers had access to passenger rights experts and an easy way to start a claim for compensation.
Easy claiming
Gathering flight details streamlined claiming processes
24/7 assistance
Access to passenger rights experts via online chat
Remote Doctor's Appointments
Relentlessly looking for new opportunities
As passengers became more concerned about their health, we partnered with a remote doctor's appointment provider and delivered convenient video consultations.
Safety first. Access to medical consultation turned out to be important for passengers and had impact on conversion.
Relax at an airport lounge
Whenever a delay longer than 1 hour happened, passengers received entrance to a comfortable airport lounge.
Easy access
Entrance redeemed via personal dashboard or email
Comfortable wait
Relaxing stay at one of 1,100 available lounges
6.5M+customers to date
50%+drop in global air travel during COVID
0→1product I helped define, launch, and pivot
Sole designervision through launch and COVID-era rebuild
What if
What if we made AirHelp feel like insurance?
One of our strongest hypotheses was to position AirHelp Plus as a form of travel insurance.
The reasoning was simple: customers wanted to feel protected, not just informed. During research, many participants naturally described the product as insurance, even though we never presented it that way.
Product and marketing teams loved the direction, but legal constraints made it impractical. Delivering on that promise would have required regulatory work and insurance partnerships that weren't feasible at the time.
Years later, AirHelp expanded into travel insurance—an interesting validation of the direction we had explored early on.
Key decisions
Expanded value beyond compensation despite scope and timeline cost
Shipped remote doctor access when members could not travel to care
Asked users to add flights upfront to enable proactive help (onboarding trade-off)
Softened flight-status copy when third-party data was inaccurate. Worked with eng on thresholds and with content on tone
Honest take
What wasn't all sunshine
Flight status integration was unreliable. Statuses changed every few minutes. We iterated with engineering on alert thresholds and with content on calmer messaging instead of pretending the data was perfect. Remote doctor access shipped but was later removed when travel patterns changed post-COVID.
Setmore: fixing activation for 60k+ monthly sign-ups
Redesigned onboarding for a scheduling product with 60k+ monthly sign-ups, turning a blank calendar into a guided path to first booking.
Problem
Sign-up was easy; activation wasn't. New users landed on a blank calendar: uninspiring, no path to first value.
37 min
Median time to first appointment
7 days
Most users never returned after
Solution
Onboarding redesign: brand setup, timezone/currency, calendar sync, guided path to first booking. Competitive analysis across scheduling products. Contributed to Earth Design System.
What we built
Where new users landed
After sign-up, most users saw an empty week with no guidance. The calendar worked, but it did not explain what to do next or why staying mattered.
Median time to first appointment was 37 minutes. Most users never returned after 7 days.
Onboarding · Step 1
Collecting brand details
Helping business owners set up their booking page and getting to know our customers. A little bit of friction that pays off.
Brand name
Reflected on the online booking page and stored in the database
Industry
Used to segment customers and shape a more personal onboarding experience
Phone number
Served as verification and helped reduce spam bot sign-ups
Onboarding · Step 2
Confirming pre-filled data
Data based on user location was filled in automatically, so users could confirm instead of hunting for the right settings.
Time zone
Ensured the booking page showed the correct date and time
Currency
Kept service prices aligned with what customers would see when booking
Onboarding · Step 3
Syncing events
Displaying events from other calendars inside Setmore made it easier to treat the product as a primary calendar, not another empty tool.
Google Calendar
One-tap connect for the calendar most SMBs already use
Office 365 Calendar
Surfaces work events so availability reflects real schedules
Apple Calendar
Brings personal events into Setmore during setup
Onboarding · Step 4
Personalizing the booking page
Letting the customer interact with their booking page and making it more personal could improve stickiness to the product.
Besides, it's fun!
The result?
No longer staring at an empty screen → way better 🙌
67%
Onboarding completion rate
26%
Connected calendars
Delight
Onboarding isn't a form. It's the first promise of what the product will feel like. I focused on time-to-value: get users from empty calendar to "I booked something" as fast as possible, with copy and UI that feel human at SMB scale.
The fit
I'm drawn to DuckDuckGo because...okay, that was inevitable.But now seriously.A few years ago, privacy mostly meant protecting what people searched for. Today, AI knows what we write, build, think through, and sometimes even what we struggle with. As AI becomes more capable, trust and privacy become product features—not legal checkboxes. That's exactly the kind of design challenge I want to work on.
How does Maciej fit
?
Experience
7+ years in product design. Senior Product Designer at Setmore (2021–2024). Product Designer at AirHelp (2019–2021), on a global consumer travel product used by millions.
High impact lead
Led design on AirHelp Plus from discovery through launch. It is now used by 6.5M+ passengers. Owned onboarding redesign at Setmore serving 60k+ monthly sign-ups.
Vague problems → impactful solutions
Reframed AirHelp Plus from post-trip compensation only to a full-trip companion. At Setmore, turned "easy sign-up, poor activation" into a measurable onboarding system with 67% completion.
Research & Experimentation
Customer surveys (58%, 74%, 59%, 64% insight stats at AirHelp). 30+ customer interviews at Setmore. Multiple shipped experiments, including failures I can discuss.
Craft and quality
Mobile-first UI across AirHelp Plus. Onboarding crafted for first-day activation at Setmore. I care about the details: copy, empty states, edge cases.
Agentic AI Experience
I use Cursor and agentic AI daily to build high-fidelity coded prototypes, validate flows with stakeholders, and accelerate iteration. I'm transparent about what's AI-assisted vs. my product decisions.
Cross-functional Collaboration
I write clear problem statements and success metrics before execution. Close collaboration with engineering, content, and sales, including technical trade-offs (flight status thresholds, softened copy during bad data).
Educate and guide
Co-hosted UX Friday, mentoring 50+ designers at Movade. Contributed to Earth Design System at Setmore. I raise the bar through critique and systems thinking.
Visual proof
Craft: pixels matter
A selection of UI work across mobile and web. Full case studies available on request.
Get in touch
Let's talk
I'm excited about the Senior Product Designer role at DuckDuckGo. Happy to walk through any case study, test project, or design decision in detail.