HAYDEN MILLS
I'm a Principal Product Designer who designs apps.
I've been a product designer for the past 12 years. I've worked for startups, non-profits, and design agencies, all the way up to larger tech companies like Shopify and Hinge. Most recently I led design at Zero, the intermittent fasting app, as we expanded from fasting into nutrition and GLP-1 medication.
I'm a builder at heart, and it shows up in every part of my design process.
Tons of explorations to see discover the possibilities. Deep dive research to see what's already out there. Quick iterative passes until we land on something that "just works". Ship quickly and learn fast. Dig through the results and refine from there. It's a messy process but so much fun now that AI has given me even more ways to build.
I live in Indiana with my wife and two boys. I am open to full-time remote roles.
Zero helps people live longer, healthier lives through science-backed fasting, nutrition, and metabolic health tools. I led all design as it grew from a fasting app into a broader weight loss platform.
I operated as the design org. Small, fast, high craft. Concept to shipped, I partnered directly with the CEO on strategy, roadmap, and every feature decision. I was making the calls, not executing someone else's spec.
I worked alongside a small team of engineers to help evolve the app into a new experience catered to a wider audience looking to lose weight in different ways.
“As our only designer, Hayden single-handedly delivered designs for every feature we shipped, and still took the initiative to modernize our design system, making it cleaner and more consistent across the whole app. He also has a knack for elevating things: I'll build a feature, look at the UI, and think 'this looks good!' Then Hayden takes it and somehow makes it look 100x better. Beyond the design work itself, he's a great communicator, a hard worker, and just an all-around lovely person to work with.”
Taylor Robinson
Engineering Manager
At Hinge, I helped shape the dating app designed to be deleted. I led design on features that helped millions of people show up more authentically and make meaningful connections.
I joined as the first lead designer and stayed for four and a half years as Hinge grew to be the best dating app in the world. Over that time I touched almost every part of the app, from the core profile and matching experience all the way to ensuring daters were protected and finding safe ways to go on dates.
From early concepts and vision decks to shipped features used by millions, I worked alongside talented engineers, product partners, researchers, and other designers to help Hinge continue being the most respected and thoughtful dating app on the market.
“Hayden just oozes creativity. The quality that makes him unique is his innate ability to push the boundaries of design. Sentences you'll often hear when working with Hayden are, "let's go crazier" or "how can we make this even bigger." I've seen this attitude inspire so many people around him, from his design peers to engineers and researchers. He doesn't shy away from designing hard things and his prototyping and interaction skills enable him to bring those visions to life. Beyond that, he is one of the most humble, kind and enjoyable people I have had the pleasure to work with.”
Lindsay Norman
VP of Design, Hinge
“Hayden's always up for a challenge, very collaborative and inclusive, never afraid to push the envelope of creativity, empathizes deeply with users, and can take projects from start to finish without a hitch. Specifically, Hayden has led all the design for the new Guidance initiatives including photo selection assistance and photo ordering help. Photo selection in particular is a challenging user problem because it is one of the first AI product use cases at Hinge, which makes it incredibly impressive how Hayden introduces new ways of blending AI thinking into the design process.”
Mitch Lapoff
Lead Product Manager
At Relay, I designed neighborhood-scale broadcast tools that help local leaders reach residents instantly during emergencies and everyday community moments.
I was the founding designer, responsible for everything visual. Brand, marketing, and the products we built. We moved fast into market and raised millions to help connect first-responders and their communities together through a non-emergency reporting app that went straight to the right responder.
Public safety was and is not an easy space to design for but it was a rewarding challenge helping people get much needed resources and attention from their local first responders.
At High Alpha, I partnered with founders to turn early ideas into disciplined, product-ready companies. I led design across brand, marketing, and product to help new ventures find their first customers and their first real market fit.
I designed zero-to-one MVPs for four startups coming out of the studio. Each one meant starting from a blank canvas, moving fast, and shipping something real enough to put in front of first customers.
Four companies in a year forces range. Different markets, different users, the same core job of making an early idea feel like a real product. It's where I sharpened moving quickly without letting the craft slip.
At Shopify, I helped merchants of every size sell more confidently online and in-store. I worked on tools that simplified storefront creation, checkout flows, and inventory management for millions of entrepreneurs.
I worked on a small product team inside Shopify Plus, redesigning how larger merchants manage their staff and permissions. Real depth on one hard surface rather than a little bit of everything.
Shopify was my first look at design at true scale. Big org, big surface area, and a level of rigor I hadn't worked in before. Learning from the talented designers at Shopify shaped me early in my career and influenced how I've designed since.
