Phillip Le
Phillip Le

Phillip Le:
Product Designer
& Storyteller

I design by building bridges between users and interfaces, ideas and action, cultures and behavior, products and people, teams and their work, stakeholders and makers, thinkers and doers, communities and individuals.

 
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Directing Product Design & Strategy

I love experiences and I love stories. And in loving them so much I spend most of my time designing them and telling them. I currently do so for Xfinity Mobile as a Creative Director.

What does that mean exactly?

It means I live at the intersection of technology and product, leading a nimble and tenacious band of forward-thinking designers to tactically execute while simultaneously working to identify unique and uncontested white-spaces all in service of a new, more modern approach to mobile. I use storytelling and framing and design to uncover north stars, to find the centerline in crafting a vision for the products, services, teams, and people for whom I create.

Below are some principles I’ve borrowed from some of the greats, applying them to the way I do work:

  • People first, always

  • There is a difference between working towards the evolution versus the revolution of a product or design—both are important

  • The experience is the product

  • Doing is the best kind of thinking

  • The middle gets messy and that’s where the real work begins

  • It’s all the job

  • To do it all, learn to care less without being careless

  • Embrace open-mind and close-mind in the right places

  • Learn positive inversion: every stumbling block is a potential for opportunity

  • Stay curious and seek awe in the seemingly mundane

  • Always forward

Resume

Directing product, strategy, design, and experience, I oversee product teams, design teams, and work streams associated with a new Xfinity Mobile strategic initiative. I partner alongside our internal lines of business as well as our external partners to provide creative guidance on the end-to-end cross-channel experience. I work to optimize forward progress while identifying unique, uncontested white-spaces by reconstructing existing market boundaries. Prior, I led a team to design, implement, and launch core parts of Xfinity Mobile’s digital-first experience. I am always seeking to innovate designs alongside the teams I lead, raise, uphold, and serve.

 

Experience

Xfinity Mobile, Comcast Creative Director
Philadelphia, PA
May 2019 — Present

Xfinity Mobile, Comcast Associate Creative Director
Philadelphia, PA
Nov 2017 — May 2019

Xfinity Mobile, Comcast
Senior Design Lead
Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2016 — Nov 2017

Think Company
Senior Experience Designer
Philadelphia, PA
Apr 2015 — Sep 2016

RJMetrics
Product Designer
Philadelphia, PA
Feb 2015 — Apr 2015

Leadnomics
Digital Strategist
Philadelphia, PA
May 2014 — Feb 2015

Alzheimer’s Association  Education & Experience Coordinator
Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2012 — Jun 2014

Alteva
Designer
Philadelphia, PA
Oct 2010 – Jun 2012

 

Education

M.S. User Experience + Interactive Design
Philadelphia University
(Thomas Jefferson University)
Jan 2007 — May 2009

B.A. Visual Communication
Arcadia University
Sept 2001 to May 2005

Film Studies + Sociology
Auckland University
Jul 2003 to Nov 2003

 

Organizations

Emerging Leader
Greater Philadelphia
Cultural Alliance    
Oct 2018 — Present

Chair
PhillyCHI
Dec 2013 — Jan 2015

AIGA Mentor
AIGA
Jan 2015 — Jan 2016

Gung Fu Instructor
Kwong Sai Jook Lum Gung Fu Philadelphia Branch
May 2006 — Present

Early-Stage Support
Group Volunteer
Alzheimer’s Association      
Oct 2014 — Oct 2016

 

Skills & Abilities

Communicative

Empathetic

Collaborative

Leadership

Creative Direction

Storyteller

UX

UI

Design Thinking

Product Strategy

Information Architecture

User Centric Design

 
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“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality.

Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”
— Wade Davis
I love a good adventure in the woods. A lot of climbing, fording, running, and posing 😂 #latergram of last week’s Smitty bachelor party with the gang.
Some nice end-of-week recalibration with this fam the other night.
Happy Ēostre festivities from the cast of Harley’s Ville (Harleysville), everyone!
Dressed for the Ēostre festivities, my @suples.training.systems Bulgarian Bag with the Suples gi. The gi is an awesome addition to the training tool, with an ability to easily switch from gi grip to the main handles grips by folding the gi sleeves (or conversely, main handles) into the gi. . Trained our Protocol Bulgarian Bag match this morning with this setup and then finishers with 10x each side for our Spins and Alternating Lamb Swing + Spins with my 26lb bag—an entire fully functional workout session. #suplestrainingsystems
That was quite the coursework and test! We trained from 9-5pm with one of the best coaches, and had the protocol test and endurance session at the end and it was so worth it. . I had been working so hard in my design field and with other things in my life, I wanted to do something for myself, my training, and my betterment. I reached out to Coach @bridgette_hosick back in January to see if I could attend her @suples.training.systems Course Level 1 and she welcomed @famed.wolf and I to begin learning the Suples system. It was amazing. . Bridgette is an exemplar trainer, and one of the few Masters Level Suples trainers out there. Everything we did today translates to fitness, grappling, Long Fist, and martial arts in general. I’m super proud to have accomplished this today and look forward to training more and harder. Thanks, everyone! #suples #suplestrainingsystems #suplesfit #bulgarianbag
Long Fist training with my gung fu partner and students. There’s beauty in the forms, yes, but also so much amazing shuai jiao (grappling) hidden in there. It was a great several days last weekend. #gungfu #kungfu #puglism #grappling #longfist #sixharmonies #martialarts #chinesemartialarts #shuaijiao
“Move often, when you can, in the pursuit of enjoying movement. It’s a privilege and an investment for you inside and out.” . Continuing my series sharing principles and values I abide by and/or am striving to put into practice, this week's principle is around movement. This particular value has been a challenge for me this past month as I’ve been investing much of my time into my product design work, sidelining a lot of my movement work. It’s also why I am posting this particular one today—this is a reminder to myself that a little movement goes a long way, towards assisting with our mental health, our physical well-being, and our overall satisfaction with life. Studies aplenty speak to the productivity benefits of movement and exercise. But beyond productivity, it’s about our quality of life we are investing in, and the joy such an activity can bring. . I do not believe in the “no excuses” mantra—much to a younger Phillip’s dismay, I am sure. Life is complex and prioritizing accountability extends beyond exercise. Movement is a privilege and having the time to intentionally do so in support of ourselves is also as such—a privilege, a luxury not everyone can afford. For those of us who can, find some time to fit a bit of it in; it’s a boon to our overall quality of life. . A little movement goes a long way. . For more reading, check out Scientific American’s “Humans Evolved to Exercise” and The Times’ “The New Science of Exercise.”
We tried to throw a doll into the Well of the Unfortunate to save a sick child, but she died anyway. Also, Astral the Spellweaver (@stephenfmiller) knowingly set off a trap and activated a host of monsters that he took out along with himself in a blaze of fireball glory while Bell the Tinkerer (@car5ly) continued to loot and heal everyone AND hit the correct switch that opened the well, while Ceinwyn Quykyl the Scoundrel (me) somersaulted around managing to kill quite a few Golems blocking the hallway to the well (and well switch), and Daisy the Brute (@gswind) just took out as many enemies as s/he could while chunking the cursed doll into the well. It was a great time with my friends. #gloomhaven #latergram
Beautiful morning the other day doing some gung fu before hill sprints and Bulgarian Bag practice. Bring on the awesome outdoor training weather.
Happy Birthday! Love you, Brother!
Great city detox day hiking and sprinting around Muir Woods with the fam after a night of Peruvian food and episodes of Lore. Felt at home amongst the red woods and a necessary part of the reboot after a series of busy weeks. Resting in doing, movement, and family time; you can’t beat it. Woot!
“People first. Always. It’s that simple.” . Continuing my series sharing principles and values I abide by and/or am striving to put into practice, this week's principle is around people. As designers, we consider the people we design for (and hopefully in retrospect, for the people we impact when we fail to consider them.) . As leaders and coaches, we consider how we deliver direction and guidance as much as what it is we deliver. This is tied with intentionality, not simply of outcomes, but also of impact. . Putting people first can be difficult in situations of high-stakes, prioritized with outputs and delivery. It sometimes puts us in a position where we forget—as leaders, designers, and coaches—that we are serving people. Those we make things for, and those with whom we are charged helping grow. When we are in those moments, taking a step back and realizing that all that we do is about relating and relationships may help us out people back to first. . Always.

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