CharTaker
JavaScriptA TTRPG character manager for creating, organizing, and tracking tabletop RPG characters.
TTRPGSide Project
Live demoApp StoreSourceView →
Senior designer,
design leader,
always building
Always up for an interesting problem
I'm JC Zabel. Currently at Microsoft, where I've led design across Azure CXS, Resiliency, and Customer Health. Before that, scaled an enterprise platform past 20M devices as the founding designer. AI-native, drawn to mission work, still shipping the software myself.
Flagship case study
OvrC · 2014–2024
Solo UX hire → 20M-device platform → a team that took it forward.
Hired as the lone UX team member to launch a cloud platform and ended up managing a team of designers for an IoT platform with 20MM+ devices.
20M+
Devices managed
3
Teams built
15+
Years in UX
4
Industries
Recent projects
Inspec
TypeScriptA franchise management application for streamlining inspections and operations.
Franchise ManagementSide Project
Live demoSourceView →
MealMapper
TypeScriptA cross-platform mobile app for meal planning, grocery list generation, and real-time household sync.
React NativeSupabase
Live demoSourceView →
How I lead
Grow the people
The best design orgs are built on trust and growth. I invest in 1:1s, design crits, and stretch assignments because a team that's learning is a team that delivers.
Ship over perfection
I run my teams on speed and iteration first. We ship working increments fast, then polish what matters. Momentum beats perfection.
Design the system
I think in systems, not screens. Scalable patterns, shared tokens, and reusable components mean the team moves faster and the product stays coherent as it grows.
Test what you don't know
We build confidently on what we know and test what we don't. Get it in front of users early, validate fast, and iterate. Assumptions are risks; feedback is fuel.
Working on something mission-shaped?
I'd like to hear about it. Climate, energy, healthcare, public good. Those are the ones I lean toward, but if it's real work on a hard problem, drop me a line.
jc.zabel@gmail.com →