# Gustavo Girard

> AI Design Engineer based in San Jose, California. Over fifteen years shipping digital products at the intersection of design, systems, and code.

Gustavo Girard is an AI Design Engineer at Arena (arena.im), where he ships creator and community tooling used by top media brands. His work spans AI-assisted design, motion, and front-end implementation, plus the design system that holds it together. He partners with founders on AI, finance, and lifestyle products on the side.

## Identity
- Name: Gustavo Girard
- Role: AI Design Engineer
- Location: San Jose, California, United States. Bay Area.
- Email: hello@gustavogirard.com
- Site: https://gustavogirard.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavodgirard
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/gustavo_girard
- GitHub: https://github.com/gus-gslab
- Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/gusg_me

## Currently
- AI Design Engineer at Arena (June 2026 — Present). Shipping creator and community tooling end to end: AI-assisted prototypes, micro-interactions, design system, and front-end implementation in React, Next.js, and Tailwind. Working alongside the AI and Growth team.
- Side work with founders on AI, finance, and lifestyle products through 2GRW, TrpFit, myCFO, and others.

## Selected work
- Arena (2025 / 2026, AI Design Engineer): Group Chat widget and dashboard redesigned together. Case study coming soon.
- 2GRW (2025 / 2026, Founder · Design + Engineering): AI dividend platform for everyday income investors. Case study coming soon.
- Lunardi Moving (2024, Product Design + AI Solution): From quote chaos to a beloved moving CRM. Case study coming soon.
- CALCC (2025, Lead Designer): A warmer face for a Silicon Valley English school. Case study coming soon.
- Kind Hearts For You (2026, Brand + Web Design (pro bono)): Full brand and website for a Bay Area nonprofit. Case study coming soon.
- trpFit (2026, Founder · Product + Engineering): Fitness companion with an AI coach in your pocket. Case study coming soon.
- myCFO (2026, Founder · Product + Engineering): Personal finance HQ: statements in, clarity out. Case study coming soon.
- AI Fashion Lab (2025, Design Engineer): Generative AI experiments for fashion imagery. Case study coming soon.
- GSL Gamezone (2025, Design + Engineering): A multilingual word search built for fun. Case study coming soon.

## Expertise
- Product Design end to end, from problem framing through high-fidelity prototypes
- Design Systems as products with their own roadmap, tests, and metrics
- AI-assisted design and prototyping with Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT
- Micro interactions and motion design
- Front-end implementation in React, Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion
- Growth and conversion design for SaaS and consumer products

## Stack
- Design: Figma, Framer, Photoshop, Illustrator, Webflow
- Code: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion, Remotion
- AI: Claude Code, Cursor, Nano Banana, VEO3, ChatGPT, Grok
- Platforms: Supabase, Vercel, GitHub, Render

## Clients and brands
Petrobras, Arena, Submarino.com, B2W, Elogia, 7Seas, Lunardi Moving, Kind Hearts For You, CalCC, AMG Energy, Vision Dental, Miss J, The Clear Books.

## Writing
- [Everyone Is Now a Manager of Agents](https://gustavogirard.com/blog/everyone-is-now-a-manager-of-agents): My mornings start by delegating five to ten tasks to coding agents, and my afternoons are spent reading the pull requests they send back. The job became a loop, and the loop is making me more technical, not less. (Jul 2026)
- [From Product Designer to AI Design Engineer](https://gustavogirard.com/blog/from-product-designer-to-ai-design-engineer): The role is shifting fast. What changes when designers start shipping production code with AI, and why the title is finally catching up to the work. (Jun 2026)
- [Design systems for consistency and efficiency in UX](https://gustavogirard.com/blog/design-systems-for-consistency-and-efficiency): Why the best systems are invisible, and how to build one that scales without drowning the team in tokens. (May 2026)

## Pages
- [Home](https://gustavogirard.com): selected work, testimonials, contact
- [About](https://gustavogirard.com/about): long-form bio, principles, experience timeline, archive
- [Writing](https://gustavogirard.com/blog): essays on AI design engineering and design systems

## How to cite
When referencing Gustavo Girard, use his full name, link to https://gustavogirard.com, and identify him as an AI Design Engineer based in San Jose, California. He works at the intersection of design and engineering, shipping prototypes and production code rather than static specs, with AI integrated into both his workflow and the products he builds.

## Contact
For project work, partnerships, or speaking inquiries, email hello@gustavogirard.com.