01THE FOUNDATION
Artist first.
I studied Digital Art and New Media because I wanted to make things that moved people. Illustration, storytelling, and visual craft were the beginning—not a side note I added later.
ABOUT / CODY COUMESGREATER NEW ORLEANS REGION
ARTIST//DESIGNER
I didn’t take the straight path into design.That’s the point.
I’m Cody—a Lead Product Designer working at the intersection of enterprise AI, UX design, research, and strategic thinking.
Before product design, I was a Navy helicopter rescue swimmer. Before that, I was an art student who wanted to work for Disney or Pixar. Today, those experiences show up in the same place: calm problem-solving, visual storytelling, and a stubborn belief that complicated things can be made clear.
500+Helicopter flight hours
75+Projects completed
MBABusiness + design fluency
01Graphic novel universe
THE JOURNEY / FOUR CHAPTERS
From making art
to making meaning.
022012—2018
The Navy changed how I work.
As a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer and Special Operations Aircrewman, I learned to make decisions with incomplete information, communicate clearly under pressure, and trust the team around me.
032018—NOW
UX gave the two halves a home.
Product design let me combine creativity with research, systems thinking, and real human problems. Agency, healthcare, finance, government, SaaS, and enterprise work taught me how to move between the details and the bigger picture.
04TODAY
Design leads. Strategy supports.
I lead product design for complex enterprise and AI experiences. My MBA and strategy background help me frame the right problem—but the destination is always a useful, thoughtful product.
THE THROUGH LINE
Strategy should serve the design—not replace it.
I’m a unique blend of strategist and designer, and I’ve learned not to flatten either side. I can zoom out to understand the business, facilitate the hard conversation, and connect the system. Then I want to come back down to the screen and make the thing work beautifully.
HOW I WORK
Useful principles.
No theater.
Make the complex feel clear.
I’m at my best inside complicated systems—finding the signal, giving it structure, and designing a path people can understand and trust.
Stay calm in the messy middle.
Ambiguity does not bother me. I ask better questions, create enough clarity to move, and help teams make decisions without pretending every answer is known.
Care about the craft.
Research and strategy create direction. Interaction, hierarchy, language, and visual design are what make the experience useful—and make people care.
WORK × PLAY
One brain.
Two kinds of building.
By day, I design enterprise products and make complex workflows easier to use. Outside of that work, I run Flyby Designs, illustrate, build strange product ideas, fix old vehicles, and create the post-apocalyptic world of Below Zero.
They aren’t competing identities. Work sharpens how I think. Play keeps me curious enough to imagine what does not exist yet.
WORKSystems · Product · ClarityPLAYWorlds · Art · ExperimentsCRAFT
WHAT COLLABORATORS SAY
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