Calvin Iwata Memoji, smilingCalvin Iwata Memoji, celebrating with confetti

About

Build the thing, then build the thing that makes it repeatable.

Calvin Iwata walking outdoors with a colleague, both mid-conversation, with Apple Park behind them

Product designer at Apple, working on generative AI. My title says Product Manager, but the work is design. I shape how the assistant behaves, prototype it before it's built, and sometimes ship the code myself.

I came in sideways, through public health and years of brand and marketing before I owned a user flow. So I know what an inconsistent system costs downstream, and how to build one people keep using after I leave.

Three semesters teaching at Berkeley taught me that explaining a decision is a separate skill from making it. I still go back each year, which is most of why mentorship has its own page.

Same instinct, different clothing

  1. A Photoshop retouching process view from the Apple case study, showing a masked product image mid-edit

    A Photoshop Action. So a batch of launch images can't drift. Built at Apple, where the twentieth file stops matching the first if a human does it by hand.

  2. A LinkedIn presentation template slide showing the layout system and type hierarchy

    A presentation template. With the instructions inside it, so a deck starts correct instead of being corrected later. Built for LinkedIn.

  3. A user flow diagram mapping the LinkedIn Workplace SharePoint information architecture

    An information architecture. The team can extend without me. The SharePoint user flow behind the LinkedIn intranet redesign.

  4. A page from the MYND brand guidelines specifying the logo, its exclusion area, and the icon and wordmark relationship

    A design system. With the rules written down, not remembered, so a startup can hand work to someone who was not in the room. Built for MYND.

  5. The IBM discovery methodology diagram, one of three stages mapping how a workshop moves from problem to commitment

    A workshop format. Discovery, framing, solutioning, run so a room that shares no vocabulary can still agree on what is being built. Used at IBM.

Experience

  1. Apple

    Feb 2026 – Present

    UI/UX Product Manager

    Craft UI/UX for Apple software platforms, concepting and prototyping with designers, engineers, and executives. Design generative AI experiences now used across the organization.

  2. AsianPacific@Apple

    Sep 2025 – Present

    Communications Lead

    Santa Clara Valley chapter. I run the monthly newsletter and the pipeline that drafts it, the Slack automations that let the team share events consistently, and the employee engagement behind our heritage-month activations.

  3. Apple

    Sep 2024 – Feb 2026

    UI/UX Project Manager

    Led UI/UX for Services internal tools, built the design system and component patterns behind them, and shaped which features shipped.

  4. Apple (Contract)

    Oct 2023 – Sep 2024

    Designer

    Defined a scalable feature roadmap with cross-functional stakeholders, grounded in user research, accessibility standards, and the HIG.

  5. UC Berkeley

    Jan 2022 – May 2023

    Graduate Student Instructor

    Taught research, prototyping, and critique, guiding students through end-to-end design workflows.

  6. IBM

    May 2022 – Aug 2022

    Senior Designer Intern

    Facilitated UX workshops for MVP features, defined requirements, and mapped user flows with engineering and data science.

  7. Joele Frank

    Mar 2021 – Dec 2021

    Senior Graphic Designer

    PR campaigns and corporate materials, with reusable templates to keep high-volume client work aligned.

  8. LinkedIn

    Mar 2020 – Mar 2021

    Graphic Designer

    Owned the UX evolution of internal SharePoint sites, reshaping information architecture with cross-functional partners.

  9. Apple (Contract)

    Jul 2019 – Mar 2020

    UI Production Designer

    Pixel-perfect, HIG-aligned NPI visuals for major launches, with image-production automation to keep assets consistent.

  10. Independent Financial Group

    Apr 2017 – Jul 2019

    Visual Designer

    Designed and branded a custom WordPress CRM for financial advisor acquisition.

  11. Lawyers Title

    Mar 2016 – Apr 2017

    Web Designer

    Web-based reporting dashboards for data-driven decisions.

  12. American Diabetes Association

    Aug 2014 – Jan 2015

    Visual Designer

    Creative assets to align stakeholders and improve the donor experience.

Education

  1. UC Berkeley

    Aug 2021 – May 2023

    M.S. Information Management

  2. San Diego Mesa College

    Mar 2016 – Aug 2017

    A.S. Web Design

  3. UC Irvine

    Sep 2010 – Jun 2014

    B.S. Public Health

Recognition

  1. UC Berkeley School of Information

    2023

    Dr. James R. Chen Award

    For outstanding MIMS final project, awarded to MYND, a mental health app built with Alyssa Guo and Wadzanai Makomva, advised by John Chuang and Elliott Adams.

    Project page

Affiliations