My name is Leanne Macaspac, I’m a digital product designer and illustrator with +10 years experience building software and websites for enterprise and SaaS clients. My digital experience is founded on traditional visual arts and graphic design, majoring in visual arts in high school and graduating from the York University/Sheridan College Graphic Design program in Toronto.
I quietly began my design practice shortly after school, where I primarily focused on designing marketing assets for the entertainment and real estate industries. I transitioned to UI/UX design working with a digital agency, leading enterprise design projects for clients like Deloitte and GreatWest Life. I also worked alongside directors and c-suite folks to facilitate workshops and build out proof of concepts for clients like Diageo and PC Financial.
My time facilitating workshops sparked an interest in product design. I worked at Shopify to focus on merchant experiences in different sales channels like Instagram, Facebook, and the Buy Button, as well as helping merchants discover Shopify’s outer ecosystem of apps and experts. I collaborated with engineering and product to build impactful features, and evangelized our work across product groups. Outside of diagrams and docs, I used and contributed to Polaris, the Shopify design system, to build and tweak components as new problems were being solved.
I found my passion for community when I co-founded the Asian Employee Resource Group at Shopify, empowering Asian employees by producing events and programs to celebrate identity and empower professional growth.
My time at Shopify also inspired me to sell my illustrations as stickers and prints online and in art markets, which led me to create fun illustrations for brands like Foot Locker Canada and being part of Adidas’ 2019 Adicolor brand activation in Toronto.
Currently, I am running my own design practice and shop full time while I run operations at Recess, a collective dedicated to exploring creative curiosity.
Macaspac Studio, 2014 – Present
Freelance designer, illustrator, low-code developer
Recess Community, 2023 – Present
Team operations, community programming
Typescape Inc, 2024 – Present
Design lead
Boom Vision Co, 2023 – 2024
Design lead
Shopify, 2017 – 2022
Senior Product Designer, Asian ERG Co-founder
Konrad Group, 2015 – 2017
Senior Designer