Looking Beyond the Pixels
John Lattanzi (mpd² '25) leveraged lessons learned in the mpd² program to transform his career from an order-taking designer to an innovative leader.
Early in his career, John Lattanzi (mpd² '25) was a self-described “pixel pusher,” meticulously crafting digital designs based on predetermined specifications.
That wasn’t how he envisioned spending his future.
Today, Lattanzi is leading discussions on strategic design thinking and helping shape the future of user experience.
He credits lessons learned in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program for that transformation from hands-on, in-the-trenches designer to strategic innovator.
“Before I joined the program, I was mostly receiving design tasks, spinning up designs, presenting them, and implementing them,” said Lattanzi, a senior user experience (UX) designer at health and fitness technology company iFit. “Since joining the program, I‘ve been used more on the strategic side, helping clients understand their business needs and goals.”
Lattanzi joined iFit in August. He previously spent three years as a product designer at IT consulting firm Cognizant, where he was part of the company’s AI innovation team, focusing on ideation and discovery rather than just delivery.
This shift in perspective was on display earlier this year when Lattanzi led a "jetpack" session for his fellow mpd² students. Jetpacks are one-off workshops designed to give students a deep dive into specific topics, supplementing the program's curriculum with hands-on learning opportunities.
Lattanzi’s session focused on low-fidelity digital design decisions, a crucial skill for creating impactful user experiences. He guided students through the process of making design choices, emphasizing the importance of understanding the problem before crafting a solution.
“The way I approach design is that the first step is to make sure you are designing the right thing, and then you have to design the thing right,” Lattanzi said. “That's how I like to frame it.”
Using Figma, a popular design platform, Lattanzi provided students with templates and practical examples to visualize their ideas. He compared design approaches of industry giants such as Apple and Spotify, illustrating how different problem-solving strategies lead to distinct user experiences.
Lattanzi’s journey to design was unconventional. After studying theater and speech pathology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he worked as a recruiter before transitioning to user experience design.
This diverse background, combined with the mpd² program’s focus on business needs and problem-solving, gave Lattanzi a unique perspective on user interaction and product development.
“I didn't have a foundation in how to establish the problem that you’re solving for and then applying that to a business need,” Lattanzi said. "mpd² does a really great job of helping you understand what the business need is instead of what the user need is and how to pair those together to build something that matters to people.”
Lattanzi's evolution from a pixel pusher to a strategic thinker exemplifies the program’s goal of nurturing product leaders who can navigate complex business challenges.
“This program really teaches you how to think like a product leader,” Lattanzi said. “It teaches you how to better think about the problems you are solving so you can create a better experience for people.”