Transforming Complexity Into Usability
Software | Design Lead
January and February in Boston weren't forgiving. Most mornings began bundled in a heavy coat, walking across the Longfellow Bridge as the Charles River sat frozen beneath a gray sky. Looking ahead, MIT to one side, Harvard just beyond, was often the most inspiring part of my day. It was impossible not to feel surrounded by people trying to build something meaningful. Matchbox was one of them.
Understanding Precedes Design
By the time I joined the project, the team was well underway building software for one of the most consequential decisions those institutions make: selecting an incoming class. Working alongside the founder and product team, my responsibility was to understand how admissions departments evaluated applicants, compared candidates, and ultimately reached decisions together. Only then could we design an experience around the waythe work actually happened.
What Every Great Decision-Making Tool Should Do
- Bring clarity to complex information
- Surface what matters most
- Reveal patterns, not just data
- Build confidence in difficult decisions
- Strengthen human judgment
From application review to class building
Admissions teams already had the information they needed. The challenge wasn't gathering more data. It was transforming thousands of individual evaluations into one thoughtful incoming class. My work focused on making that decision easier. My work focused on designing the experience around that moment: helping committees easily navigate information to compare candidates, understand tradeoffs, and move confidently between individual applicants and the bigger picture. Every design decision served a single purpose: Reduce the cognitive effort required to make a good decision.
The outcome
Not long after my engagement, Matchbox was acquired by TargetX, extending the platform’s reach to colleges and universities across the country.
Great products don’t replace human judgment. They strengthen it.
A NOTE FROM THE CLIENT
“Ryan, what an amazing week. Thank you for coming up. I found myself smiling as I was looking through the design files you made. You are such a craftsman. I've worked with many (amazing) designers and I can honestly say that none pay as much attention to the details like you.”