Home/About·New York City

I taught for years before I designed a single screen.

I'm Kenneth Valerio, a product designer in New York with a background in education and psychology. Teaching taught me to observe, listen, and adapt to very different people. That is still how I design.

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Kenneth ValerioNew York City

Based inNew York City

CurrentlyProduct Designer, The Sentinel by Yuvoice

BackgroundEducation and psychology

LanguagesEnglish, Spanish

001 · From classroom to product

Lesson plans were my first user flows.

I started teaching at Reece School in New York in 2015. A lesson plan there is not a script, it is a flow: where each student starts, where they need to get to, and what gets in the way. The plan that worked on Monday failed for a different student on Tuesday, so I observed, adjusted, and tried again the next day. I did that for years before I knew the word iteration.

Psychology gave me the language for what I was seeing: attention, motivation, why a small change in sequence changes the result. A UX/UI certificate at CareerFoundry in 2024 gave me the tools. Since 2025 I've been the product designer for The Sentinel by Yuvoice, where I design the website and its design system, and I designed and built the CourtBet MVP directly with its founders.

The habit carried over intact. The Sentinel's pull quote went through four rounds before it was right. The archive was designed around the empty and edge states first, not the happy path. CourtBet's live screen was tested and reworked before a line of production code. Different room, same loop.

002 · How I work

Observe, decide, spec, verify.

The same loop runs through every case study on this site. Each step below links to where it actually happened.

Observe001

Start with real people

Interviews, usability sessions, live site data, editor feedback. I look at how people actually behave before I draw anything.

Photobank editors →

Decide002

Explore, then choose

Several directions side by side, with the reason each one was kept or rejected written down so the team can follow the thinking.

Pull quote rounds →

Spec003

Hand off clearly

Components, variants, states, and written specs that an engineer can build from without a meeting for every question.

Sentinel system →

Verify004

Check it worked

Test the built thing with the people it was for, note what changed, and fold it back into the next round.

CourtBet testing →

003 · Experience

Where I've worked.

2025 · Present

The Sentinel by Yuvoice · Product Designer

Sole designer for the website: archive discovery, editorial features, navigation, and a design system built so new team members can pick it up and extend it.

2025 · June 2026