I design and I build, and the line between the two stopped mattering a long time ago. I think in systems, move in code, and build interfaces the same way I learned motion: frame by frame, with intent.
I started as a video editor, cutting footage in Adobe Premiere. What began as trimming timelines turned into a deeper interest in storytelling, motion, and visual expression, and I ended up in motion graphics full-time.
That led to commercial work for Toyota, Honda, and Kia, and projects for Diageo and Smirnoff. I also contributed to music videos for Danny Ocean. Those videos now sit at over a billion views on YouTube.
Motion taught me something most product teams ignore: timing is a design decision, not an afterthought. Every transition either builds trust or breaks it.
Somewhere in there, the question shifted. It stopped being about how things look and became how they communicate. The same instincts carry straight into product. Audience, message, timing.
That shift pulled me into brand, identity, and eventually UI and UX, mostly for software and AI companies. It's where I learned systems. Not the Figma kind. The kind where constraints matter, naming matters, and consistency is the only thing that scales.
Product is where everything clicked.
At Tranzport, a logistics SaaS, I worked on tools dispatchers actually depended on. Not “nice-to-have” interfaces. Real workflows under pressure. Logistics is where the focus shifted from designing interfaces to designing systems: performance, structure, and real-world constraints became the job. It's also where I started writing code seriously. First to prototype faster. Then because I didn't want to wait on tickets to fix things I understood better.
Now I build end-to-end systems.
I shipped Waco3.io, an AI-powered platform for proposals, quotes, and invoices, built with React, Node, and a deeply integrated AI layer that generates structured outputs, not just text.
I maintain @reactzero, a set of zero-dependency React libraries focused on accessibility, performance, and control. No magic. No black boxes.
I work with AI tools daily. Claude, Cursor, Codex. But I don't outsource thinking. I still check every ARIA role, every interaction edge case, every state transition.
Because tools change. Standards don't.
The throughline hasn't changed since my motion days: make complex systems feel simple, and never lie to the user.
What I won't do
- Treat motion as decorationIf it doesn’t clarify, guide, or reduce cognitive load, it doesn’t ship.
- Ship inaccessible componentsWCAG isn’t a checklist. It’s the baseline for respect.
- Hide complexity behind “magic” abstractionsIf I can’t explain how it works, I won’t build on top of it.
- Pretend AI replaces judgmentAI is fast. Judgment is earned.
- Build things I wouldn’t trust in productionIf it breaks under pressure, it’s not done.
- Design for Dribbble instead of realityReal users don’t scroll galleries. They complete tasks.
- Skip research and jump straight to pixelsDiscovery first — understand the problem, find patterns, build context. Then wireframe, design, and build.
- Add a dependency before understanding the problemMost problems don’t need a library. They need clarity.
- Put pineapple on pizzaSome lines shouldn’t be crossed.
- Reject a good, spicy pad thaiSome things are non-negotiable. Extra chili, no exceptions.
What I'm building toward
- Design systems that machines can read
Tokens, structure, and semantics that AI can interpret and generate from.
- Procedural UI that builds itself from intent
Layouts, flows, and components generated from structured inputs — not static mocks or predefined screens.
- Automated design variations at scale
Systems that generate options with creativity and consistency — so exploration doesn’t sacrifice coherence.
- Terminal-first workflows for designers
Faster loops, less friction, no context switching between tools.
- Motion as infrastructure
Not polish. Not delight. A core part of how systems communicate state and change.