It’s me.

I am a connector.

One of my favourite things about this field is driving connection. I love bringing people together. The most obvious manifestation of that is bringing users to a product or service, but what a lot of folks don’t realize is that product and product-adjacent teams need connection just as much as users do.

In addition to creating solutions and designs for some amazing products, I’ve also helped both internal and external partners become more sustainable, scalable, and efficient by introducing methods and mindsets that help them to work with the flow, and not against it. Whether it’s creating design systems for them, or introducing new processes and procedures around experience design, or evangelizing the beautiful benefits of starting with “why,” my role in any organization is to make them better, same as their products.

I am endlessly curious.

The Philosophy of Design is endlessly fascinating. As a curious person with a naturally hungry mind, I ask “why” a lot. In fact, I think it’s a question that doesn’t get asked nearly often enough in many industries. I want to understand why people think and do the way they do, and I’m not afraid to challenge foundational beliefs when necessary. It’s important to know what drives the decisions we make. Is it data? Is it a preconceived notion, or perhaps a misconception? Is it just the way we’ve always done it? The quest for understanding is never-ending.

I am a collaborator.

I thrive amidst change, and adapt intuitively to new situations. I think this partly comes from being a musician, where playing in a group means listening to others, feeling the moment, reading the dynamics, knowing what to play and when (or not), and knowing how to let others share in that space.

I love being a problem-solver, and being able to use design as the solution. Every day I get to create something that didn’t exist before. I get to make ideas and dreams become reality.

I am The Magician, bringing things into this world in the same way that a singer sings a song.

Design Philosophy

We hear a lot about design philosophies like “Double Diamond,” “Design Thinking,” and “Design Odyssey.” While I’m well-versed in these concepts, and while these are certainly valuable in informing the tactical and strategic decisions we make on a given project, I believe that we can (and should) take opportunities to look deeper. Helping our clients figure out the “Why” is one of the most important things we can do. But in order to do that well, I find it helps to be familiar with our own “why.”

My personal reason is rooted in two Asian concepts:

Kaizen

The Japanese translation means “gradual, consistent improvement over time,” and comes from a Chinese word meaning “change for better.” It’s equally applicable and relevant to both our work and life itself. The UX field is not one in which a person reaches the pinnacle. The digital world is always changing, always presenting new opportunities to grow and learn, new ideas to try out, new technologies to befriend. Neil Peart once said, “A master is only a master student.” The more we can be open to growth and evolution, the better equipped we are to help our clients do the same.

The Japanese kanji for “kaizen.”

Wu Wei

One of the most important concepts we talk about in UX is “flow.” We have user flows, flow maps, and we talk about the flow of a page. It’s critical that we do what we can to preserve that flow as much as possible. We design for the most optimal experience, and to do this we pay attention to user patterns; whether we realize it or not, we practice the Chinese philosophy of “wu wei.”

In the words of the philosopher Alan Watts, “When we speak in Taoism of following the course of nature, or following the way, what we mean is doing things in accord with the grain. This does not mean we do not cut wood, but that when we cut wood we cut along the grain, where the wood is most easily cut…. This is the great, fundamental principle called wu wei, or ‘not forcing.’”

By following those natural patterns, we can more easily introduce new ideas, as well as delightful surprises, to those for whom we design.