from pencil and paper to products that actually make sense
I didn't start in Figma. I started with a pencil and a blank piece of paper.
Growing up, I was that kid. The one drawing Goku in the back of his notebook. SpongeBob on the last page of his homework. Tom and Jerry on any surface that would hold a line. I didn't just copy characters — I created my own. Custom styles, handmade designs, original characters built from scratch.
And it wasn't just paper. I'd see dust on a car and think — that's a canvas. Wood, pen, pencil, iPad, anything that gave me the ability to make something, I used it.
I loved colors. I loved creating. I loved the feeling of starting with nothing and ending with something that didn't exist before.
Then 2020 happened. I heard about product design for the first time and something clicked immediately. I wasn't switching careers. I was just changing the canvas. Everything I'd always done, the composition, the color, the obsession with how things look and feel, it all had a new home.
Drawing and painting became designing. The tool changed. The obsession didn't.
Outside of design, I write. I'm working on a book right now called "From my eyes" It's not out yet but it's coming. That's all I'll say about that.
Art kid turned product designer. Still drawing, just differently.
WHAT I ACTUALLY DO
Product design
This is the full thing. Not just the pretty screens at the end.
It starts with understanding the real problem — not the symptom. Before I open Figma I'm talking to users, mapping behavior, and finding what's actually broken. Then I design end to end. Every screen, every state, every edge case. I think in flows not just screens, because a beautiful screen inside a broken flow is still a broken product.
I build design systems behind every product so the tenth screen holds up as well as the first. And I stay through the build — answering developer questions, making calls on edge cases, and making sure what ships actually reflects the intent. The work doesn't end when the file is delivered.
Framer development
Most designers stop at the design file. I don't.
I build directly in Framer which means the product goes live exactly the way it was designed. No reinterpretation, no back and forth, no surprises. When the person designing is also the person building, every decision gets made with both craft and execution in mind.
It also means faster delivery. Discovery to live site in a fraction of the time a traditional handoff workflow takes. For early stage startups that need to move, that matters.
AI-Assisted Everything
I use AI the way a surgeon uses better instruments — not to replace the judgment, but to make it more precise.
Claude sits in my thinking process to pressure-test decisions and stress-test assumptions before they become design directions. Cursor and Lovable come in when a static mockup isn't enough and I need a working prototype to properly understand a problem.
The goal is never to automate the creative process. It's to spend less time on the parts that don't need to be slow and more time on the decisions that actually require a human to make.
AI is in my workflow every single day. Not as a shortcut — as an upgrade.
Voices From the Work
A few words from founders, collaborators, and teams I've had the privilege of working with.
HOW I WORK
I start with the problem, not the tool. Every project moves differently but the thinking behind it stays consistent.
STEP 01
Understand the problem
Before anything opens in Figma, I need to know what's actually broken. I talk to stakeholders, dig into user behavior, and use AI to help synthesize research patterns quickly so I can spend more time on interpretation than aggregation
STEP 02
Define what to solve
Most design problems are symptoms. I go further to find the root, then frame a clear problem statement that keeps the work focused and the team aligned
STEP 03
Map the experience
I map out how users currently move through the product and where things fall apart. This is where patterns show up that wireframes alone would miss
STEP 04
Explore and decide
I explore multiple directions early, get feedback fast, and cut what isn't working. AI tools like Claude, Lovable and Cursor let me build working prototypes instead of static mockups when the problem needs it. I'd rather kill a bad idea in a sketch than after two weeks of high-fidelity design
STEP 05
Test and refine
Real users, real feedback. I test assumptions before calling anything done and use what I learn to sharpen the details that matter most
STEP 06
Map the experience
I hand off with full context, work closely with developers during build, and use AI to help document design decisions, generate component notes, and keep specs thorough. The work doesn't end when the file is delivered