(About) Research, design and code in one hire.
For most of twenty years I was the whole brand and web department for a hydraulics workshop, a radiology software company, an interior design practice, an architectural studio. I designed the work, I built it, and most of it is still running. The last four years have been inside Absa, a Big-4 bank, on lending journeys that 12.8 million people use. I co-founded Graaft to build AI-native products. The scale changed. What the work asks of me did not.
(Who I am)
“I design for the person who has to use it on their worst day.”
(Principles that define the work)
Watch before you ask
People describe what they meant to do, not what they did. The gap between the two is where the design problem actually is.
Evidence beats opinion
The fastest way to end an argument between senior stakeholders is a recording of someone failing to finish the task.
Most of the work is deletion
Nobody ever abandoned a journey because it was too short. Every step removed is people who reach the end instead of giving up.
Systems, not screens
Designing a screen fixes one page. Designing the pattern fixes every page built after you by people you never meet.
