I started in art and design, working in print and motion graphics before interactive work pulled me in for good. That move — from fixed layouts to systems that respond, adapt and get built in code — has shaped everything since.
For six years I lived and worked in Toyama, Japan. It’s where I became fluent in Japanese and learned to design and build for a language and culture that aren’t my own — a habit of checking my assumptions that I’ve never lost.
Back in Canada, I taught interactive design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University for eight years, which is where I got good at the thing this whole practice is really about: helping designers and developers understand each other. The best design systems come from the same instinct — give two groups a shared language and get out of their way.
Today I work on the seam between design and engineering: design tokens, Figma systems, accessible components and the pipelines that connect them. Reactionlab is a side practice, so I take on select engagements rather than full-time work — which means the projects I say yes to get my full attention.
If that sounds like the kind of help your team needs, I’d like to hear about it.