All day. Err'day.
Designing is my super power.
Personal Statement
I'm going to let you in on a secret: Yes. I really do have a super power.
I'd say I'm brutally relentless not just in the way I design, but in the way I think; there's always a better, optimal way. And I mean that in the realest way and to the fullest extent:
As someone diagnosed with high-functioning anxiety and exhibits symptoms of OCD, my mind constantly demands optimization.
Fortunately, that makes me a very good designer, as it's literally our entire job to optimize (for the user experience, for profit, or whatever it may be). And that's why it's my super power. I'm not afraid to admit that.
If I haven't scared you away, thanks for sticking around!
…But it also comes with its own set of problems I've been troubleshooting:
For example, when I get analysis-paralysis from trying to decide between two seemingly-equal solutions, I've since learned to just go for one of them and see if it works (which it usually does). This may sound easy to many designers, but it's certainly not for me.
Bad user experiences have frustrated me so much that my body will physically start to flare up. I've logged hundreds of hours working on countless versions of this portfolio that were never shown because I never thought they were good enough. All that is to say: I care. A lot.
I care most about clarity, intention, and building products that respect the people using them. My process is grounded, curious, and focused. Every design decision should be rooted in understanding not just the systems and strategy, but the person behind the screen.
I often sweat (literally) the small stuff because it shapes how people feel. It shapes how I feel. But I always keep the big picture in view: what it is, who it’s for, and why it matters. My empathy isn't theoretical; it's lived.
I care about design a lot, but I also care about the things in life that make it worth living: family, friends, my cats, my dog, good music, spicy food, dystopian sci-fi, running, surfing, and traveling.
I work best with teams that value thoughtfulness, momentum, and a high bar.
That's me in a nutshell. I know it's a very raw intro, but that's truly the type of designer that I am. If you want to get the full picture, you'll need to know my origin story.
It's good I promise.
Where did I get my super power from?
I wouldn't have known all of this without introspecting a lot.
Losing my mom to cancer at 15 was a deeply destabilizing and uncontrollable event. When something that big and irreversible happens, our minds may latch onto things we can control even if they're tiny, as a way to regain a sense of safety.
The stakes of everything started to feel huge because subconsciously, my brain started to associate imperfection with danger: If big things falling apart was traumatic, small things being out of order can be a warning sign of more chaos.
That same anxiety that drives OCD also fuels a relentless pursuit of improvement. The constant question of "is this good enough?" leads to iterating until things are exceptional without stopping at "good enough".
After I lost my mom, I became addicted to video games, partly because of the ability to constantly improve. So over the course of 8,000+ hours across multiple games (some of which I played competitively for money), I learned that the work and practice I put in would yield incremental improvements.
When I started to step away from video games, I brought this mentality with me everywhere, and it only worsened my mental state. In the real world, time + effort don't always yield results. And that's one of the most frustrating things I've had to learn.
