UX Designer • Design Systems & Accessibility

Where modern code meets clean, timeless craft.

What I do

I live in the deep space between design and engineering.

Most teams lose something between mockup and merge, but I operate on both sides of that line. Decisions made in Figma are reflected in production.

  • UX & product design

    Research, flows, information architecture, and testing that settles arguments. A location-first rebuild of a clinical-trial signup cut form abandonment from 65% to 37%.

  • Design systems

    Tokens, components, and the governance that keeps them honest. LINEAR runs ~266 tokens and ~75 components from one source of truth, rendered in both Figma and Webflow, with 360 brand skins from five theme axes.

  • Web development

    Webflow, WordPress, SvelteKit, and Three.js when the brief calls for it. I write the code, so the prototype isn't a promise someone else has to keep.

  • Brand & identity

    Strategy first, logo second. Vedara Ventures, a $100M+ holding company, got a complete brand in 14 days.

  • Accessibility & MX

    WCAG 2.2 AA is my floor, but I also structure sites AI agents can read with llms.txt, agents.json, and clean semantic markup.

My Projects

Check out my case studies in UX, design systems, and web development, including the processes and results behind each.

About Me

Your Friendly Neighborhood Design Archaeologist

Select to learn more about each object.

Contact Me

Let's build the damn thing.

Looking for a partner or "sidekick" with capable hands to get you through a complex website or mobile app project? Or are you hiring for a UX or systems-related role? Shoot me a message.

Nonprofit Website

Kevin Popke Foundation: A Nonprofit Site Its Team Updates Without a Developer

PageSpeed 98 / 100 / 100 / 100

Redesigned the Kevin Popke Foundation's website around Kevin's story and built a custom headless WordPress CMS on a $2,000 budget. The site scores 98–100 on PageSpeed, and the team logs new grants without a developer.

Problem
The old site buried Kevin's story, and every grant, event, or story update needed a developer the foundation couldn't keep on call.
Solution
I reordered the site as person, then purpose, then programs, and built a headless WordPress plugin that lists every heading and button as a plain editable field.
Impact
Launched August 24, 2026 on $2,000, scoring 98 desktop and 95 mobile for performance, with new grants added with no template edits or redeploys.
Client
Kevin Popke Foundation
Role
Lead designer + developer (solo, AI-assisted build)
Timeline
Concepts in week one; launched August 24
Open case study

Design System

LINEAR 2.0: Turning a 15,000-Line Stylesheet Into a Tokenized Design System

1,990 classes → ~400

Rebuilt VYNE Creative's Webflow system as a tokenized design system across Figma and Webflow. Cut 1,990 classes and variables to about 400, added dark mode and five corner-radius modes, and brought all 86 color pairings to WCAG 2.2 AA.

Problem
LINEAR 1.0 was a 15,209-line stylesheet with 1,990 classes and variables, no dark mode, and no way to restyle a site without hand-editing classes.
Solution
I deleted the duplicates and rebuilt it as three-tier tokens, with matching class names in Figma and Webflow and accessibility built into each component.
Impact
About 400 classes instead of 1,990, project-wide light/dark and radius themes, and 86 of 86 color pairings passing WCAG 2.2 AA.
Client
VYNE Creative
Role
Lead designer & engineer (solo), VYNE Creative
Timeline
8 weeks
Open case study

Client Website

Location-First Design Cut Clinical Trial Abandonment From 65% to 37%

Form abandonment: 65% → 37%

Redesigned a clinical-trial recruitment site for a Fortune 100 research organization by putting trial locations ahead of the medical screener. Form abandonment fell from 65% to 37%, and the client reused the system on two more studies.

Problem
Across four prior trial sites, 65% of people quit the screener, because they had to share health data before learning whether the trial was anywhere near them.
Solution
I put a searchable city directory ahead of the screener and saved facility matching for after qualification, so people could answer "Is this near me?" first.
Impact
Abandonment fell to 37%, verified participant matches rose 23%, and the client replaced its old template with this system on two more studies.
Client
SAD Clinical Trials
Role
Sole UX/UI designer (Lead Designer)
Timeline
6 weeks
Open case study

Client Website

Building a B2B Lead Engine for 312 Truck

Created the first website for a commercial truck repair shop on Chicago's South Side. Over the first 60 days post-launch, it brought in 8 to 19 more estimate requests per day than the phone-only daily average, and as they turned into service orders, 10–13% more revenue month over month.

Open project

312 Truck Body Repair & Painting on Chicago’s South Side had zero digital footprint—no website, analytics, or lead capture. With an average service order of $14,000, the new ownership needed a fast, effective way to reach fleet managers where they actually search for vendors: online. I was given six weeks to change that.

I designed and developed the shop’s first-ever website, transforming a nonexistent online presence into a high-converting, CRM-integrated lead generation engine.

What I did

  • Desktop-first UX: Engineered for the target demographic with data showing over 80% of B2B fleet managers search for repair vendors from their office desktops.
  • Trust-building media showcase: Prioritized high-fidelity visual proof with media showing facility tours and before-and-after comparison galleries to validate their expertise with high-ticket clients.
  • HubSpot-integrated pipeline: Built a frictionless estimate-request flow that automatically routes inbound leads and behavioral analytics directly into the team’s CRM.

Results

+8–19 estimates a day 59% conversion rate +10–13% revenue MoM
Over the phone-only daily average For estimate request flow vs. 35% target As more estimates turned into service orders

When your average ticket size is $14,000, a website isn’t just a digital brochure—it’s a critical sales asset. Aligning the UX with exactly how the end-user operates (desktop-first for office-bound fleet managers) proved to be the key to blowing past our initial conversion targets.

Brand & Website

Brand and Website for a $100M+ Holding Company in 8 Weeks

Brand + site in 8 weeks on $7.5K

Designed the brand identity and WordPress site for Vedara Ventures, a $100M+ holding company with 40+ businesses and no public presence. Launched in 8 weeks on a $7.5K budget, with a 1.9-second load time.

Problem
A holding company with 40+ businesses worth over $100M had no logo, no website, and no LinkedIn page, with investor conferences weeks away.
Solution
I designed the brand in two weeks, then built a WordPress site in six, with a CMS that adds a new portfolio company through a form.
Impact
Launched in 8 weeks on $7.5K with a 1.9-second load time, and the client now adds a company in 3–5 minutes with no training.
Client
Vedara Ventures
Role
Lead Designer
Timeline
8 weeks
Open case study

Mobile App

Never Alone Recovery Mobile: An Empathy-First Digital Companion

Designed a recovery companion for a nonprofit organization built on access, encouragement, and positive reinforcement. In a 35-person pilot, 46% were still using it at day 120 despite no incentives being offered.

Open project

Never Alone Recovery, a nonprofit supporting individuals with mental health and substance use disorders, wanted to build a digital companion for their community. They needed an app where users could locate nearby support groups, track their recovery, and journal, while leaving room for ambitious future features like sponsor linking and 24/7 chat support.

I designed an empathy-driven mobile app built around access, encouragement, and positive reinforcement, shifting the focus away from clinical micromanagement and toward genuine user support.

What I did

  • Data-driven encouragement: Designed features that cross-reference user milestones with national data to deliver highly motivating insights—like calculating exactly how much money a user has saved on alcohol since their sobriety date.
  • Empathy-first verbiage: Replaced rigid numerical scoring in the “Sobriety Tracker” with qualitative status indicators (e.g., “Stable,” “Cautious,” “At Risk”) after testing revealed that numbers felt too much like a stressful grading system.
  • Location-based support: Built a GPS-enabled tool to help users seamlessly locate nearby support group meetings, laying the architectural groundwork for future geotagged attendance verification.

Results

46% retention Forward-looking foundation “Gentle” experience
At day 120 during 35-person pilot With scalable architecture ready for phase 2 As described by users

Although the client had to pause development just short of a wide release due to shifting subsidy funding, the successful pilot proved a crucial point: approaching recovery tech with empathy and positive reinforcement is exactly what drives genuine user engagement.

Concept App

Schedually Offers Frictionless Time Blocking & Schedule Management

A self-initiated concept app for anyone struggling to balance work, personal, and family calendars. 4 of 4 testers used the wizard to time-block their schedules in under five minutes.

Open project

As someone who freelances, I’ve always struggled to balance multiple calendars. Client calls landed on doctor’s appointments on multiple occasions because my work calendar always looked open during those times. I connected with four peers frustrated by the same problem. They needed a way to partition different portions of the day for specific calendars, consolidated into one single schedule management app.

I designed an app to consolidate disconnected calendars into a single, template-driven ecosystem, taking the cognitive load out of daily scheduling.

What I did

  • Guided onboarding: Designed a setup wizard where users connect their calendars before defining weekly boundaries for their work, family, and personal time. Moving forward, new events can only be booked into their designated blocks.
  • Tactile mobile UI: Created a mobile-optimized, tap-to-place interface with intuitive color-coding so users can build their entire weekly framework in one sitting.
  • Smart conflict resolution: Engineered an automated alert system that flags scheduling overlaps and suggests alternative times based on the user’s established rules and availability.

Results

< 5 mins 100% success Faster decision-making
Average to complete blocking wizard In blocking their schedules With request and conflict alerts

One tester perfectly summarized the app’s core value: “It’s not me saying no, it’s my schedule saying that time is already allocated.” It was a great validation that proactive UX constraints can actually give users more freedom and protect their personal boundaries.

Custom Web App

ClienTell: Client Briefs and Contracts From One Record

Designed and built the intake and contracting tool behind Dane O'Leary Media. Clients answer a PIN-gated brief, and the same client record generates a priced agreement, statement of work, and optional addendum, signed in the browser.

Open project

Onboarding a client used to mean a form in one tool, a contract in another, and the same company name, contact, and scope typed into both. I built ClienTell so a single client record carries the work from first brief to signed agreement.

What I built

  • A brief clients can finish on their own time. Clients sign in with their contact email and a 6-digit PIN instead of creating an account. Answers autosave on a visible 30-second countdown, and a forgot-PIN flow means they never have to email me to get back in.
  • Question sets I can reuse. I build sets once from seven field types, assign one to a client, and track each brief as unfinished or completed. I can resend, cancel, or reset a PIN from the admin console.
  • Contracts generated from the brief. The client record feeds a design services agreement, a statement of work with deliverables and milestones, and an optional confidentiality addendum. Clients sign in the browser, and the contract exports as a branded PDF that matches its Figma layout.
  • Deploys that can’t wipe client data. Schema changes ship as additive D1 migrations, and the destructive db:push command is blocked by default.

Results

One record 3 documents 0 accounts
From brief to signed contract Agreement, SOW, and addendum generated per client Clients need only an email and a PIN

Web Application

Contour: The Skill Visualizer for Designers

Designed and built a self-assessment tool for designers to assess their skills and have them mapped to a visual shape (I, T, Pi, M, or X), with a growth guide and exportable charts. Launched in approx. three weeks.

Open project

“T-shaped” isn’t the only way to build a design career. Rooted in historical hiring frameworks from McKinsey, David Guest, and IDEO, I wanted to build a self-assessment tool to help designers accurately map their skill distribution and discover their true professional shape.

I designed and engineered a visual profiling app from scratch—handling the concept, UX, motion, and frontend development. It translates a designer’s self-ranked skills into actionable growth guides and custom charts.

What I did

  • Algorithmic profiling: Developed a scoring logic that reads user ratings as a topological profile. By analyzing data peaks, spread, and plateaus, the algorithm mathematically categorizes users into I, T, Pi, M, or X archetypes.
  • Forced-ranking constraints: Implemented strict input limits (only one skill can score a 10, 9, or 8) to prevent flat data and ensure the resulting shape actually means something.
  • Accessibility first: Integrated Playwright and axe to ensure robust keyboard and screen-reader compliance. Tooltips are focus/tap-friendly, and all UI animations respect prefers-reduced-motion settings.
  • Private by design: Engineered for complete zero-knowledge privacy. All data processing and storage happens locally on the client side, meaning user assessments never touch a backend server.

Results

Rapid deployment Actionable reports 5 core archetypes
Shipped solo in just three weeks Downloadable as PNG, JPEG, and SVG Maps users to I, T, Pi, M, or X shapes based on established shape theory

I saw the process of translating a conceptual hiring framework into a functional algorithm as a fantastic exercise in product logic. It reminded me that sometimes strict user constraints—like the forced ranking system—is needed to turn flat inputs into genuinely meaningful insights.

Web Application

LinkedWin: A Custom Content Dashboard & Archive

Turned a practical need into a LinkedIn content dashboard where I could access and analyze all of my posts in a simple searchable post library. Solo project took roughly 53 hours total.

Open project

I needed a centralized hub to plan, schedule, and catalog my LinkedIn posts. Instead of paying for another SaaS subscription, I decided to build my own over a weekend.

In roughly 53 hours, I engineered a custom local dashboard that aggregates four separate data sources into a single, searchable content repository.

What I built

  • A purpose-built content editor: Streamlines drafting with quick-insert special characters, templated footers, @mentions, and an integrated staging area for planned pinned comments.
  • Clean architecture & intuitive UI: Designed with a minimal, frictionless frontend so the focus stays on creation, backed by modular and easily maintainable code.
  • API-ready infrastructure: The backend is wired for automated scheduling, posting, and engagement. I’m keeping these features offline until I can safely sandbox them to avoid LinkedIn’s strict API bans.

Results

Rapid deployment Centralized archive Unified workspace
~53 hours from concept to production Fully searchable, on-demand post library Merges a Calendar, Composer, Library, and Analytics into one tool

Right now, LinkedWin runs locally as a highly capable content organizer. Next up, I’m planning to spin up a test account to safely validate the automated publishing pipeline, along with a new “Radar” module to track trending posts across my network.