From Flash to Figma: My Journey into Product Design
It all started with a web design contest back in the ‘Wild West’ days of the internet.
My journey as a product designer began by winning a web design contest hosted by Earthlink, a once prominent Internet Service Provider (ISP) during the frontier days of the web. This was a formative period for web design which was often described as the "Wild West" of the digital landscape. During this time Earthlink engaged with the web design community to encourage and promote new technologies that were on the horizon like Macromedia Flash and Director.
Flash allowed designers to create animated, interactive web content — way beyond what HTML could do at the time. You could make movies, websites, games, even full web applications. Director was used for creating CD-ROM interactive projects and some early web multimedia via Shockwave. Think educational CD-ROMs, early point-and-click games, museum kiosks, etc. Less web-focused than Flash but an important early contributor to online multimedia.
That early win led to a wave of freelance work, and before long, I landed my first web design role at an ad agency — the moment that truly launched my career in digital design.
Fast forward to today, and I've spent the last decade specializing in complex, mission-critical products for federal agencies, healthcare systems, and commercial enterprise SaaS companies. I've led UX strategy for the NIH, modernized legacy platforms at the CMS, and built design systems from scratch for teams that had never worked with a dedicated designer.
My approach is grounded in a simple belief: great design is invisible. When users can focus on their work — reviewing a grant, analyzing clinical data, or managing patient records — instead of fighting the software, we've done our job. I bring the same rigor to every engagement, whether I'm designing for a clinician at the NIH or a product team at a commercial startup.
What I Deliver:
Product Strategy & UX Leadership: Translating complex user needs and business goals into clear product roadmaps and design visions.
End-to-End Interface Design: From low-fidelity workflow mapping to pixel-perfect, accessible UI for high-stakes data environments.
Design System Governance: Building scalable, component-based systems that ensure consistency across multiple products and teams.
Organizational Design Culture: Introducing UX thinking and collaborative workflows to engineering-led teams.
My work has been recognized with awards for usability, accessibility, and plain language — but the real reward is seeing users adopt a product quickly and confidently, knowing that their feedback shaped every decision.
When I'm not pixel peeping, you'll find me throwing pots, wandering around with my camera exploring this beautiful area, or traveling whenever possible to rejuvenate and be inspired.