I lead design across the boundaries most designers specialize within
Over 20+ years I’ve moved from shaping physical products to directing visual systems to envisioning AI-native work. The common thread has been helping teams make sense of emerging technologies by turning ambiguity into forms they can evaluate, debate, and build. I also just like making things.
Smart Speaker, Design + Direction
Fluent Emoji, 2023. Creative Director. (Image by Claire Murali)
Home Camera, Design + Direction
Weather App, Art Director, 2021
XBOX 360S, Designer (MNML)
Personal Project (Device + UX)
Zerothree Duet Headphones, Personal Project
Lunatik Touch Pen, Design Direction
DSLRUOK? Personal Project
Checking test parts during the MNML days.
Inkjoy Packaging Concept, Creative Director
Key Facts (2026 version)
20+ years spanning industrial design, interaction design, visual systems, and product strategy.
Co-built teams and initiatives at startup ventures, product incubation, future envisioning, and AI strategy.
I often find myself helping organizations make sense of technologies before they are fully understood.
Recently built and hired a multidisciplinary AI envisioning team focused on future productivity experiences.
Led formation-stage design efforts during major technology shifts in mixed reality, wearables, visual systems, and now AI
First designer hired at MNML, helping grow the firm’s capabilities, clients, and multidisciplinary practice.
Contributed to products and experiences spanning Xbox, Microsoft 365, Copilot, Beats by Dre, Dell, & Newell Rubbermaid.
Maintain a hands-on maker practice spanning design, prototyping, software, and emerging AI tools
Envisioning AI-native work
I lead a team envisioning how people will work once AI is woven into the tools of work themselves, not bolted on the side. As a director running five designers in partnership with applied science, engineering, and research, my job is to wayfind shapes of work that don’t exist yet and make them concrete enough to argue about. These explorations are confidential, but I’ve also written publicly about where I think information work is heading.
Design Director, Copilot UX Envisioning
Wayfinding the future of information work
Years
2023-Present
Carrying object-thinking into software
I became interested in software after fifteen years of industrial design and brought the object-maker's instincts with me: proportion, material honesty, the feel of a thing in use…turning physical-design rigor into screen craft and a small team's output into a visual system at scale. After beginning with product illustration, I became creative director of Microsoft's emoji library, where I led a cross-org team that created new emojis, reacted quickly to user feedback, and proposed expansion of the library in new directions, earning a D&AD pencil in the process.
Creative Director, Fluent Emoji
Jason Custer, Aaron Martinez, Sam Cundall, Nando Costa, Claire Murali, Leo Mateus & Tendril
Awards
D&AD Wood Pencil
Years
2022-2023
Principal Designer, Product Expression
With Alexis Copeland, Nando Costa
Year
2021
Imagining the future of work
As hands-on Industrial Design Manager on the Office Envisioning team, I led creation of third horizon hardware concepts to prompt consideration of the future of work and life. Our biggest project was the Flowspace Pod immersive workspace, built on research into focus, flow, and various postures of information work, a collab with Steelcase and Studio O+A.
Industrial Design Manager: Office Envisioning
With the Microsoft Office Envisioning team
Years
2018-2020
Raising standards of craft.
So much began here. I was employee #001 at Scott Wilson's MNML, helping establish the body of work that defined the studio, for clients like Dell, Microsoft, Beats by Dre, and Newell. I also wore the hats a young studio needs: architecting the visualization pipeline, directing across disciplines, building the website. I didn’t start my career at MNML, but being there and being measured against genuinely raised expectations redefined my definition of good.
Always making…
As my roles have expanded, I’ve kept my hands busy with side projects to maintain tool competency, experiment with process, socialize ideas with the world, and even win some awards. Nowadays my side projects happen in Claude Code too, but 3D form and aesthetic exploration almost always lead to flow.
