My Story
My design journey began at age 12 when my parents brought home our first family PC, a Compaq Presario—complete with that nostalgic dial-up tone, followed by AOL's classic "You've Got Mail." What started as lurking Dragon Ball Z fan sites quickly evolved into exploring fan art forums and discovering their graphic design sub-communities. Their polished work blew me away, far beyond what MS Paint could handle. After downloading a PaintShop Pro trial, I was hooked—adding drop shadows, feathering layers, and collecting fonts like they were trading cards. Those forum signature swaps and graphic design battles unknowingly launched my design career.
Throughout high school, I absorbed everything I could about design—from Photoshop and Flash to the fundamentals of print production. These skills immediately found purpose in my little pop-punk band, where I not only played drums but designed all our CD covers and show flyers.
Early Career
My first real design gig came through a summer job at a local motorcycle accessories shop, where I created their logo, brand identity, and website—teaching me how to balance aesthetics with business goals.
After graduation, finding a design job without a degree was near impossible, so I became a licensed insurance agent for a regional brokerage. During a chance conversation, the brokerage's CEO discovered my design background and, impressed, created an in-house position for me. I spent the next four years there managing all their marketing materials, while also expanding my skillset with front-end development at The Iron Yard Academy in 2015.
Experience
For the past five years I've led UI/UX initiatives at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), overseeing the design of digital products that support coastal management and conservation. My redesign of the Digital Coast platform lifted traffic 31 % and cut the bounce rate 13 % within six months, improvements that now benefit more than one million visitors a year thanks to cleaner navigation, responsive layouts, and sharper data visualizations.
I also design and maintain NOAA's applications: Coastal County Snapshots and Lake Level Viewer, turning complex geospatial data into tools field scientists and coastal planners can act on. Today I'm in the initial phases of scaling a unified design system across NOAA's enterprise apps and mentoring junior designers.
Before NOAA I worked with brands such as NASCAR, the University of Florida, Gaia Herbs, Xfinity Comcast, and BCBGMAXAZRIA— experience that sharpened my ability to translate diverse business goals into usable digital products.
Beyond Work
Away from the screen, life revolves around my family. I've been blessed with my wife Jocelyn, who runs her own successful esthetician business, and our daughter Amelia. So weekends are often spent exploring trails in North Carolina's Pisgah Mountains, cruising around on Lake Murray, or during football season, tailgating with friends and cheering on the South Carolina Gamecocks. My creative side still calls, and I occasionally dust off my drum sticks with plans to form another band someday because every elder emo secretly dreams of one more show, even if our knees aren't what they used to be.
Expertise
I bridge design and development to ship products that look great and work.
User Research
Understanding user needs and behaviors
User-centered Design
Putting users first in every solution
Information Architecture
Organizing content for intuitive navigation
Wireframing
Creating structural blueprints for interfaces
Prototyping
Building interactive models to test ideas
Responsive Design
Seamless experiences across devices
Accessibility Design
Creating inclusive experiences for all
HTML & CSS/SCSS
Building responsive interfaces
JavaScript
Adding interactions and functionality
Git
Version control and collaboration
Front-end Development
Implementing designs with code
Developer Collaboration
Effective handoff and communication
Prompt Engineering
Leveraging AI in design workflows
Let's Work Together
I'm always excited to discuss new projects and challenges. If my process and approach align with your needs, I'd love to hear about your project and explore how we can work together.
Get in Touch