Early Foundations: Learning to Build Structure from Scratch
The Lowdown Magazine
My first exposure to systems thinking came long before I had language for it. In the late 1990s, I ran a free, independent music magazine in Jacksonville, Florida called The Lowdown. We covered unsigned bands and distributed 5,000 copies a month at peak. I handled design, printing, advertising, and distribution, not out of ambition, but necessity.
With limited resources, the work only functioned if processes were repeatable. I learned early on how small decisions around layout, production, and distribution could either create friction or quietly support everything else. That experience shaped how I think about structure, ownership, and building things that can operate without constant intervention.
Learning Professional Craft and Scale
Cartoon Network
In 2005, I joined Cartoon Network in Atlanta, working on interaction and interface design for properties like Star Wars: Clone Wars, Adventure Time, and Flapjack. I contributed to redesigns of AdultSwim.com and CartoonNetwork.com, focusing on games and interactive sections that needed to support high traffic and long session times.
This role taught me how creative work fits into larger systems. Motion, interaction, and UI decisions had downstream effects on engineering, performance, and content pipelines. It was my first real exposure to designing within constraints, where consistency and scalability mattered as much as creativity.
Designing Within Large, Living Products
FarmVille Becomes a Cultural Phenomenon
At Zynga, I worked on FarmVille during a period of intense growth. My work included redesigning the FarmVille store, contributing to core social mechanics, and helping build shared systems such as in-game crafting and a U.S.-patented real-time chat system used across gameplay contexts. I also worked on translating web-based mechanics to mobile for FarmVille Express as the product expanded to new platforms.
Working at this scale made the importance of durable systems very clear. Small changes to shared mechanics or interface patterns could ripple across the product if they were not carefully structured. That experience pushed me to focus less on isolated features and more on reusable patterns, system ownership, and long-term impact in products that evolve continuously.
Coordinating Creative Systems in the Physical World
Beasts & Beats
Running Beasts & Beats, a recurring art and music event series in San Francisco, gave me direct experience coordinating complex creative systems outside of software. Each event brought together dozens of artists, musicians, performers, and venue staff, all operating on tight timelines and shared physical constraints.
To keep events running smoothly, I focused on establishing clear structures around programming, production, promotion, and collaboration. Repeatable formats, defined roles, and consistent expectations allowed contributors to focus on their work while minimizing last-minute coordination issues. The experience really made me appreciate how smart systems and constraints can actually support creative output at scale, not limit it, even in highly dynamic environments.
Building Product Foundations
Zeal Learning
As Founding Designer at Zeal Learning, I worked across web and mobile to define branding, interface patterns, and early product structure. With a small team and fast iteration cycles, consistency mattered. We needed shared patterns that could evolve as the product matured.
This was my first time intentionally designing systems to support growth rather than reacting to it. User research, rapid iteration, and collaboration were essential, but the real work was creating foundations that could hold up as the product changed.
Formalizing Systems and Documentation
Go2Group
At Go2Group, I worked as a Solutions Architect, helping enterprise teams improve workflows using tools like Jira and Confluence. The work centered on documentation, process design, and fitting solutions into existing organizational structures.
This role sharpened my ability to translate incredibly messy realities into structured systems that teams could actually maintain. It reinforced that good systems are as much about clarity and documentation as they are about tools.
Design Systems at Scale
IXL Learning
At IXL Learning, I focused on building and maintaining design systems across multiple education products, including IXL, Rosetta Stone, Vocabulary.com, and Education.com. The goal was not aesthetic consistency alone, but shared foundations that allowed a small team to support a large and growing product surface.
I spent significant time auditing existing patterns, defining primitives, documenting usage, and working closely with engineering. Over time, these systems reduced duplication, improved consistency, and helped teams move faster without losing coherence. This period solidified my interest in design systems as a discipline.
Applying Systems Thinking to Operations
Lambgoat
As COO of Lambgoat, I’ve applied the same principles outside of traditional product design. The work has involved restructuring workflows, introducing automation, and building operational systems that reduce manual effort and cognitive load for small teams.
Rather than chasing constant growth, the focus has been on making the organization easier to run and more resilient, and automating much if the wrkflows that existed when we took over operations in 2023.
Building Platforms with Reuse in Mind
LG Media
Co-founding LG Media brought many of these threads together. The challenge was not launching individual sites, but creating shared structures that could support multiple properties without duplication. That meant standardizing layouts, workflows, ad integrations, and tooling so new sites could be added without reinventing everything.
This work continues to inform how I think about scalable systems in real, imperfect environments.
Looking Forward
Across all of these roles, the common thread for me has been learning how to bring order to complexity and build systems that let people focus on their work instead of fighting the process. I’m most interested in environments where things are still taking shape, and where thoughtful systems design can make a meaningful difference over time.
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