A bit about me...

Howdy, thanks for stopping by.

I’ve been designing experiences in one form or another professionally for more than a decade. I didn’t go to art/design school, nor do I have a CS degree so the code and design skills I have I taught myself.

The bulk of my career has been spent in Silicon Valley, first at 2 startups—both acquired—and then at Google where I have been building and launching products for more than 7 years. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to launch multiple products and work with amazing teams.

My design philosophy

• I want to work on products and services that improve people’s lives and solve their problems.
• Never underestimate the power and speed of a small dedicated team of people with a common vision.
• I like building products and experiences that have a clear metric for success.
• Build products for the people who use them, which more often than not isn’t me.
• I can’t focus on something halfway or with half of my attention so I want to work on something that is worthy of 100% of my energy (and mental capacity).

My journey

I get asked a lot how I got into design, especially by folks who I interview who are coming right out of school and looking to get into the industry. I don’t recommend my path to design because I don’t think you could try to follow it even if you wanted to. I fell into this career by accident, and I am happy that I did.

I was born in Idaho, but have lived in several states now including Wisconsin, Missouri, and California. Google also sent me to Stockholm, Sweden, where I lived for 5 months with my family. I like photography, travel, music, and learning new things. I’m trying to get into woodworking. I also like wearing hats.

Happy to chat. Just shoot me a line at:
howdy@creationsbychris.net