I am a creative technologist who has been designing for 18+ years and coding for 20+ years. With a BFA in graphic design, I possess the mindset and skills of a traditional designer with a great passion for typography. I have led the design for multiple web products and a design system for a large software company. My main focus is the front of the front-end and web accessibility.
Experience
| 2022–Now | Lead Design Technologist, Y Media Labs |
|---|---|
| 2017–2022 | Lead UIX Architect (Principal UI Designer), Pegasystems Inc. |
| 2015–2017 | Full-stack Designer (Head of Design), Fullbridge |
| 2013–2015 | Product Designer, Sonicbids |
| 2010–2013 | Chief Creative Mechanic (Design Lead), Bluetrain Mobile |
| 2009–2010 | Freelance Graphic Designer, what!design |
| 2005–2009 | Part-time Marketing Designer, various agencies, colleges, and non-profits |
| 2002–2005 | Microsoft FrontPage Sensei and Photoshop Ninja, self proclaimed |
| 2000–2004 | NBA Live PC Game Patch Maker, just for fun |
Skills
| Yamcha | Piccolo | Trunks | Gohan | Goku | Vegeta | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A11y | ✓ | |||||
| HTML | ✓ | |||||
| CSS | ✓ | |||||
| JavaScript | ✓ | |||||
| Typography | ✓ | |||||
| Figma Tokens | ✓ | |||||
| Photoshop | ✓ | |||||
| Illustrator | ✓ | |||||
| InDesign | ✓ |
Recommendations
Paul Katsen, Cofounder, Gym Class VR: When you chat with Mike about your site he won’t be jumping to tell you about design standards or what will look great. He’ll be listening. His empathy, ux chops, and fresh perspective helped me gain some clarity about our interface. Can’t wait to talk with Mike again.
Kelly Lucas, Sr. Manager, Pegasystems Inc.: Mike makes turning designs into working front-end code look easy. More than once at Pega I was hoping to get a little breathing room after designs went his way, to only have him turn them into fully working HTML and CSS within days. All the while he keeps us honest in terms of user experience and accessibility. Mike is a major reason I have had the pleasure of helping to deliver some of the best looking and easiest-to-use web experiences while at Pega.
Guo Chen, Podcast Host, Not Just Pixels: Mike was my mentor for Pega’s Fall 2022 design internship program. The range of knowledge & expertise Mike has is truly incredible: Graphic design, UX, front-end development, accessibility, and so much more. I learned so, so much from him through our weekly design reviews and front-end dev workshop. I could not have asked for a better mentor for my first ever design internship in the states. Thank you, Mike 🙌.
Wing Ngan, Owner, Ink Design Inc.: Mike was there all the way to guide me through the entire process on converting my 10+ years old website into a functional responsive website. The user interface feedback I received from Mike was great and useful! With his help and training, I am able to prepare and upload files to update my own website whenever I needed to!
Steffan Berelowitz, CEO, Bluetrain Mobile: Mike invests himself in constant learning to grow his skills and is always plugged into the latest technologies, trends and best practices. Mike’s specific feedback and recommendations made a huge impact on the overall quality, usability, and success of the Bluetrain.io platform.
Emcee Hao, Gangsta Rapper: The Toni Kukoc of design. This dude fills up the box scores wherever he goes.