Recently, I led design at Rivian for 5 years—a company committed to redefining the automotive industry. My focus has been on brand building and digital experience design.
As one of the first designers at Rivian, I played a key role in the company’s IPO and bringing it’s vehicles to market. I led pivotal work including brand positioning, product launches, campaigns, web design, photography, experiential design, AI, and the mobile app design. Previous to Rivian, I was the founding designer at Boosted Boards and led the creative team for four years.
For the past 13+ years I’ve designed for many mission-driven brands like Tesla, SolarCity, Cardiff Snowcraft, Black Diamond, Forward Health, and more.
From the ground up, I define, design, and launch work that shapes a brand's future.
The more ambitious the brand, the better.
I grew up in rural Mormon towns Idaho and Wyoming, working on farms and exploring the mountains. How a kid without a degree ended up in Silicon Valley, designing for iconic brands, is still a mystery. Maybe it was punk music. Maybe it was skateboarding. Maybe it was the need to escape a small town. But mostly, it feels like luck.
For over a decade, California has been home. In that time, I’ve experienced change—deep, disorienting, transformative change. I’ve had two kids. I left my Mormon religion and experienced the loss of community and woes of nihilism that came with it. In that loss I discovered Eastern spiritual traditions and the magic of psychedelics. Each shift rewired how I see the world—and how I find my way in it.
Finding truth and meaning is now my obsession. Perhaps that drive is a kink due to my upbringing, but it's also become my superpower. Jungian depth psychology, Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, Buckminster Fuller’s design philosophies, Buddhism’s radical impermanence—all of it shapes my work.
Despite big changes on the future horizon, I'm optimistic about it all. Dare I say, I find it kind of fun? I'm excited to see how we form new relationships with our livelihoods, our food, our bodies, and our technology. We're aching for deep adaptation and I love seeing emerging pockets where it's happening.
We need people who can feel, dream, act, and create. We need creatives who have heart and care deeply. We need visionaries to imagine new futures and designers to translate those dreams into reality. If you only live once, this sure is a pretty cool time to be alive.
Right now we're witnessing the collapse of an old world and have yet to witness the birth of the new. We're in a liminal space and as awkward and uncomfortable as that may be, I find it all fascinating.
I wrestle with these ideas in a private newsletter. It's one part design and one part psychology. If you're a designer looking for more meaning and purpose in your work or nervous about the future, I'd love to have you join.
