I've shipped things.
Synthform
- Company
- Avalonstar
- Ship Date
- August 2017
Synthform is the name given to the overlay project that powers the Avalonstar Twitch channel. It consists of two parts: a React-powered front-end with custom made alerts, and a Firebase-backed bot that collects data from the Twitch API. It's served as a vehicle to achieve functionality that wouldn't've been possible with existing alert services.
Whispers
- Company
- Twitch
- Ship Date
- June 2015
- Links
- Announcement
Twitch's Whispers feature was developed as a way to facilitate direct communiction with other users while using the service. Originally developed to utilize the chat command /w, it was later given a more Facebook-like docked chat interface.
I was the design lead on the Whispers project.
Emote Selector
- Company
- Twitch
- Ship Date
- April 2015
- Links
- Announcement
Inspired at the time by similar features developed by popular Twitch add-ons BetterTTV and FrankerFaceZ, the Emote Selector provided an easy way for users to see and use their entire library of global and subscriber emotes. We wanted to bring it in-house for the benefit of those who didn't know about or didn't want to use extensions on the site.
I was the designer on a two-person team. This was a labor of love that wasn't on any official roadmap and was done as a side project.
Gist
- Company
- GitHub
- Ship Date
- December 2012
- Links
- Project
- Announcement
Gist is an easy method to share snippets of data with others. A gist can string of code, a small script, or a large Markdown document. Each gist is essentially its own small Git repository, and comes with the features you'd expect from one, such as revision histories.
I was one of two people on the Gist redesign project (both named Br[i|y]an) and helped lead the product's direction after the initial release.
Octicons
- Company
- GitHub
- Ship Date
- May 2012
- Links
- Project
- Announcement
Octicons are a set of icons that serve as the foundation of a consistent visual language across projects at GitHub. Originally envisioned as an icon font, they've since evolved to become a set of SVGs that are made available to the public in numerous ways.
I spearheaded the project with the creation of icon concepts based on the terms used on the site: repositories and pull requests being two examples, and worked with the rest of the team to draw a couple of them.
Mashable
- Company
- Revyver
- Ship Date
- January 2007
- Links
- Project
- Announcement
Mashable is a digital media website founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. It was purchased by Ziff Davis in 2017. Originally created to cover online communities and web services, Mashable has become a source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content.
I worked on the first redesign and subsequent implementation of Mashable when it still ran on the WordPress platform. The most memorable part of this project? Getting an email from Pete saying he had "downloaded Photoshop" to put a mockup together for me... the designer.
Business Cards
- Company
- Ship Date
- December 2005
- Links
- Project
Facebook's first set of business cards as a small Palo Alto startup were created in late 2005, when the company had less than 100 employees. Each card was designed with a look matching Facebook's website design at the time, as well as a custom tagline selected by each employee. Mark Zuckerberg's card, bearing the phrase "I'm CEO... bitch," was particularly infamous.
What started as a memorable phrase said to me as a meme in one-on-one meetings found its way on a business card, and then somehow out of the lips of Justin Timberlake in The Social Network.
Avalonstar’s Founder
Avalonstar was always meant to just make websites, or just be a website—at least as far as I thought and dreamed about. Nineteen years later, my experience in tech combined with my more recent love of content creation led Avalonstar in a different direction. Avalonstar, the company, now represents all of my passions fused together.
Twitch’s UI Designer
My 21 months at Twitch primarily showed me three things: the immense highs of designing for a feverishly passionate userbase, the frustrating depression of an executive bureaucracy that didn't use their own product, and that I needed a change in career. Working for Twitch opened my eyes to the new and unknown, in both good and bad ways.
GitHub’s Super Hybrid Robot
My longest tenured position working for a company, GitHub holds a special place in my heart as one of the first companies that I felt socially accepted in. While not without its problems, it was GitHub that made me embrace my identity as a hybrid, and not just in design and development. I was able to grow in ways I could've never imagined, and create friendships that've long outlasted my time at the company.
Revyver’s Founder
Revyver was initially the product of wanting to silo my personal and professional work. It was the moniker I worked under when I started to explore the reaches of Silicon Valley. Its purpose changed numerous times as my interest in client work ebbed. What started as an outfit designing blogs ended as one that built products, giving me a place to hone my development skills.
Automattic’s De-Uglyfier
My time at Automattic was a short four months, and a bit odd. Back then, given the amount of themes I created for the WordPress platform, it made sense for me to want to work with the team that developed my favorite content management system at the time. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a rift between what I was excited about and what they ended up giving me.
Facebook’s Designer
Hired as the second product designer and employee #27, and home to my only ever 96 hour first week, Facebook was my first encounter with the Silicon Valley startup. I worked in two roles during my tenure: first as the company's Internet Explorer 6 expert, and later as one of the original members of the marketing team alongside Randi Zuckerberg. It was also my first run-in with a future disdain for middle management.