Design leadership with both hands still on the craft.
I build design teams, systems, and AI-enabled products that turn complicated workflows into measurable outcomes — and I still it myself.
shipped for
Six products I led.
A design system across an entire suite, an AI product in daily use by California law enforcement, a CRM still shipping what I designed, and three application experiences rebuilt around time.
I lead teams — and I’m still the one in the file.
For two decades I’ve connected user needs with business goals — from Figma flows and design systems to stakeholder alignment and team building. I’ve stood up design orgs, shipped consumer and enterprise products, and stayed close enough to the craft to push the pixels when it counts.
Before design, I was a pro skateboard stuntman — Warner Bros’ Grind, a Honda commercial, and more. An Eagle Scout who builds teams the same way: lead from the front, leave it better than you found it.
My design & strategy process
Four phases that turn business goals and user needs into products people actually want to use — the same approach I’ve run for two decades.
Titles I’ve carried — and the work behind each one.
I’ve held the seat at the top of design and never left the craft behind. The point of a team isn’t to stop doing the work — it’s to multiply it.
Leading design in the age of AI.
AI didn't replace the craft — it raised the ceiling on it. I treat it as a force multiplier for my teams: faster research synthesis, broader exploration, sharper decisions. I lead the strategy and stay hands-on in the tools, so the bar keeps moving while the work ships faster.
Two decades, on the leadership track.
I lead the design communities I came up in.
President of two of Southern California’s experience-design organizations — building the rooms where designers in San Diego and Orange County grow.
Talks, mentorship, and meetups that connect the region’s UX, product, and visual designers. 2012 — present.
Bringing the same community to my home base in OC — events, portfolio reviews, and a network of design leaders.
Chris is an amazing designer and gifted author. His designs are clean, creative, well thought through, and concentrate on the message and call to action. I strongly recommend Chris to anyone looking for a superb designer and CSS guru.
“Chris walked into a fragmented product suite and came out with one design language, a real component library, and engineering actually using it. Delivery got measurably faster and the arguments about patterns stopped.”
“The rare design leader engineering trusted. He read our codebase, prototyped the hard interactions himself, and never handed us a spec he could not have built. Ambiguity went away.”
“Chris gave me the context and then got out of the way. Direct critique, no ego, and air cover when the organisation pushed back. I grew faster on his team than anywhere since.”
A Business Builder's Operating Manual
Written for the people actually building the thing: take something complicated, find the structure underneath it, hand over a system someone can run.