Approach

A practice in six unhurried movements.

Whether the work is design, transmedia storytelling, or communication, I move through every project in the same rhythm, guided by one belief: every audience deserves work made with intention and tested to fit their needs.

1. 01

   Empathize

   Every project begins with people, not pixels. I sit with stakeholders, run empathy interviews, and shadow real users in their own context to understand how they think, feel, and move through the problem. I take care to listen for what isn't said — the workarounds, the hesitations, the quiet frustrations. The goal is a human portrait of the challenge, drawn from lived experience rather than assumption. That portrait becomes the compass for everything that follows.

2. 02

   Define

   With a wall full of insights, I look for the pattern underneath. I synthesize research into affinity maps, journey maps, and crisp point-of-view statements that name the real problem worth solving. This is where ambiguity gets translated into a single, focused design challenge the team can rally around. I draft the message architecture and narrative arc here too, so that strategy and story stay in lockstep. A good definition makes the rest of the work feel inevitable.

3. 03

   Ideate

   I open the aperture before I narrow it. Sketching sessions, crazy eights, and structured brainstorms generate a wide range of directions — from the obvious to the deliberately strange. I pull from transmedia storytelling, editorial design, and interaction patterns to find unlikely combinations that still serve the brief. Ideas are pinned up, voted on, and pressure-tested against the point-of-view statement from the previous step. What survives moves into prototyping.

4. 04

   Prototype

   Prototypes earn their keep by being early, rough, and easy to throw away. I move from paper sketches to low-fi wireframes in Balsamiq and Whimsical, then into mid-fi flows in Figma and branching narratives in Ren'Py when the experience is interactive. Visual systems get drafted in Adobe Creative Suite and Canva so tone and structure can be evaluated together. Every prototype is built to answer a specific question, not to impress. The fidelity rises only as the questions get sharper.

5. 05

   Test

   Then I put the work in front of real people and watch carefully. Usability sessions, Think Aloud protocols, heuristic walkthroughs, and lightweight A/B comparisons surface where the design helps and where it gets in the way. I record friction by evidence, not by opinion, and translate observations into a prioritized list of changes. Iteration loops are short and focused — refine, retest, refine again. The work is done when the message lands the first time it's read.

6. 06

   Implement & Reflect

   Launch is a milestone, not the finish line. I partner with developers and content teams through hand-off, build out front-end pieces in HTML, CSS, and WordPress when needed, and watch how the work behaves in the wild. After release, I run a structured design debrief: what worked, what surprised us, what we'd carry forward. Findings get written up so the next campaign, story, or product cycle starts further down the track. Every project leaves a paper trail the team can build on.