I'm Jacob, a product designer in San Francisco.
I have 10+ years of experience taking products from nothing to shipped in complex domains. I'm known for driving initiatives, pushing boundaries and staying optimistic through any challenge, and I design experiences that have a tangible, positive impact.
Meeting Smiski 
Alamo Square 
Monterey Bay Aquarium 
Shopping
What I specialize in
0→1 products in complex domains
Institutional crypto custody at Bakkt, clinical genetic testing at Natera, and HR and payroll at TriNet.
Design systems from scratch
A token-based system with light and dark themes at ALT, an MUI-based system at Bakkt, and a style guide and component library at TriNet.
Designing and building with AI
Claude, MCPs, Skills and Codex speed up my work, and I stay in the driver's seat. This portfolio is coded, and I built it that way.
Four values guide my work
Ownership
I stay with a feature after it ships, until it works for the people using it.
Clarity
Complexity is easy to add. Making a product simple is the job.
Curiosity
I ask "why" before "how." The right problem beats the right pixel.
Craft
Details are the work. I don't ship what I wouldn't use myself.
Side projects
Atlas Radio ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Tune into 12,000+ live radio stations on a globe
Zinebin ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Browse decades of vintage magazine covers and layouts from the Internet Archive
BonsaiQR ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Turn any link into a voxel bonsai that hides a scannable QR code