Hello! I'm Thomas. I've spent over a decade designing complex digital products, from SaaS and workflow platforms (Primer, Grapevine, PatientPay, Pendo) to consumer apps (Nara, Blue Apron, Harry's, ButcherBox). Dense screens, real data, and a lot of decisions about what to leave out. Lately that's meant designing AI-powered product experiences. I do the design myself.
AI can generate more design options faster than any designer working alone. What it can't do is know which options belong in your product. A look at a workflow that uses AI where it's strongest and reserves the hardest thinking for the designer.
"Visual polish" isn't feedback, it's a placeholder. It masks honest critique behind a fuzzy phrase, and without a shared definition of done, teams end up in endless revision cycles chasing a finish line no one has actually defined.
Most dashboards present data. Generative UI presents context. This article explores how contextual interfaces can help people understand complex information without relying on filters, saved views, or static dashboards.
Analytics explain what happened. Session analysis helps explain why. This article explores how observing real user behavior uncovers product issues that metrics alone can't reveal.
Opening Figma or an AI tool too early skips the most important step, problem definition.
Perfection is the enemy of design evolution and a better user experience.
I'd rather share something rough and learn fast than present something refined and learn late.
"Visual polish" is a placeholder. I push teams to name exactly what's incomplete and why.
Partial screen design and incomplete prototypes tell half a story. They don't express a UX.
A cohesive UX system is what makes a complex product feel simple.
I trained as an architect at Yale and practiced at Robert A.M. Stern Architects before moving into product design. Architecture taught me to think in systems, to design around how people use a space (not form for the sake of form), and to think through the details.
Architecture also taught me that great design is collaborative. The best ideas emerge through critique, iteration, and shared ownership, not from any one person working alone.
My product design work has been through my own studio, Everyday Industries, which I cofounded. Founders brought us in to own design when the product got complicated, and I led that work from strategy through shipped product, hands on throughout.
What I want now is depth over variety: to join a team and focus my effort on a single product, and stay long enough to live with the results instead of handing them off.
