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A journal of creative exploration, where ideas take shape and experiments unfold. From design challenges to fresh perspectives, this is my space to think, learn, and grow.

What I Didn’t Tell You in “4 Walls”

Last year I wrote a case study about designing housing-insecurity interventions for LACCD students. I left the ending out. Here’s what actually happened to the project — and what it taught me about systems thinking inside disciplines that aren’t built for it.

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The Fees We Had No Moral Right To Charge

A 97-year-old customer was being charged “inactivity” penalties for years on an account that wasn’t actually inactive. The policy was technically legal. It was also designed to harvest from the people least equipped to challenge it. On the design of predatory fees and the professionals who keep approving them.

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Fifty Cents and the Market Woman

A 50-cent discrepancy was making insurance customers cancel after one month. In the boardroom, that’s a rounding error. In an Accra market, it’s a betrayal. Here’s what we redesigned — and the millions in premium revenue that proved the “small” segment was actually the whole market.

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The Keychain That Reframed My Job

A customer gave me a gift bag for a 15-minute conversation. What was inside reframed how I think about financial inclusion, UX research, and the gap between “financial literacy” and design.

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Finding America's Most Wallet-Crushing ZIP Codes

International student + American rental market = instant financial trauma. But why panic alone when you can build an interactive map and panic with data? Now my housing dread has hover effects.

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How Behavioral Design in a Cafeteria Reduced Waste Upwards of $300,000/yr

Sometimes the best research insights come from watching people do the exact opposite of what they just told you. This is the story of how I learned that everyone is the hero of their own anti-food-waste narrative.

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4 Walls and a Reality Check. Designing for 56,000 Housing Insecure Students in Los Angeles

The hardest part about tackling LA's student housing crisis wasn't the 6-12 year construction timelines or the billions of dollars needed. It was spending 80% of my time explaining that maybe we don't need to build our way out of this one.

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The 'Easy' Class that Rewired My Brain

Sometimes the best lessons come from the classes you least want to take. This is the story of how I tried to game the credit system and accidentally learned how to build products that don't suck.

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What I Didn’t Tell You in “4 Walls”

The Fees We Had No Moral Right To Charge

Fifty Cents and the Market Woman

The Keychain That Reframed My Job

Finding America's Most Wallet-Crushing ZIP Codes

How Behavioral Design in a Cafeteria Reduced Waste Upwards of $300,000/yr

4 Walls and a Reality Check. Designing for 56,000 Housing Insecure Students in Los Angeles

The 'Easy' Class that Rewired My Brain

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