Brand & Product Designer

Bootstrapping digital products, end to end.

Brand, interface and the code underneath are one job when the same person does all three. 17+ years working in tech — now I build and fund my own products, and take on a small number of founders a year who want theirs built the same way.

Book a Discovery Call → View Selected Work ↓

Selected clients & collaborations

01 — Core Expertise Four disciplines, one practice
I.
Product Design

End-to-end product thinking — from first sketch to shipped experience. UX strategy, interaction design, and design systems that scale with ambitious teams.

UX/UI · Design Systems · Prototyping · Figma

II.
Creative Direction

Brand identity, visual storytelling, and creative strategy that give companies a clear point of view — and the assets to express it consistently everywhere.

Brand Identity · Visual Strategy · Art Direction

III.
Creative Technology

I don't just design it — I build it. Modern digital experiences with no handoff gap, because the designer and the developer are the same person.

Webflow · FlutterFlow · HTML/CSS · AI Tools · Automation

IV.
Fractional Leadership

Senior creative leadership for teams not ready for a full-time hire. I embed, align stakeholders, build design culture, and move fast without sacrificing craft.

Fractional CDO · Design Ops · Mentorship · Strategy

02 — Toolkit Design it, build it, automate it
01

Design

Interface, brand, and the systems that keep both consistent as a team grows.

  • Figma
  • Adobe Creative Cloud
  • Framer
  • Sketch
02

Build

Production sites and apps I ship myself — no handoff, no translation loss.

  • Webflow
  • FlutterFlow
  • Firebase
  • Cloudflare Workers
03

Automate

AI agents and pipelines that do the work a small team can't staff for.

  • Claude & ChatGPT
  • Make
  • Zapier
  • Airtable
03 — Selected Work Stories, not screenshots
mockbrd.com SaaS Product · Brand · Full-Stack Build

Designing and building a SaaS product end to end

A device-mockup tool for designers and marketers — upload a screenshot, pick a device, download a finished mockup. I designed the brand and the product, then built and shipped the whole thing: the studio, the backend, the billing, the lot.

View case study →
mockbrd — three browser windows cascading: the branding page, the presentations page and the homepage
kandiecreative.io AI Strategy · Business Systems · Product Innovation

Developing AI-powered tools for modern startups

Co-founded Kandie Creative, an AI-powered startup studio that combines consulting with product innovation. We create proprietary AI tools, brand and business strategy frameworks, and automation systems that help early-stage startups validate ideas, streamline operations, and build scalable businesses from day one.

View case study →
Kandie Creative — kandiecreative.io
revagnt.com Brand Identity · AI Product · Landing Page

Branding AI sales automation, from the mark outward

AI inbound sales for home service businesses. Identity from the mark outward, a landing page built around a live four-agent conversation demo, and messaging grounded in what the product actually does rather than the revenue it promises.

View case study →
RevAgnt — the landing page on a desktop display with the live demo on a phone
04 — Professional Journey Drag or scroll horizontally →
2019 · Enterprise Health Kaiser Permanente Sr. Web Developer

Responsive WordPress themes, custom plugins, wireframes, and prototypes for the Medical Groups sites — plus cross-browser and device testing to keep the experience consistent.

2019 – 2020 · Enterprise UX TXU Energy Design Lead · Hero Digital

Led the design team and art direction on a redesign of TXU's customer dashboards, improving usability for one of Texas's largest retail energy providers.

2021 – 2022 · Brand & Web LiveRamp Digital Designer · Sköna

Rebuilt LiveRamp's WordPress site around a new brand system with flexible templates and custom elements. Launched ahead of the RampUp summit and shortlisted for Awwwards' 2022 Best B2B Website.

2021 – 2023 · Fortune 500 Brands Publicis Groupe Sr. UI / Visual Designer

UI, design systems, style guides, and iconography for Apple, Roadmaster, and Mastercraft — wireframing, prototyping, and journey mapping alongside product, engineering, and content in an Agile environment.

2009 – Present · Building Products Independent Brand & Product Designer

Brand identity, UI, and Webflow/WordPress builds for clients across tech, eco-tourism, e-commerce, and podcasting — plus my own products: Kandie Creative, Soundbeing, and AI-powered tools.

05 — Ways to Work Together Three clear paths
For Founders
Build your MVP, brand, or product

You have an idea and need a senior creative partner who can move fast — designing, building, and shipping a real product without wasted motion.

Tell me about your idea →
For Startups
Fractional creative leadership

Embed a senior creative director without the full-time cost. I align design with business strategy and build the systems your team needs to scale.

Talk about fractional work →
For Recruiters
Select contract & advisory work

Open to senior remote contract roles and advisory positions where design, technology, and strategy intersect.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗
06 — Current Focus Where I'm heading
AI-Powered Products

Intelligent tools that amplify creativity rather than replace it — agents, copilots, and AI-native products for real workflows.

Creative Automation

Systems that remove friction — from asset generation to workflow automation — so teams focus on meaningful work.

Human-Centered AI

Responsible AI integration that keeps people at the center — intuitive, not opaque; useful, not gimmicky.

Rapid MVP Development

Zero to launched in weeks — design-to-code pipelines using Webflow, FlutterFlow, and AI-assisted development.

07 — How I Work Three things that decide the outcome
01

Ship it, then sharpen it

Six months redesigning a booking platform out of a backpack taught me that something live beats something perfect in a file. I get a working version in front of real people early, then sharpen it against what they actually do with it.

02

Detail is a form of respect

The empty state, the loading moment, the line that breaks badly on a phone. Nobody is ever asked to notice those, which is exactly why they decide whether a product feels considered or cheap.

03

One person, whole stack

Brand, interface and the code underneath are one argument, not three handoffs. I design it and I build it — so the idea survives the trip to production and nothing waits on a third party.

BasedSan Francisco Bay Area
Countries Visited24+
Years in the Field17+
ClientsFortune 500 & Startups
StatusIndependent

Next Step

Building something ambitious?

Whether you're launching a startup, scaling a product, or looking for a senior creative partner — I'd love to hear what you're working on.

Booking new projects

  1. 01You send a note — or grab 15 minutes directly.
  2. 02We talk through the problem. No deck, no pitch.
  3. 03I tell you straight whether I'm the right fit.
Start a conversation →

Or send a note

Same-day reply

Goes straight to hello@kendricsmith.com