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Wander
I researched, designed, and built this live discovery product. One action opens a hand-reviewed website; a trail forms as you go. Two small participant studies tested the idea and showed what still needs work.
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Product Designer · UI Software Engineer
I design and build interfaces for the way people actually use software.
I work across research, interaction design, and front-end development. Years supporting production systems taught me to ask what happens when a workflow breaks, then design for that moment too.
BFA in Graphic Design · Master's in HCI and Design from UC Irvine · Bozeman, MT
Open to Product Design, UX/UI, Design Engineering, and UI Engineering roles · Remote or West Coast
Featured · Live independent product
Wander
Research, design, and a working product
01Work
Products, not just screens
The problem, the decisions, the evidence, and what changed.
Independent product · Research + Design + BuildLive
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Cotality / OneHome
On a four-person UC Irvine capstone for Cotality, I helped design and test two home-search concepts. My deepest work was the AI interaction layer. The case study includes the research, final concepts, and testing decisions.
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03 / 05
SoundCloud UX
Our five-person course team found that playlist creation was hard to locate. In an 85-person test, our redesigned prototype improved task success. SoundCloud did not ship this design.
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04 / 05
Design Tutor
For a UC Irvine seminar, I researched, designed, and built a working AI design tutor. It asks for your thinking first and shows which decisions came from you. It is a demo, not a released product with users.
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05 / 05
WSB Sentiment
A real-time buy/sell signal built from Reddit sentiment, news, and options flow, solo-built and shipped with real subscriptions. 34 signups, 0 conversions - a clear enough answer to stop.
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Built this portfolio too View the production design system
The same Next.js components, design tokens, responsive rules, and accessibility patterns documented there are running this site in production.
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Have a question about my work?
The case studies show the work. You can also ask the portfolio about my process, background, or a specific project.
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Answers draw on my portfolio and background. Check the case studies for the details.
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02Approach
How I work across research, design, and code
I start with the person and the workflow, then test the decision against what can be built and supported. Graphic design, client work, a startup, production operations, and UC Irvine's HCI program each taught me a different part of that process.
Visual craft comes first
A BFA in Graphic Design and years of freelance client work taught me typography, layout, and visual communication - the craft everything else builds on.
Built to ship, not just to look right
Front-end development and a coding bootcamp mean I design with the build in mind - I know what's expensive to change once code exists.
Startups teach the real version of the idea
At DropTrip, research, design, and engineering all landed on the same small team - there was no separate phase to hide a bad assumption behind, so usability testing had to happen early and often.
Design for the moment something breaks
Managing SLAs and coaching a team through outages means I design for the support burden first: clear status, a graceful escalation path, and enough context that whoever picks it up next isn't starting from zero.
03About
I spent years supporting production software. Now I use that experience to design better interfaces.
For nearly nine years at Zoot Enterprises, I worked with software under pressure: first on the service desk, then leading an operations team, and now building client-facing interfaces as a UI software engineer. I pay attention to the moments when someone is unsure, a handoff loses context, or a system stops behaving as expected.
Design was part of that career too: freelance work since 2013, a BFA in Graphic Design, and DropTrip, a startup I co-founded. I completed UC Irvine's master's in Human-Computer Interaction and Design in September 2026 to focus that experience more deliberately on product design. My path is unusual, but it gives me a practical view of research, interface decisions, code, and what happens after release.
I want to understand the workflow, make a clear design decision, build enough to test it, and learn where it still falls short.
Personal fact: I own a 1,000+ vinyl record collection, and have strong opinions about the pressings. If you're interested, check out what I'm currently listening to and the newest addition to the shelf.
I also keep something running on the side - most days there's a commit somewhere that isn't on the clock.
Skills
Design
Product DesignInteraction DesignVisual & Graphic Design
Development
Front-End Development (HTML/CSS/JS, React/Next.js)AI-Assisted Engineering
Process
Prototyping (Figma, Sketch, code)Rapid PrototypingUser-Centered DesignUsability Research
Systems
Design SystemsAccessibility (WCAG)Wireframing & Flows
Leadership
IT Operations & Incident ResponseCross-functional Leadership
Growth
Mentorship & Coaching
Tools
FigmaSketchGitHubVercelClaude CodeMidjourneyAdobe Creative SuiteJiraConfluence
Career Timeline
May 2025 - Present
Software Engineer, UI - Advanced Projects Team
Zoot Enterprises
Translate business requirements into responsive, user-centered interfaces informed by UX research and design thinking, reducing client revision cycles. Build and maintain client-facing applications for financial institution clients using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Git.
Jun 2022 - May 2025
IT Service Operations Team Lead
Zoot Enterprises
Oversaw a service operations team that grew past 20 tier 1-3 technicians, with direct responsibility for the career development of a core group of 8, maintaining 95%+ SLA compliance while representing the team's priorities to leadership. Applied project management to reduce average ticket resolution time through proactive pattern recognition.
Jan 2022 - Dec 2022
Teaching Assistant, Web Design
Montana State University-Bozeman
Led web design lab sections and workshops on color theory, typography, and HTML/CSS for 40-50 students over the year, mentoring many one-on-one through project development.
Oct 2017 - Jun 2022
Service Desk Technician, Tier 1 & 2
Zoot Enterprises
Performed Linux and Windows system administration with sysadmin-level access across 50+ production and test environments for external financial services clients, resolving production outages under pressure.
Aug 2016 - Apr 2023
WordPress Administrator
Susan Wicklund Fund
Executed responsive WordPress redesigns and used Google Analytics to guide performance optimizations, while maintaining themes, plugins, and security for the organization's site.
2016 - 2017
UI/UX Design Intern
Murdochs
Led web page and e-commerce redesigns grounded in user research and usability testing, and produced digital and motion graphics for marketing campaigns.
2013 - 2016
UI/UX Designer | Co-Founder
DropTrip
Co-founded and led design for a startup web application - conducting user research, building wireframes and prototypes in Sketch, and working closely with engineers to ship a cohesive design system. Won 1st Place at Startup Weekend Bozeman and was later named Innovator of the Year by the Prospera Business Network.
Oct 2013 - Present
Freelance Graphic/Web Designer
Self-employed
Nine-plus years of independent client work spanning startups like IgniteFeedback, CrossTx, and Verafi - WordPress builds, custom themes, and website refreshes aligned with brand strategy.
Education
Master's, Human-Computer Interaction and Design
UC Irvine, Donald Bren School of ICS
B.F.A., Graphic Design
Montana State University-Bozeman
Full Stack Development
Montana Code School
04Contact
Need someone who can research a workflow, design it, and help build it?
I'm looking for Product Design, UX/UI, Design Engineering, and UI Engineering roles where research, interface craft, and implementation all matter. Remote works, and I'm also open to the right West Coast team - if that sounds like yours, I'd love to talk.
shawnmfarnum@gmail.comCompleted my master's in Human-Computer Interaction and Design at UC Irvine in September 2026.
