Fig 1.

Welcome! I'm Jacob — a designer and coder who creates things with computers (Fig 1.) Digital Craftsman best describes my skill set.

I'm detail-oriented and specialise in building design systems, component libraries and creating digital design. I've worked in creative studios, digital agencies and as a freelancer for over ten years. Currently, I'm a Senior Creative Developer at IMA Home.

Digital projects thrive when designers understand how they will be built. Just as an architect understands how a structure is created, the same should be true on the web.

I'm comfortable leading design direction, but I also enjoy working alongside designers who are less familiar with code. I enjoy collaborating, providing guidance and helping push boundaries to create projects that catch the eye, without sacrificing usability.

Fig 2.

Design

Starting with a blank canvas, taking up a mouse (Fig 2) and creating something bespoke is very rewarding.

I design with usability in mind, striving to create projects that are accessible to all.

I'm comfortable with most design tools, but I often prefer prototyping directly in a web browser. I'm passionate about interaction animations.

Humane by Design is a real guiding force for the design work I do.

Fig 3.

Development

Developing a conceptual idea into something engaging and functional can be equally satisfying.

Each key (Fig 3) stroke is carefully considered as I try to write code that's simple and resilient. Progressive Enhancement is the philosophy I aim to work with.

My approach is project dependant, aiming to select the right tools for the job, rather than what's popular at the time.

I've worked with many modern JS frameworks, however I try to stay focused on the fundamental building blocks of the web. My go-to method at the moment is Jamstack.

Learn More

History

For over a decade, I've worked in a variety of roles. My most recent interesting job was building a new design system & component library for Sheffield City Council.

My latest positions are listed below, I moved to the UK from Australia in late 2019 to take on a new adventure.

IMA Home

Senior Creative Developer

Sep 2021 - Current

Jaywing

Senior Creative Developer

Feb 2020 - Sep 2021

U-P

Freelance Creative Developer

Jun 2019 - Sep 2019

Trout

Freelance Designer & Developer

Feb 2019 - Jun 2019

Fork Digital

Freelance Creative Developer

Sep 2018 - Feb 2019

Swim

Digital Designer & Developer

Oct 2015 - Sep 2018

MAPS Marketing

Digital Designer & Developer

Feb 2010 - Sep 2015

Clients

I've been lucky to work with a real variety of clients over the journey, I've listed some of the more notable ones here.

Castrol logo
Pepsi logo
City of Sheffield logo
Sports Medicine Australia logo
Reece Plumbing logo
KPMG logo
iD Mobile logo
Intl Currency Exchange logo
University of Law logo
Savills logo
Strike logo
Cambrex logo

Writing

Read More

Enough about 'skills' and work stuff. Here are some ideas taken from my brain and arranged into words. Hopefully someone finds them useful.

At the moment, I only have one lonely post, written in conjunction with launching this site. I'm aiming to allow myself time to do more of this moving forward.

Getting personal.

Creating a personal website is something I've started many times before, usually ending up bored with the idea and unhappy with the outcome. Having finally released something I'm pleased with, I thought it worth exploring my initial thought process in this opening post... Read full post.

Craftsman's Tip

Try to be kind to yourself.

This is what a website looks like underneath!

Pretty nice hey?

It has default styles applied by your web browser, which are designed for legibility.

This right here is the very essence of digital design, making use of what's available and enhancing it where needed.

After all, the WWW was created as a global collection of shared documents and resources.

Adding bold text, emphasis, redactions, unarticulated text, or marked content is trivial... Who even needs designers?

You can also add other badass pre-styled stuff like Thematic breaks:


Preformatted text:

if(website === awesome) { 
body.classList.add('gold-star');
}

Tables:

the rumours are true
peopleused tocreate
layoutswiththese

Details:

Click me!That's right, I work just the way I am. Flippin' magic, no JavaScript required.

and Links: The perfect website.

If you want more detail on why the web platform is awesome, give the link above a read.

Or if you need proof here and now...

Here's a marquee!