I'm a designer based in Aurora, Colorado, crafting digital experiences & creating brands that feel intuitive, purposeful, and human.

With over a decade of experience working at the intersection of product strategy and UX design, I partner with organizations to understand real user needs and translate them into products people genuinely love to use.

When I'm not designing, you'll find me working on something in the garage or spending quality time with my family out here in Colorado.

Product Design

UX Research

Design Systems

Prototyping

Client Management

Brand Development

Team Leadership

Photography

Motion Design

FigmaClaudeSketch AbstractAdobe Creative SuiteMicrosoft Suite HTML / CSS / JSMiro LucidAtlassian Tools
2021 – 2026

Senior UX/UI Design Manager

Q2 Software — Austin, TX

Work included planning and executing the development of an accessible & scaleable design system throughout the platform, leading the UX/UI team to produce future forward visuals, and planning with product & engineering to bring the vision to fruition. In addition to internal efforts I partner with sales and meet with prospects to demo our platform and inform on our guiding principles as a design organization.

2018 – 2021

UX/UI Designer

Q2 Software — Austin, TX

Work alongside product to create a suite of packaged features on platform with appropriate usability & accessibility testing to validate product direction and provide a scaleable and efficient path forward for our clients' needs.

2017 – 2018

Senior Interactive Designer

Protect America — Austin, TX

Design & develop pages for the site and find solutions to the marketing challenges faced on a daily basis. Work also includes analyzing site performance, A/B testing, and executing on improvements for more effective sales & site conversions.

2014 – 2017

Creative Director

Strategis Advertising — Stoughton, MA

Oversee digital and traditional creative production. Website design and development on WordPress, HubSpot, and Umbraco platforms. Brand development and marketing campaigns with various clients. Produce print ads, create materials for digital lead generation, and present marketing strategies to clients while leading a team of creatives through the production process.

2013 – 2014

Web / Graphic Designer

Division of Student Affairs — Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Design & develop pages for the university web presence, finding solutions to ongoing marketing challenges. Work includes analyzing site performance, A/B testing, and executing on improvements for more effective student engagement and conversions.

Design Systems Product Fintech

Frontend Banking Platform: Design System Implementation

Translating a strategic visual overhaul into embedded organizational practice across design, product, and engineering teams.

Rapid Prototyping Web App Lovable.dev

Ethanol Fuel Mix Calculator

From problem to functional tool in one afternoon — a precision calculator built for performance automotive enthusiasts who blend their own fuel.

Brand Identity Visual Design

Brand Design Portfolio

A selection of brand identity systems — from discovery and strategy through logo development, color, typography, and extensible visual guidelines.

Motion Design Video Animation

Animation & Video

Full-cycle motion work — from storyboard and concept through animation, editing, and final delivery. Strategy-first storytelling across brand films, logo animations, and more.

Timeline

2024–2026

Role

Senior Design Manager, Design Execution Lead

Teams

Design, Product, Engineering, Leadership

Frontend Banking Platform:
Design System Implementation

Translating a strategic visual overhaul into embedded organizational practice across design, product, and engineering.

The Challenge

When our lead designer came to my team with a strategic vision for a comprehensive visual update to our online banking platform, I took ownership of translating that vision into organizational reality. While our Director sponsored the initiative, my role was to bridge design intent with product and engineering execution — ensuring that strategy became embedded practice across the organization.

The challenge was multifaceted: align disparate teams around a new visual system, maintain consistency across hundreds of components, and equip product teams to self-serve variable configurations without constant design involvement.

02 — Approach

Systematic Auditing & Strategic Coordination

I built a three-part methodology to ensure successful implementation:

Platform Audits — Systematically documented visual inconsistencies and gaps across the existing platform, creating a baseline against the new system standards.

Cross-Functional Alignment — Facilitated structured meetings with product and engineering teams to align on implementation, not debate. The goal was clarity: ensuring visual assets matched system output and that new UI variables were properly exposed in our back office system.

Knowledge Transfer — Designed workshops to coach teams on component consumption, establish clear handoff standards, and create specifications that eliminated ambiguity in development.

03 — Execution

Bridging Design Intent with Technical Reality

The implementation phase required constant coordination between design vision and engineering feasibility. My work centered on three key deliverables:

Variable Configuration System — Worked with engineering to expose thousands of new UI variables in the back office, enabling product teams to configure visual options independently rather than requesting design support for every change.

Documentation & Specifications — Created comprehensive asset handoff documents with clear specifications that eliminated ambiguity and reduced back-and-forth cycles between design and development.

Team Workshops — Conducted targeted sessions coaching teams on component consumption, establishing visual standards, and demonstrating how to achieve consistency using the new system.

04 — Impact

Organizational Scale & Embedded Practice

The outcomes extended far beyond the initial visual update. By creating infrastructure for self-service configuration and establishing clear system standards, we transformed how the organization builds and maintains visual consistency.

1K+

New UI variables added to system

2–3

New navigation styles implemented

↓ Dev

Self-service config reduced dev cycles

Sales & Leadership Enablement — Assets became foundational materials for prospect presentations, positioning our design maturity as a competitive differentiator.

Engineering Efficiency — By exposing variables for configuration, product teams gained independence. Development time decreased because design didn't become a bottleneck for visual variations.

Design System Maturity — New platform features began adopting visual standards with consistency we'd struggled to maintain before. The system wasn't just designed — it was embedded into how the organization builds.

05 — Takeaway

Strategy Requires Execution

"Even the most thoughtful design strategy fails without operational discipline."

This project taught me that my role was less about designing and more about creating the conditions for the vision to succeed — auditing, aligning, equipping, and removing friction. The result wasn't just a visual refresh. It was an organization that could sustain design consistency at scale.

Timeline

One afternoon (initial build)

Platform

Lovable.dev · Web App

Status

Active development

Ethanol Fuel Mix
Calculator

Rapid prototyping a precision tool for performance automotive enthusiasts who blend their own fuel.

Where Precision Meets Practicality

As someone who modifies my own street car for performance, I've invested in custom tuning that requires specific fuel blends — particularly ethanol blends like E30. The challenge is straightforward but overlooked: how do you know the exact ethanol mix you're creating when you fill up at the pump?

Your 13-gallon tank has 6 gallons of 91 octane fuel already in it. You want to fill to E30. How much ethanol do you add to hit your target blend? The math isn't intuitive, and getting it wrong can detune your engine or cause damage.

02 — Why Build It

Problem + Opportunity + Learning

This wasn't just a personal convenience — it was a test. I'd noticed the same question asked repeatedly in automotive forums. People were guessing, doing math on paper, or avoiding fuel blending altogether because the uncertainty wasn't worth the risk.

I chose to build in Lovable.dev to explore the platform's rapid prototyping capabilities. Could I go from idea to functional tool in a single afternoon? That constraint forced clarity: build only what's necessary, make it intuitive, and get it working.

"Sometimes the best product solves a problem that feels too niche for traditional software — but resonates deeply with a specific community."

03 — The Solution

Simple Inputs, Precise Outputs

The calculator asks for three inputs and returns one critical output: exactly how many gallons of ethanol to add at the pump to hit your target blend. No guessing.

Tank capacity — Total gallons your vehicle holds.

Current fuel volume & octane — How much fuel is in the tank and its grade.

Target blend — The E-blend you want to achieve (E20, E30, E85, etc.).

04 — Building in One Afternoon

Constraints Enable Clarity

Building this in a single afternoon meant making ruthless decisions. No feature bloat. No unnecessary complexity. Just the core calculation, wrapped in a user experience that works at a gas station when you're focused on fuel.

Mobile-first design — You'll use this on your phone at the pump, not on a desktop.

Zero friction — No accounts, no sign-ups, no analytics tracking. Input → output → done.

Real-time feedback — See the result update as you type, not after submitting a form.

Lovable.dev's AI-assisted development was perfect for this timeline. I could describe what I needed, iterate quickly, and refine the UX without wrestling with boilerplate.

05 — Ongoing Evolution

From Build to Refinement

The initial build solved the core problem, but using it in real life revealed opportunities: which inputs I adjust most, edge cases I didn't anticipate (different fuel grades at pumps, unusual tank sizes, regional ethanol availability), and what the community might need next.

I'm planning to release this to automotive enthusiast communities. That feedback will determine what features matter most: historical tracking, fuel economy calculations, community-shared tuning profiles, or something else entirely.

06 — Takeaway

Speed Reveals Opportunity

This project reinforced something I believe strongly as a designer: sometimes the best products come from solving your own problem first, then discovering it resonates with others. The speed of execution — one afternoon — wasn't a limitation. It was a feature that forced ruthless prioritization and built something real rather than theoretically perfect.

Discipline

Brand Identity & Visual Systems

Scope

End-to-end identity design

Brand Design

Translating founders' visions into cohesive visual languages — from strategy and discovery through logo, color, typography, and extensible identity systems.

How I Approach Brand Design

Brand design isn't about creating a logo. It's about translating a founder's vision, values, and unique perspective into a cohesive visual language that resonates with their audience and endures over time.

I approach each project as an exercise in discovery and strategy, starting with deep understanding before making anything visual. The result is a system that's both intentional and flexible — designed to scale with the brand as it grows.

01 — Process

Strategy Before Aesthetics

Discovery & Strategy — Deep conversation with the founder to understand who they are, what they want the brand to represent, and what makes them distinct. Analysis of target audience, competitive landscape, and market positioning.

Visual Development — Multiple logo explorations and lockups for different applications (social, print, merchandise, web). Establishing color palettes, typography pairings, and visual tone.

Extensibility — Designing systems, not single assets. Multiple logo lockups for different contexts. Documenting typography scales, color usage, and tone to ensure consistency at scale.

"The goal is a brand that feels inevitable — like it couldn't be any other way — while remaining durable enough to grow with the business."

02 — Selected Work

Brand Identities

The Chef in Pearls · Culinary / Brand Identity

Chef Sinclair’s brand was a fun endeavor. This was a fun challenge to create a character to represent the brand. In the end we had a lot of brand elements to work with for a variety of uses. Ms. Pearl is one of my favorite artifacts to date, and I look forward to animating her in the future!

Ritual Wellness ATX · Therapy & Psychology / Brand Identity

Ritual Wellness ATX is a therapy practice local to Austin Texas. Shown above are some of hte explorations we went through for the initial discovery phase of the brand. lavender was a key element as it represents calm/peace and it grows all over Austin. The endless knot was a call to harmony, balance and wisdom from Buddhist practices. Last symbol in the top row is the 5 fold symbol which is a Celtic representation of balance in human nature. Ultimately we kept lavender as a key element in the background of the final and went with a circular mark that can be recognized easily outside of the full logo lockup.

Moonlit Water · Holistic Healing / Brand Identity

The founder of Moonlit Water wanted a more literal representation for their mark. For inspiration we explored linework, moon phases and a blue pallet. After a few iterations in direction we settled on the path you see above and refined from there. I’m looking forward to working more with Moonlit to roll out the rest of their brand guide and marketing materials.

Discipline

Motion Design & Video Production

Scope

Full production cycle

Animation &
Video

Strategy-first storytelling through motion — from storyboard and concept through animation, editing, and final delivery.

How I Approach Animation & Video

Animation and video stand as a separate creative discipline — a larger lift in planning, execution, and technical skill that brings stories to life in ways static design cannot. From concept to final delivery, I handle the full production cycle while maintaining creative ownership throughout.

The work begins with story. Every project, whether a 15-second logo animation or a 3-minute brand film, starts with the same question: what story needs to be told, and how can motion bring clarity and emotional resonance to that narrative?

01 — Process

Strategy, Planning & Execution

Strategy & Concept — Understanding the client's objective and target audience. Developing a concept that serves the story. Identifying where motion adds value: pacing, clarity, emotion, emphasis.

Planning & Execution — Detailed storyboarding before any asset creation. Shooting and directing source material when cinematic work is needed. Building animation in layers — establishing foundation, adding complexity, refining polish.

Production Quality — Full ownership of animation, editing, color grading, and final output. Collaboration on specialized assets (voice talent, script, music) while maintaining creative direction. Iteration based on client feedback and the demands of the story.

"The magic happens in the in-between moments — the transitions, the timing, the subtle movements that make a vision feel alive and intentional."

02 — Selected Work

Motion Projects

Woodcraft · Video Production

Shot, edited, and produced this project while working at Strategis with our client WoodCraft. Woodcraft is a woodworking company located in Massachussets. This particular promo featured a desk project we followed from start to final delivery and install. I enjoyed initially visiting Woodcraft's warehouse and getting to know them in order to craft this story. I was excited to hear they had project they were starting soon and that I'd be able to see the majority of the project come together. The rest is history.

Strategis · Motion Infographic

This was a part of a marketing campaign with Strategis to educate and pithc some of our IP Targeted marketing services. This lived on the Strategis website for a while and was sent out to current clients and prospects as a new service.

Alembic Outdoors · Video Promo, Motion Graphics

This was an earlier video promo but a great lesson in run and gun videography. Not the best lighting, no time ahead to plan, but a location and mission nonetheless.

Personal Project · Motion Graphics

This is where I started falling in love with motion graphics. This was a part of a college project and in those days I always had my headphones on. Everything was in motion. I biked to the train station, rode the train into the city, biked all around the city. I think with the constant motion and ever present soundtrack, I became enamoured with translating static to motion. After Effects and Cinema4D became my playground.

Personal Project · Motion Graphics

An even earlier exploration of motion and media...

Photography

Seeing the world
differently.

© 2026 Akeem MasonBuilt responsibly with caffeine

Open to new opportunities

I'm currently available for freelance projects, full-time roles, and consulting engagements. If you have an interesting problem to solve, I'd love to hear about it!

I typically respond within 24 hours.