Dog Lover
We don't deserve dogs. That's a fact. If it wasn't for my Sky and previously Joy, I would be a different person all together.
Mark
Hobbs
With over 18 years of experience across multiple business verticals and design disciplines I've done, at the very least, a little bit of everything. What I've done a lot of is Design. I strive to create designs that inspire action, spark emotion, and seamlessly support business goals.
Long ago, I began my career in print design where I learned how layout, typography, and visual hierarchy guide attention and influence perception. This early foundation in human psychology and behavior shaped how I approach digital experiences today. Great design is understanding not only what looks good, but what feels intuitive and drives actions that lead to positive outcomes.
I have been carrying this user-first mindset throughout my career. Applying it to UX, marketing, and systems design across FinTech, SaaS, publishing, startups, and agency. Now, I craft high-impact, scalable solutions that distill the complex into the simple; and create meaningful connections between humans and digital products.
Dog Lover
We don't deserve dogs. That's a fact. If it wasn't for my Sky and previously Joy, I would be a different person all together.
Somewhere along the way, design lost its heart. We have become obsessed with optimization and instead forgot that the true power of design lies in how it makes people feel and what it inspires them to.
The small moments used to matter most and were the differentiators. The perfect rhythm between type and space, the way an interface guides without shouting, the warmth of a human touch in a digital interaction. Those details were how we built trust. They were how we built connection. No longer in my take.
I believe the craft of design still holds that potential. Every pixel, every decision, is a chance to remind someone there's a person on the other side who cares. Details aren't decoration—they're the conduit for emotion. And when we honor them, we create experiences that endure.
Every interaction exists within a larger ecosystem. A button lives inside a component, a component inside a pattern, a pattern inside a brand experience. Each piece should reinforce the whole.
I think in systems because good design scales. It's how you keep integrity across products, teams, and time. But systemic thinking isn't about rigidity—it's about harmony. It's the ability to zoom out without losing sight of the craft.
Home Cook
Cooking gives me an outlet for my creativity for the only thing I must do other than breathe. I absolutely love it.
Born in Baltimore but raised in the Garden State of New Jersey — pronounced JER-ZAY in your best Springsteen voice for the most impact — I've lived quite the varied life. When I graduated High School, I immediately went on to Rutgers University to pursue a degree in Graphic Design, something that has always called to my visual sensibilities and artistic nature.
The time apparently wasn't right for me to attend a higher learning institution. I dropped out after my second semester. I then worked for a lighting store, a tree service, an excavator, a seafood market, and a bouncer before joining the circus. And what I mean by the circus is the restaurant and service industry.
What it was time for was to run away and join the circus. Not as cool as a circus, but what I mean by that is it felt new and adventurous. I had been working in the restaurant industry full-time as a bartender, made some great friends, an as great friends do you have genius ideas. Ours was to hitch our wagons to this new restaurant concept, pick up everything and move to Colorado together to open another one.
It was that year after all and we were doing as Prince instructed. I was having fun and meeting all kinds of different people. Some of whom I am still in regular contact with. The service industry will make you life-long friends but it also teaches you many things, some of which learning institutions simply cannot.
Things like human behavior, expectations, anticipating needs, providing top level experiences and what that takes, working with and meeting a multitude of different types of people. Bottom line, I wouldn't swap that time for anything. It shaped me into who I am today.