Design advisory
A team that
does not need me.
That is what I build. At a Nasdaq-listed company I went from contractor to VP of Design, then handed the team over. I set up the workflow, hire the first designer and build the internal tools the team works in, so over time the company pays for fewer software seats. I have worked in games, cable TV, streaming and tech since 1999, at agencies and in house, and remotely since 2008.
Why I get called
6 problems I fix.
Each of these has come up more than once. If yours is on the list, the first call is short.
The team pays every month for a tracker, a wiki, a deck tool and a page builder, and copies work between them by hand. I build internal tools for those jobs, the copying stops, and over time the team cancels those seats.
Design reports to nobody, so the work is late and the brand looks different on each piece. I sit in the leadership meeting, run the work and the brand, and hire the first designer when it is time.
10 people brief work 5 different ways. I set up one brief template, one feedback loop and one place for the files.
The remote team and the on-site team work in different ways. I set up one workflow both can run, async by default, with the on-site days named in advance.
A new designer should ship in week one. The onboarding path, the system and the brief template make that true.
Since 1999 I have worked in 5 technology shifts: cable TV, games, smartphones, Bitcoin and AI. I can tell you what the new tool does well, and where the team should skip it.
Internal tools
Internal tools that lower the monthly software bill.
I start with what the team pays for each month. Where a tool I build costs less over time than the seats it replaces, I build it with VS Code, Claude Code and local models, and the team owns it. I have built each tool below, and each one runs at Inverted Chaos today.
Projects, tickets, pages and approvals in one place. A bot joins the meetings and writes the minutes. Every other tool reads its list of people, so each account is set up once.
ReplacesThe tracker, the wiki and the notes app.Decks built on the brand’s own colors and type, edited by several people at once, and exported as editable PowerPoint files.
ReplacesThe deck tool.The site is built from the Figma file, so a change to the design reaches the site without a developer rebuilding the page.
ReplacesThe page builder.A Figma plugin with 36 tools in 10 groups, for the work a design team repeats every day.
ReplacesSeparate paid plugins.Single sign-on for every internal tool, with a security dashboard that checks the setup every 10 minutes.
ReplacesA paid single sign-on seat.- 01The seat audit
I list every paid tool, what it costs each month and who uses it, and where work is copied by hand from one tool to another.
- 02The build
I build first where the saving is largest. The team tests each version on its real work.
- 03The handover
The code, the accounts and a written guide stay with the team, and the seats the tool replaced are canceled.
The record
In house, at agencies, on my own.
Every project on the record is open to read, with the client, the role and the year.
In house
MARA, 2022 to 2025- Hired for one conference. Contractor to VP of Design in 2 years, at a Nasdaq-listed company.
- From one designer to an internal agency.
- 6 brands, 2 product lines, 4 platforms.
- The brand changed 3 times before the name did. When the name changed, every piece of the brand changed at the same time.
At agencies
Studios and production companies, on their clients’ work- Animation director on AWS re:Invent, 2 years on the keynote walls, with a remote team of 4.
- Lead motion designer on 7 IPO videos, 6 animators each, with founders, CFOs and underwriters.
- Microsoft, Amazon, IBM iX, Hulu, Netflix, Discovery, E!, Epix, Activision, Sony.
On my own
Inverted Chaos since 2008- The studio I own, remote from the first day.
- 42 projects on the full record, 1999 to now.
How I run a team
The same 4 steps for every team.
The steps work the same for a remote team and a team in one room. I write them down, so the team can run them after I leave.
- 01Week one
The onboarding path is written before the hire. A new designer has the system, the brief template and a first ticket on day one, and ships in week one.
- 02The brief
The brief template asks what the work must do, for whom, on which screen and by when. Whoever asks for the work fills it in before anything is drawn.
- 03The loop
The team shares its work every week. Feedback goes in one place, and each decision is recorded next to the work.
- 04The exit
I leave when the weekly loop runs without me. The manual, the tools and the first designer stay.
Plans
2 days a week, or 2 calls a month.
The fractional lead runs the team for you. The advisory helps you or your design lead run it yourselves.
- 2 days a week, in your Slack and the weekly leadership meeting
- Running the work and the brand
- Internal tools that lower the software bill over time
- Briefing and managing specialists
- Hiring and onboarding the first designer when it is time
- Pause or stop any month
- 2 calls a month and async review
- For a design lead, or a founder scaling a design team
- A seat-by-seat review of the software the team pays for
- Onboarding, briefing and hiring plans
- One workflow for the remote and on-site teams, set up once
- Pause or stop any month
Everything I write, build and set up stays with the team.
One monthly retainer, with no hourly billing.
What you receive
A working team and the manual it runs on.
People
- Role definitions and a hiring scorecard
- The onboarding path, ready before the hire
- The first designer, hired and shipping
Tools
- The tool inventory
- The seat-by-seat spend report
- Internal tools, built and tested on the team’s real work
- AI-assisted workflow, set up and taught
Workflow
- The brief template
- One feedback loop, one place
- The review cadence
- A decision log
- Asset library rules
Handover
- The operating manual
- The code and the accounts for every tool
How it starts
3 steps from this page to the work.
- 01A 30-minute call
You tell me who is on the team and what it pays for. I tell you if I am the right person for it. If I am not, I tell you who is.
- 02A written scope
It says what is included, what is not, what it costs and when it starts. You approve it, or we stop there.
- 03Week one
I am in your Slack, the brief template is in use, and the onboarding path is written. The first work is finished at the end of week one.
Where are you, and do you travel?
Las Vegas, Nevada. I work remotely by default. I go on site for launches, shoots, conferences and the days the team needs a room. Most of the projects on the record were made on site.
Who does the work?
I do the direction, the workflow and the tools. Your team does the work. For videos and large systems I bring in specialists I have worked with for years.
Do you build the tools for us, or with us?
With you. The team uses each version while I build it, and the team owns the tool when I leave. I teach the workflow as well as the tool.
What if a paid tool is the better choice?
Then you keep it. The seat audit shows what each tool costs and what a build would cost, and I build only where the build costs less over time.
Do you work inside agencies?
Yes. On most of the record I was the design or animation lead inside an agency, a studio or a production company, working for their clients.
Start here
Tell me about the team and the tools it pays for.
- 01You write.A few lines on the company and what you need.
- 02We talk.Thirty minutes, on a call, within 1 business day.
- 03You leave with a plan.What happens first, who it needs, and a date.