Hire the whole team. It’s one person.
I’m a product designer — twenty years of it, thirteen at Ancestry leading global mobile design teams, then principal-level craft. And I ship: four apps designed, built, and taken through the stores solo. Whatever the engagement, you work directly with the person doing the work.
Principal-level design, without the headcount.
Twenty years of product craft for teams that don’t have — or don’t yet need — a full-time senior designer. Tap a row for what’s included.
Product & UX audit Where people stall, and what’s worth fixing first From $4,000
A senior read on your product: where people stall, what’s quietly costing you conversions, and the shortlist of things worth fixing first.
Included
- Full walkthrough of your key flows
- Heuristic and conversion review
- Findings ranked by impact and effort
- A live readout call, questions welcome
Not included
- The redesign itself — the audit tells you which parts deserve it
Feature design sprint One feature or flow, designed to done From $5,000
From problem statement to dev-ready specs your engineers won’t have questions about — for the feature your team keeps deferring because nobody owns the design.
Included
- Flows, states, and edge cases mapped
- High-fidelity Figma, on your design system if you have one
- A clickable prototype
- Annotated specs and an engineering handoff
Not included
- Research participant recruitment
- Building it — I can, quoted separately
AI feature design & build An AI feature that’s useful, not bolted on From $7,500
AI features fail on UX, not on models — trust, failure states, latency, “what do I even type here.” I design the feature around those problems and build it where the stack fits.
Included
- Use-case definition and model/API selection
- UX for AI: streaming, errors, guardrails, empty states
- A working prototype against real model output
- Production build where the stack fits
Not included
- Training custom models
- Data platform and pipeline work
Fractional product designer Embedded with your team, 1–3 days a week From $6,000/mo
Your tools, your standups, your roadmap — principal-level output without the headcount req. One to three days a week, billed at my published day rate.
Included
- Hands-on design execution
- Direction and critique for your other designers
- Roadmap and scoping input
Not included
- Building and managing a design org — that’s a hire, and I’ll tell you when you need one
Design advisory retainer A few hours a month of critique and direction From $1,500/mo
For teams without a senior designer: critique, direction, and a second pair of eyes on the hard calls — on call, without the embed.
Included
- Scheduled crit sessions
- Async review of work in progress
- A direct line for the in-between questions
Not included
- Production design work — that’s the sprint or the fractional lane
A library your team actually trusts.
Tokens, components, and documentation that survive contact with real engineers — built at Ancestry scale and again for this studio.
Design system audit Map the drift, get a prioritized plan From $6,000
Components have drifted, teams disagree about what’s canonical, and nobody quite trusts the library. I’ll map what you actually have and hand back a plan worth following.
Included
- Inventory across Figma and code
- Drift and duplication map
- Governance recommendation
- A prioritized, sequenced roadmap
Not included
- The fixes themselves — that’s the refresh or the build
Design system build Tokens, components, docs — from scratch or from the wreckage From $18,000
A working system, not a sticker sheet: token architecture, a core component set, documentation, and a handoff that survives contact with real engineers.
Included
- Token architecture, theming included
- Core component set in Figma, in code, or both
- Usage documentation
- A team onboarding session
Not included
- Migrating every product screen onto the system — sequenced in the roadmap
Design system refresh Figma says one thing, production says another From $8,000
You have a system; it just stopped being true. I reconcile the library with what’s actually shipping and leave behind a process so it stays that way.
Included
- Drift inventory between design and code
- Token and component reconciliation
- Documentation brought back to truth
- A keep-in-sync workflow for the team
Not included
- Net-new component families (quoted)
Get an app built — or get one unstuck.
Native iOS and Android work, designed and shipped by the same hands that made the four on the shelf. AI-accelerated in the build, hand-shipped every time — the details are under How I build.
App design & build Idea to a live store listing, end to end From $20,000
One app, one platform, taken from idea to a live store listing. I design it, build it native, and walk it through review — the same path I’ve shipped four times for myself.
Included
- Product design and UI, from flows to final polish
- Native development for iOS or Android
- App Store / Google Play submission and review handling
- Thirty days of post-launch fixes
Not included
- Backend services beyond the app (quoted separately)
- Both platforms at once — the second is an add-on
- Ongoing upkeep — that’s the maintenance retainer
MVP scoping & spec A rough idea becomes a plan with a price From $1,500
For ideas that aren’t a spec yet. Two working sessions and a written plan that turns “I have an idea” into something buildable — with a fixed price attached.
Included
- Two working sessions on the idea
- A written feature spec with a ruthless v1 cut
- Platform and stack recommendation
- A fixed-price quote for the build
Not included
- Design or code — this is the map, not the road
App Store rescue Pass review the first time — or get unstuck From $1,000
Two ways in: your app is finished and you want it to clear review on the first try, or it’s already stuck — repeat rejections, a 4.3 flag, privacy manifests, metadata that won’t pass. I’ve untangled all of it.
Included
- App and listing review against current guidelines
- Privacy manifest, label, and metadata fixes
- Screenshot and listing corrections
- Resubmission handling until you’re approved
Not included
- New feature development a guideline demands (quoted if it comes to that)
App maintenance retainer OS updates, store compliance, small fixes From $400/mo
Apps rot: an OS update lands every fall and store rules change mid-year. This keeps yours alive without you having to think about it.
Included
- Testing and fixes for each OS release cycle
- Store compliance updates as rules change
- A monthly allowance of small fixes
- Priority response when something breaks
Not included
- New features — scoped and quoted as line items
A site that’s fast, findable, and cheap to run.
Static-first builds with no CMS to babysit and no framework to upgrade. The site you’re reading is the work sample.
Marketing site 5–8 pages that explain the business and get the enquiry From $4,500
Five to eight pages designed and built to say what you do and convert the visit — fast, secure, and nearly free to host.
Included
- Design and build, responsive throughout
- Contact form and SEO foundation (meta, sitemap, share images)
- Editing and tightening the copy you have
- Launch: domain, hosting, and deploy set up
Not included
- Copywriting from a blank page
- Logo and brand identity
- Content updates after launch (per-request or retainer)
Landing page One page, one job: explain the thing, get the click From $2,000
For launches, campaigns, or testing whether an idea has a pulse. Designed, built, and live in about a week.
Included
- Design and build of a single page
- Form or call-to-action wiring
- Share images and meta tags done right
Not included
- Multi-page structure — that’s the marketing site
- Ad campaigns and traffic
Site redesign Same content, same URLs — rebuilt to look like you now From $3,500
The business grew; the website didn’t. A rebuild on your existing structure that brings the design up to the company you are now — without losing the Google ranking you’ve earned.
Included
- Design refresh across your existing pages
- Full rebuild on a modern, static-first stack
- Redirects and SEO continuity
- A performance jump as a side effect
Not included
- New sections beyond the current sitemap (quoted)
- Replatforming a web app — different conversation
Site tune-up No redesign — the same site, faster and easier to find From $1,500
Nothing visual changes. The site just gets measurably faster, ranks better, and works for more people — with before-and-after numbers to prove it.
Included
- Core Web Vitals pass: images, fonts, scripts
- SEO fixes: meta, sitemap, robots, structured data
- Accessibility quick wins
- A written before-and-after report
Not included
- Visual or content changes
Accessibility audit WCAG 2.1 AA, tested by hand, reported with fixes From $2,500
An audit done by hand — keyboard and screen reader, not just a scanner — with findings ranked by user impact and legal exposure.
Included
- Manual keyboard and screen-reader testing
- Automated scan, triaged for false alarms
- Prioritized findings with fix guidance
- One retest pass after your fixes land
Not included
- Making the fixes — often the tune-up; quoted together on request
Not sure which of these you need?
Ninety minutes, $350 — bring the problem, leave with written recommendations. Credited toward any project if we go forward. And if what you need isn’t on the list, describe it in the brief and I’ll tell you honestly whether I’m the right person.
Twenty years of it, plus four apps of my own.
At Ancestry I led global mobile design teams and then went back to principal-level craft — product design at real scale, plus Aspen, the mobile design system.
DigitalSandbox is where I do the whole job myself: design, code, App Store submission, support email. Every app on this site went from idea to store without a handoff.
- 20+years designing software — thirteen at Ancestry, leading global mobile teams, then principal craft
- 4apps designed, built, and shipped solo to the App Store and Google Play
- 1person on your project, start to finish — no account manager, no rotating contractors
Four steps, no surprises.
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01
Say hello
Tell me what you’re trying to do. Twenty minutes, free, no pitch deck. If I’m not the right fit I’ll say so and point you somewhere better.
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02
Paid discovery
For build projects: a short paid engagement that turns a rough idea into a written spec and a fixed price. It gets credited toward the build. This is the step that keeps fixed prices honest for both of us.
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03
The work
Fixed scope, fixed price, billed at milestones every couple of weeks. You see working software and real design, not status reports. Changes are welcome — they’re just a new line item.
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04
After
Launch, then an optional retainer so the thing keeps working when the OS changes underneath it. No lock-in; you own everything.
How I build. I’m a designer who ships, and I’m honest about how: the engineering side of my practice is AI-accelerated — I build with Claude Code and modern tooling, and every build is reviewed, tested, and shipped by me, by hand. It’s how one person delivers design and working software at these prices, and it’s how the four apps on this site were made. If your project needs a specialist engineering team, I’ll tell you so — and help you scope for one.
Rates and terms. Blended hourly is $165 and the day rate is $1,500, but most work is fixed-price from the floors above — you’ll know the number before anything starts. Larger projects bill at milestones; smaller ones are half up front, half on delivery.
Tell me about the project.
The more concrete you are, the more useful my first reply will be. I answer every inquiry within one business day — including the ones I turn down.
Just need support for one of the apps? The support page is the faster route.