I design and build business applications, and I am happiest where UX and UI, problem solving, and clear thinking meet.
I'm the one who raises a hand and asks, "wait, what problem are we actually solving?" It's a small question that has saved a lot of projects, and I'll keep asking it nicely until we all know the answer.
I like things simple and honest, and that goes for interfaces, inboxes, and my apartment, where every object has to make a case for staying.
What's different about working with me? I translate between the people who speak design, the people who speak code, and the people who speak budget, and I do it without anyone losing their patience or their sense of humor.
Five steps from a messy problem to a measurable result.
Everyone arrives with an answer. I slow the room down until we agree on what is actually broken and who feels it.
What problem are we solving, and for whom?
What I watch out forThe first solution anyone suggests.
I map how work really flows, including the handoffs and the feelings along the way, because pain hides between the steps.
Where does it slow down, and how does that feel?
What I watch out forWorkarounds that people stopped noticing.
There are always ten problems. I look for the one that unlocks the most and say no to the rest, out loud and with reasons.
If we fix only one thing, which changes the most?
What I watch out forMistaking a loud problem for an important one.
I sketch, prototype, and put it in front of real people early. A rough idea that teaches me something beats a polished one that does not.
What is the smallest version someone could try?
What I watch out forFalling in love with my own first draft.
A design earns its place when it moves something the business cares about. I decide how we will know it worked before we build.
How will we know this worked?
What I watch out forMeasuring activity instead of outcomes.
Selected projects and the thinking behind them. Open one to read the story. The first is the one you have been looking at all along: the mark in the corner of this page.
How I designed my own mark: a T that bends, an S that does not, and a D that holds them together.
The site is called Tyler Shepherd Design. Three words, and a lot of letters to carry around.
Everything except the initials goes. Three letters are all the mark has to work with, so each one gets its own turn.
I gave the T the rigid side of the idea: a flat bar, a straight stem, and square corners everywhere.
Rotate it and the rules reverse. The bar becomes a soft arch and the stem bends away like a brush stroke.
The S gets the opposite treatment to start: one smooth line with no corners at all.
Rotate the S and it becomes a folded ribbon of straight lines and sharp corners.
A D already holds both ideas: a straight edge and a curve. Pull it apart, then turn the curve on its side and let it stretch into the sweep of the logo.
The straight edge steps aside because the bottom of the S takes its place. The T and the S come over the curve and balance on it.
Trace it, join the strokes, and the three letters become a single mark: curves and hard lines holding each other up.
If you squint real hard, it kinda looks like a face.
And if you squint harder, it even kinda looks like my face.
Another project and the thinking behind it is on the way.
10+ years of taking repetitive, tedious manual work off people and companies by streamlining and automating processes, and by turning data into better decisions.
Pick a skill to see where I have used it.
I lead large, complex low code projects with multiple development teams, and I keep the work tied to real business outcomes.
I led an application development team and translated business needs into clear user stories.
I analyzed and improved business processes for a large oil and gas company and supported a major state modernization program.
I was the business systems analyst on a large state modernization program.
I grew from IT desktop support to data analyst, managing analyst, and lead data analyst, and I automated the manual work around me.
If you have a problem worth solving or a role you think fits, I would love to hear about it.