Hey Adam, Steve, and the Tailwind Labs team!
I'm excited about the chance to join you as a Design Engineer. I have a strong background in web design (and design generally) and love to bring them to life through code. I believe I'd be a great fit for Tailwind Labs and this position.
A quick bit about me
I’m Craig 👋 Currently living just outside London in the UK with my wife and dog. I wasn't actively looking for a new role, but I've been waiting for this position to open up!
I was previously at an e-commerce business called Virgin Experience Days, where I started as a designer and developed into the Head of Creative. I left them at the end of December to join a company called OpenRent, which is a tech platform for private landlords here in the UK. There, I'm doing a very similar role to what you’re looking for now as a Senior Design Enginner, with a mix of design and front-end development.
I’ve been designing professionally for over 14 years now. My coding journey has been entirely self-taught, starting from wanting to bring my designs to the web, which led me to learn HTML and CSS. That curiosity expanded into exploring little bits of PHP, Rails, and eventually React, which really resonated with me, especially in terms of componentization, making reusable code, and figuring out what controls to offer end-users.
Some highlights
As requested, I've pulled out a couple areas I think are a cool intro to myself, from what I've previous done, how I like to work, and what I’m excited about.
Carousel Component
I led the design side of a large redesign and rearchitecture project for the Virgin Experience Days e-commerce store, also assisting heavily with front-end decisions, tooling, and the design system. More about this can be found on my portfolio.
One component I'm particularly proud of is our carousel component.
I've embeded my demo storybook playground that I used to scafold initial compoents.
I've also pulled out the component into a codesandbox if you wanted to see the underlying component. Note that this wasn't the final implementation - we added improvements for accessibility as an example.
Cool aspects of this component include:
- A responsive props style array to set different numbers of slots shown at different breakpoints, e.g.,
["large", "large", 3, 4]. - Support for standalone use or within an existing container, automatically adjusting margins as needed.
- A variant that displays as a wrapping grid on larger breakpoints and a carousel on smaller ones.
Looking back, I’d consider using CSS variables more extensively to streamline the sizeConfig. I think it would also be possible to combine theCarouselToGrid and Carousel into a single component - but having them separate has it's benefits too.
Teaching through code
At my previous role, creating Tailwind CSS demos to clarify intricacies from Figma designs was a regular task that I loved doing. My demos, like Gift Card and Location Map View, are good examples of this.
Gift card was really fun to play with Framer Motion to add some interactivity to the page.
Location map view had lots of cooler little details, with how the listing can support multiple views of the product cards, or collapse away entirely, through to how something like this could work on mobile.
I enjoyed pairing with developers to share design insights, such as the balance between too much and too little space, but also upskilling the team as we transitioned to use tailwind for our styling. I’ve always received really positive feedback about teaching and mentoring.
Writing
I really value writing and documenting, whether it's about a new feature, an existing design audit, or general thoughts. Clear articulation of ideas and concepts is a skill I find invaluable. It allows me to really go deep and think about all the little details that can make or break a feature.
Personal life
I'm easygoing, straightforward to work with, hard working and very self driven - something my professional journey demonstrates.
When I’m not working, I’m usually indulging in one of my hobbies.
- Playing guitar, a passion since I was about 10 years old. I love music and getting out to see some of my favourite bands.
- Playing video games, a great way to catch up with my brother.
- LEGO! Recently assembling the giant LEGO McLaren F1 car, now a feature on my wall. It's a creative outlet that helps me unwind and appreciate the finer details.
- Getting away from screens and spending time with family. Something I'm definitely valuing more as I grow older!
Enter Shikari
Lego McLaren F1 car
My dog - Hugo
Thanks for considering me. I'm excited about the possibility of joining the team and hope this gives you a taste of what I can contribute.
Craig