Owen Doherty. Product designer and full-stack developer based in San Diego. His work blends product design, engineering, and visual art, shipping iOS and web products end-to-end with a focus on interaction, usability, and systems that hold up in the real world. Alongside product work, he develops creative projects informed by art and visual culture.
Selected work
My expertise
Crafting products through research, design, and AI.
My expertise
Research & product strategy
I ground product decisions in evidence by naming who the product is for, what “good” means, and what we are not building so debates stay anchored. I interview, map journeys, and run lightweight checks so scope and priorities trace back to people and constraints, not only taste.
- Problem framing 01
- User interviews 02
- Journey mapping 03
- Information architecture 04
- Usability testing 05
- Outcome metrics 06
- Roadmap prioritization 07
Systems & interaction design
I design interface systems with typography, spacing, components, and states that stay legible on small screens and at edge cases. Motion and feedback live in the spec from the start, so handoff matches what people actually touch and the experience feels intentional end to end.
- Typographic layout 01
- Design system components 02
- Micro-interactions 03
- Interface motion 04
- Responsive layouts 05
- Accessible UI patterns 06
- Production specifications 07
Design & engineering
I design and build product UI in React, Next.js, and Swift when shipping beside engineering is the fastest path to truth. That means real components in the browser, native screens that match the file, and fewer gaps between “designed” and shipped.
- React interfaces 01
- Next.js products 02
- Native iOS UI 03
- Firebase integration 04
- Git workflows with engineering 05
- Production UI polish 06
- Shippable design tooling 07
Collaboration & product quality
I stay with the product through pre-release QA, readiness checks, launch, and post-ship iteration so fixes land quickly and the experience earns trust. I pair on triage, polish, and light analytics so quality is how the work reaches users, not a single phase before release.
- Pre-release UI QA 01
- Launch readiness 02
- Product analytics 03
- Pairing with engineering 04
- Bug triage 05
- Post-launch iteration 06
About
I care about clarity in the product, the kind people notice when something just works.
I’m a recent SDSU graduate working in product design with a practical streak: research, UI craft, and enough engineering to ship. I’m still building my craft and my body of work; this site is where I document how I think through real product problems.
If you’re hiring for product or UI/UX, the case studies here are the best summary of how I work.