Hello -
I'm Deborah.

A curiosity for people

Long before I cared about interfaces, I was just nosy about people. How they think, why they pick what they pick, what is really going on under a reaction they can't quite explain. I liked it enough to minor in psychology and give the obsession a proper name. It never left - it is still the engine under everything I design, and I am far more interested in the person than in the screen they are looking at.

Design philosophy

My design starts in restraint and ends in empathy. Restraint is the craft - minimal palettes, deliberate type, room to breathe. Empathy is the whole point. There is a verse I hold onto here: “If I have not love, I am a resounding gong.” Beautiful work with no real care underneath it just makes noise and fades. Design built around a person's actual needs is the only kind that outlives the trend it launched in.

Real-world experience

Some of the best design training I ever got was behind a counter at Shoppers Drug Mart. For a stretch, most of our customers were elderly, and serving them taught me what no syllabus could: how to read confusion before anyone says a word, and how much dignity lives in an interaction that never makes a person feel slow or small. I learned customer experience there one person at a time - where “design for people” stopped being a slogan and became a habit.

Where most of my energy goes. End-to-end UI/UX for digital products - research, user flows, interface, and design systems (recent: Sous and Sora). I also build what I design, currently frontend for José at SCALED in React, Next.js, and TypeScript.

Visual identities and campaign systems for small ventures and faith communities. Recent work: The Torchbearers retreat campaign, Project Lazarus (scripture-rooted merch), and Ilé Àdúrà (a Christian retreat guesthouse rooted in Yoruba heritage).

Graphics, admin, and youth coordination at Jubilee Youth Church. Events coordinator for The Torchbearers intercession ministry. Founder of the Beauty and Brains Movement.