An introduction.
Hey! I'm Willson, a software developer with a specialization in front-end web experiences.
I'm a former Shopify employee of 8 years. Prior to my leave, my title was Senior Creative Technologist. I wore many hats during my time at the company, but they shared a common thread: building bridges between people and technology.
I was a front-end developer, a ux developer, a creative technologist, but through all these roles my goal was simple: build delightful, productive, and inclusive experiences for our merchants.
In addition to building the front-end Shopify admin experience, some of my responsibilities included: working with designers to find the balance between possible and perfect, educating my team on the best use of and contributing to Shopify's Polaris design system, and building prototypes to help communicate ideas.
Telling stories with code.
Stories are integral to the human experience. They are how we make sense of the world, how we communicate ideas, how we teach, how we learn, and how we remember.
I believe that the best user experiences are the ones that tell a story. They are the ones that guide you through a journey, they do not leave you behind, they do not leave you confused, they do not leave you frustrated. They make you promises and they keep them.
Stories are also delightful, they are fun, they are engaging, they are memorable. They are the experiences we remember, the ones we tell our friends about, the ones we come back to. I want to tell those stories.
Defeating dragons.
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.
Fiary tales show us dragons can be defeated, well crafted user experiences show us that difficult tasks are surmountable.
Shopfiy merchants face dragons every day. They are the dragons of a new business, of a new idea, of a new product. The dragons of a new market, a new customer, a new competitor. Technology and the world around us change every day and adapting to every change while building a business is hard. My goal was to provide them with the tools to slay their own dragons.
Turning the page.
I've wrapped up my time at Shopify but I am not done building great experiences. Front-end development has always foremost been a hobby and passion, I take pleasure in building the web. I love it. The challenge, the problems I get to solve, the sheer amount of learning and creativity to be had.
For the time being I'm taking some time for me. I'm learning new skills and working on some personal projects and I'm finding new ways to connect people, and more ways to tell stories.
A new adventure?
Need a front-end developer? Someone with a keen eye for UX? Performance? Accessibility? Have something you think I can help you with? I'd love to hear about it.
Send me an email: