The Problem With the Old Answer
For a long time, I did not have a clean answer when people asked what I do.
Brand designer was accurate but incomplete. It did not account for the apps I was building, the communities I was running, the websites I was shipping. I kept adding words to the explanation and it kept getting longer.
Then I found two words that covered all of it: Design Engineer.
What Changed
I am a brand designer by training and by instinct. I have been doing it for years. Logos, identity systems, colour, typography, the full thing. That part has not changed.
What has changed is what happens after the brand is done.
Before, I would hand over the files and walk away. The implementation was someone else's problem. A developer would take my designs and build something that looked almost like what I made, or nothing like it, depending on the day.
Now I build it myself. AI has closed the gap between what I can imagine and what I can ship. I can take a brand from the first sketch all the way to a live product, by myself, and because I have a design background, it actually looks good. That is not something most developers can say.
What It Means in Practice
When a brand comes to me now, I design the identity: logo, colours, typography, the whole system. But instead of handing them a PDF and calling it a day, I build their website. Their landing page. Their product interface. I become a one-stop shop for taking a brand from concept to presence on the internet.
VP of Design at a startup. Founder of a community with its own app and website. Building portfolio projects that I design and ship alone.
The Most Accurate Description
Design Engineer is not a title I am chasing. It is just the most accurate description of what I am already doing.