Hello There!

Griffin Holding several boxes of recently purchased gunpla
👋 I'm Griffin a Web and Product Designer based in the Greater Boston area with ties to Santa Monica. I'm a problem solver at heart and I take that passion into every part of my life and project I work on. Coming from an educational background in interactive media and game design, I'm always looking for ways to engage players (users) in my work. I'm not a big fan of sitting still, some may even call me restless. I'm always looking for work to engage with or something new to learn and master.
My brother and I and a Red Sox game on Easter day wearing bunny ears
I'm proud to have held many different roles over my life, giving me a diverse set of experiences to shape my worldview. From learning teamwork and comradery on the football field in high school. To advocating for the student body as the representative of student affairs during my 3 years on Becker College's Student Governance Board. Developing my leadership skills and honing my interpersonal skills as a New Student Orientation leader in my final year of college. I am great at leveraging project goals through the lens of stakeholder expectations and client needs from my experience working Sales in a B2B wholesale craft beer distributor. I excel at bringing all those skills together to bring unique and effective solutions to all the projects I work on.
But most of all I love designing and building products. However I'm a frim believer that building products in a void isn't enough. We need to engage with the user on a personal level, understand their wants, needs, and desires. And take that into building the best possible product for everyone involved.
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When I'm not at work

When I'm not working or at my desk, I'm often sat at the table playing Dungeons and Dragons. Either rolling crits with my rogue or sat behind the DM screen building out fantastic worlds that I facilitate for my friends to enjoy. My passion for creation even extends to my hobbies as well, building out scale models of Gundam plastic models with fine details and parts as small as an eraser head. And not to mention telling my own stories with my home cooking that I show off frequently for my friends
A playful Griffin playing Ultimate Ninja with friends
When the weather is nice you can find me out of my apartment, you can often catch me hiking along the Wachusett Reservoir. Or trying to find the best restaurant in my city, the search is never ending. On weekends, however, you'll be able to find me at home rooting for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc in Formula One!
A MG Jest holding a D20 with a D&D rulebook in the back and another Gunpla standing next to it

What I'm currently reading

The cover of Nir Eyal's "Hooked" a UX book

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

By: Nir Eyal

I'm trying to always have at least one UX or Design book on rotation that I am reading at all times. And sometimes it is hard with all the other heavy hitting engrossing books I am reading. But "Hooked" Isn't one of those. Nir Eyal has captured me from page one and I'd like to think the insights this book has are helping me become a better designer.
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The cover of "Japanese Destroyer captain" Featuring artwork depicting the IJN battleship Hiei during the Naval Battles of Guadalcanal

Japanese Destroyer Captain: The Great Naval Battles As Seen Through Japanese Eyes

By: Tameichi Hara, Fred Saito, Roger Pineau

Taking a break from the 800 page monster read that is "The Rising Sun" I've taken up Japanese Destroyer Captain as my book of choice for the summer. A wonderfully insightful read into Imperial Japanese Navy during WW2, a viewpoint often forgoten about when we look back upon the largest war humanity has ever seen
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The cover for the science fiction novel "The Fractured Dark" by Megan O'keefe. The second book in the "Devoured Worlds Trilogy"

The Fractured Dark

By: Megan E. O'Keefe

The first book in this trilogy was an unexpected surprise for me. While this start of the first book was a slow buildup, once the action started I could barely put the book down. Left on a cliffhanger I knew I had to pick up the second book as soon as I could and see where this saga would go.
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