About me in 15 seconds
My name is Dakota Sumner.
I’ve been designing for 10 years, 5 of them professionally.
I love detailed Ui, solving complex problems, and smooth interactions.
I love detailed Ui, solving complex problems, and smooth interactions.
I live in Huntington Beach, CA.
I’m married to my High School sweetheart
I just had my first child ~ my daughter, Winslow
I’m married to my High School sweetheart
I just had my first child ~ my daughter, Winslow
Mantra I strive to live by ~ Strong opinions, loosely held
My path to being a designer
How I Got here
I was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. My father was a professional skateboarder, and I was able to travel with him around the world at a young age.
I grew up surfing and skating, which I still do when I find the time. I was also homeschooled, so I was often teaching myself new skills and pursuing my curiosity.
I grew up surfing and skating, which I still do when I find the time. I was also homeschooled, so I was often teaching myself new skills and pursuing my curiosity.
How I started designing
When I was 14, my mom was owned a catering business and needed a website. After getting quotes for over $10k from agencies, I decided I would try my hand at building her website.
After long nights learning Square Space, youtube tutorials, and trial and error, I built a functional website for her business. This sparked my love of design and development.
After long nights learning Square Space, youtube tutorials, and trial and error, I built a functional website for her business. This sparked my love of design and development.
how i got to where I am
Since then, I have spent the past 10 years designing. I've had the pleasure of working with a plethora of companies and projects, from contract to full~time.
I don’t have any institutional college experience, all my skills and knowledge have been self-taught from courses, youtube, and now Ai (Thank you GPT <3)
I don’t have any institutional college experience, all my skills and knowledge have been self-taught from courses, youtube, and now Ai (Thank you GPT <3)
where I'm at now
I'm a product designer at allUP, helping build a better professional social network. allUP uses video testimonials to build people's profiles, which gives a better professional overview than a standard resume. You can see my profile here!
I'm also working on my own side apps, including Rollers, a Jiu Jitsu tracking app!
I'm also working on my own side apps, including Rollers, a Jiu Jitsu tracking app!
What I'm looking for
Looking ahead, I care deeply about solving problems that matter. I want to work with companies that value design and provide ownership to the team to solve problems.
Design principles
Strong opinions, loosely held. I believe when presenting designs, you must have an opinion, while not being married it.
Say, do, say. At the onset of every project, I say what I will do, then I do what I say, and finally, I will say what I did. Credits to Dan Mall for articulating this principle well.
Hifi designs are most valuable. Research is important, but believe getting to Hi-Fi & prototypes speeds up decision making. It’s hard to have an opinion on gray boxes.
Share > Surprise. I hate presenting surprises. I much rather share WIP snippets and Loom walk~throughs during the design processes.
Act like an owner. Every project I work on is treated with ownership. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
Define success early. Failing to do this results in a misaligned team and project. It could be a quantitive metric, or simply that “we need to reduce user churn”.
Tools I use
Figma
Jitter
HTML
CSS
hint of JavaScript
Webflow
Framer
+ Any tool you need me to learn