Me llamo Saïd.
I was born outside Mexico City on the anniversary of our declaration of independence from Spain. On July 4th, 1992, I was brought into the US as an undocumented child without my parents. See, having been forced to grow up in a system not designed for me is why I design the way I do. I know the cost when a space assumes you don't exist or doesn't want you to. I build for the people those assumptions leave out.
My English has Gotten Better, Since.
I attended two high schools simultaneously, one for primary courses and the other for fine arts (The Governor's School for the Arts), and graduated from both with honors.
I moved to DC in 2006 to attend the Corcoran College of Art + Design on a full art scholarship to further study painting.
My canvas became a screen. I found my way through graphic design, web design, and UX.
In the early 2010s, "UX" was becoming a buzzword, and it was graphic design foundations wearing a different name tag. It wasn't a new concept; it was another code switch.
And, now.
I've been an independent contractor since 2017, and I've watched AI arrive like everyone else: first as a threat, then as a mirror.
As a professional, the disruption is real. As a creative, it's reinforced something I already believed: anyone can now ship a website. It still takes emotional intelligence to design one that actually connects.
My response to AI isn't avoidance or surrender. I use it to kill tedium so I can spend more time on the things that still require my humanity: judgment and nuance, the kind of imperfection that makes something feel made rather than generated.
AI slop's omnipresence isn't a crisis; as creatives, it's our opening.
The platforms I'm building, the paintings & posters I've created, and every tested line of code are consistent themes in my work: social identity, decentralization, & sovereignty.
Read a Case Study
Journal
Heads up, the material is dense if you just came for bold graphics, but I'm just trying to make sense of why the internet is so shitty these days. And, shocker: it's by design.