*To get in touch send a note to contact@jon-kyle.com*

Past teams I’ve joined or projects I’ve contributed to have come about through word of mouth. There’s a kismet to it. I’ve never openly shared that I’m “*available for work*.”

After a few busy years (more on that below), I took a summer sabbatical. I’m now easing back into conversations with projects and teams in my circle. But after certain experiences and learnings during that break, and in the spirit of open-mindedness, it occurred to me: why not try something new?

Why not simply share *I’m available for work*?

### What I do

In a nutshell, *design engineering* and *product leadership*.

For a more comprehensive overview, take a look at [my extended read.cv](https://read.cv/jondashkyle).

My first love was—and remains—design. I have a deep consideration for page layout, typography, interaction, and imbuing interface with *a certain feeling*.

Out of eagerness to interact with otherwise static designs, I became technically proficient across the stack.

I’m capable of architecting and implementing backends in the early stages of development, and I know when to hand parts off for further productization and scaling.

The closest you can be to the surface of a product is where design meets infrastructure. The designs may look great statically, but do they *feel* right in use? The backend may meet the technical specifications, but does it *feel* fast? This all shakes out in the client, which is where I have historically spent a lot of time—iterating on design in situ. This practice has distilled into *design engineering*.

Because of this wide knowledge, my vocabulary and insights connect disciplines. Over the past three years, I found myself in product leadership roles—coordinating projects between senior/staff designers and engineers, roadmapping, knowledge base building, and more.

### What I’ve Done

Three projects and teams stand out over my career, alongside my continuous individual creative studio practice. For a more comprehensive overview, take a look at [my extended read.cv](https://read.cv/jondashkyle).

**[Cargo](https://cargo.site)** (*fka Cargo Collective*) is where I began my career as their first hire. My responsibilities included designing and engineering multiple core surface, such as a highly adaptive and customizable templating system used as the foundation for every Cargo site, as well as the design system of the admin panel, and (much) more. To get a sense of the culture, you can skim through this [interview in the Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/between-broadcast-and-community-the-design-of-virtual-spaces/279763/).

**Mirror** was a long-form publishing tool. As the first hire, I designed and engineered the client MVP, which served as the foundation for raising our [Series A from USV/A16](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/union-square-ventures-values-crypto-publishing-tool-mirror-at-100-million). I also helped grow the team across design and engineering, established our product culture and process, managed projects across the org, and (much much) more.

**[Family](https://family.co)** is a design-first wallet focused on making emergent technology more friendly. After initially advising the team, I joined [Los Feliz Engineering](https://lfe.org) in a more open role. This included research and design engineering of internal prototypes, standing up a light project management structure, and assisting transition the design culture [through an acquisition](https://techcrunch.com/podcast/aave-companies-rebrands-to-avara-and-acquires-crypto-wallet-family-to-expand-its-web3-reach/).

Outside of this, I’ve maintained a continuous individual creative studio practice with [Sierran Systems](https://www.sierran.systems), where I have accepted commissions from 12:01, a24, [Are.na](http://Are.na), Bloomberg Businessweek, Dublab, Es Devlin, Google Arts & Culture, Hassan Rahim, LOT2046, Mountain Hardware, Nicholas Alan Cope, Osk Studio, Outpost, Redbull Music Academy, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Warp Records, and more.

### A Good Fit

I’m open to exploring opportunities ranging from well defined one-off projects to joining a team. This could involve design-engineering (or either design or engineering individually), a product role, or advising/consulting on projects that overlap between technology, culture, and publishing.

I’m based in Los Angeles and am open to working in an East-side office a few days a week. While I’m comfortable working remotely, I prefer projects based in American time zones.

I’m also available for consulting and advisory roles on products and projects, particularly those related to culture, publishing, and social. My insight ranges across product design/engineering, interface, hiring strategies, roadmap planning, and more.

My base compensation for joining a funded team is approximately \~$180k/year, and my base day rate is \~$1.6k, whether for commissioned work or consulting/advising. Each situation is unique, and exceptions are possible.

Don’t hesitate to say hello :)

### Trade and Tools

Briefly, I believe we’re at a meaningful juncture in how we produce work. I matured alongside the computer and the internet—two complimentary disruptions to the means of production and distribution of *things*.

These changes greatly reduced the friction for me (and many others) to create things and reach an audience. The accessibility of tools lowered the resources needed to produce work and encouraged meandering between disciplines for the curious.

Continued collapse between discipline is happening today. The crystallization of the *design engineer* role over recent years—a role I’ve been intuitively practicing my entire career—is a clear example.

Similarly, we see this with the emergence of LLMs—ML, AI, what-have-you… While a dose of skepticism for the typical “hot air” you see with any emergent technology is healthy, my recent use of tools like Cursor and Claude has made me aware that something transformative is again happening.

Small, high velocity, and opinionated teams working alongside this new tooling have the potential to do great work. But it will require immense finesse, a refined sensibility, and expertise across disciplines—distinctly human expertise.

I’m particularly interested in exploring the dynamics of how these changes might impact the way we work on similarly curious projects or within teams.

Thanks!

https://jon-kyle.com\
contact@jon-kyle.com

Open Call for Teams and Projects

Terrestrial

The Year According to Jon-Kyle Mohr

Contributed as one of several artists, writers, filmmakers, designers, and performers to share a list of [the most noteworthy ideas, events, and objects encountered in 2019](https://walkerart.org/magazine/series/the-year-according-to).

Scene Report: Decentralized Web Summit

Scene report on the goings-on at the Internet Archive’s Decentralized Web Summit.

A meandering conversation on rendering, data ownership, furniture objects, and more for the “An Image for the Present” edition of ”Paprika!“

Skip the Process, Draw the Pixels

Written by [Geoff Manaugh](https://geoffmanaugh.com) of [BLDGBLOG](https://www.bldgblog.com) and [Nicola Twilley](https://www.theatlantic.com/author/nicola-twilley/), in conversation with [Folkert Gorter](https://folkert.cargo.site) in the studio of Cargo Collective.

Between Broadcast and Community: The Design of Virtual Spaces

Ultralight peer-to-peer publishing tools.

Enoki

Initiated a series of relaxed afternoons about distributed networks and culture. Instances popped up at [Folder Studio](https://folder.studio) and  [Los Angeles Contemporary Archive](https://www.lacarchive.com/) (LA), [School for Poetic Computation](https://sfpc.io/) (NYC), and [Trust](https://trust.support) (Berlin). Big shoutout to the collaborators it wouldn’t have been possible without, specifically [Louis](https://louis.center/) and [Callil](https://twitter.com/_callil?lang=en).

Peer-to-Peer Web

Design Engineering to the [Are.na Editorial](https://are.na/editorial) surface and various sub-surfaces.

Are.na

Contributed engineering and design to a number of projects, including Red Bull Music Academy, Morphosis Architects,  2Pac, Machine Project, Dublab, East of Borneo, Deitch Projects, and more.

Collaborator

Lightweight bookmarking tool that reminds you of links you want to remember over time.

CycleMarks

Ongoing studio practice for comissioned works, including projects for 12:01, a24, Are.na, Bloomberg Buisness Week, Dublab, Es Devlin, Google Arts & Culture, Hassan Rahim, LOT2046, Mountain Hardwear, Nicholas Alan Cope, Osk Studio, Outpost, Redbull Music Academy, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Warp Records, and more.

Sierran Systems

Spoke about cultivating a sense of time and tempo in publishing tools, centered on experiments built on the Decentralized Archive Transport protocol at the Decentralized Web Summit.

Tempo and Publishing

Gave a talk and organized a workshop on how artists may utilize peer-to-peer publishing tools as an extension of digital archival practice.

Decentralized Publishing Workshop

An evening centered on questions of publishing practices and data ownership.

Why Publishing?

Using public parks as an analogue for critiquing contemporary network infrastructure and publishing tools.

Public Parks and Publishing Tools

Co-founder of long-form web3 publishing tool. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16) and Union Square Ventures (USV), among others.

Head of Product

First hire at site building tool formerly known as Cargo Collective.

Design Engineer

Contributed design engineering to a series of internal experiments, stood up a fresh project management structure, assisted transitioning the design culture \[through an acquisition\], and more.

Product

Ongoing studio practice for commissioned works, including projects for 12:01, a24, Are.na, Bloomberg Business Week, Dublab, Es Devlin, Google Arts & Culture, Hassan Rahim, LOT2046, Mountain Hardware, Nicholas Alan Cope, Osk Studio, Outpost, Redbull Music Academy, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Warp Records, and more.

Jon-Kyle

2024