Early software
Application and interface work, including experience on the original SimCity development team.
ABOUT / ALLIE BAYLESS
Still curious after 40+ years.
I design from the user’s side and think about the build from the builder’s side. MyLiveLab is where those two meet.
THE SHORT VERSION
I make software easier to use.
I’ve spent more than four decades working with software, interfaces and the web. It started with early application development, including experience on the original SimCity development team, and has run through modern web products, desktop apps, Android, iOS and terminal tools.
I’m most useful when a product is complicated, dense or a little messy. I like finding the idea underneath the mess: what matters, what should disappear, what deserves emphasis, and what the software should do next.
I still build, because building keeps design honest. TideMail, the rest of the Tide family, CookingFix and TheBeautyAnswer are where I test these ideas in real products instead of slides.
From pages to products
Decades of web and UX work while the browser grew from a document viewer into a full application platform.
Touch changes the rules
Designing across responsive web, Android and iOS, with each platform’s own behavior and ergonomics in mind.
MyLiveLab
Independent product work: open-source tools, publishing products, prototypes and client projects.
HOW I WORK
A few things I believe.
Clarity beats cleverness.
The interface should make people feel capable, not impressed with the designer.
Behavior is design.
Good UX isn’t just visual polish. It’s what happens after the click, tap, keypress or mistake.
Real products teach more.
Shipping reveals the awkward edges that prototypes hide.
Experience should stay curious.
Forty years only helps if you keep learning new tools, platforms and ways of working.
AVAILABLE FOR SELECT PROJECTS