I’m Will 👋 I’m a designer working at the intersection of product design, data visualization, and developer tooling. My work helps people understand and act on data.
I’m a leader in the field of data visualization. I’ve worked as a Senior Product Designer at Observable, designing the next generation of data visualization and analysis tools. I was the Visual Storytelling Editor at Axios, leading a team of designers and developers in creating our most ambitious interactive web projects and news apps. I co-founded the Elevate Dataviz Learning Community. And my work has been recognized with awards from the Society for News Design, Information is Beautiful Awards, and National Geographic.
My path here was indirect. I started as a scientist, taught myself to code, and got drawn into data visualization. That led to data journalism, then team leadership, then product design. But the scientific method never left—I still treat every design problem as a hypothesis to test.
Observable
Senior Product Designer
2025–2026
I designed Observable Canvases—a collaborative infinite canvas for data analysis and visualization—from zero to one as part of a two-person product design team. During my time at Observable I pitched and successfully advocated for the initial product direction of an infinite canvas, I designed and implemented a completely new design system, I designed our custom chart builder, complex summary view tables, AI-assist features, mutliplayer collaboration, whiteboarding features, and countless more. And most importantly, I played a key role in shaping our roadmap by consistently advocating for user and product needs.
Brilliant
Product Manager
2024–2025
At Brilliant I was the Product Manager for our Learning and Authoring Experience Team. I shipped improvements to authoring and developer tooling that streamlined content authoring workflows and boosted efficiency. And I created a comprehensive QA suite covering 600+ possible content configurations that was implemented through automated testing to catch bugs before they were shipped to production.
Axios
Visual Storytelling Editor
2021–2024
At Axios I grew the dataviz team from 3 to 12 and scaled output from 10 to 100+ graphics per week. I successfully pitched a new team for visual storytelling and led that team to produce 23 enterprise web projects and news apps — many of which were award-winning and widely syndicated.
Fidelity
Lead Designer
2019–2021
At Fidelity I led the redesign of our internal reporting platform, which processes and reports on trillions of transactions per month. I also built a design system for business intelligence and data visualization which was adopted department-wide
01
Design improves lives
Good design makes simple tasks simple, makes complex information clear, and treats people with dignity and respect. It encourages healthy use and works to build a better world.
02
Design should be memorable
Good design leaves a mark — something you can picture a week later. Individual elements may disappear, a button or a menu may not be memorable, but the sum of the parts should evoke a lasting feeling.
03
Design is fun
Good design has whimsy, moments of joy, and magic. It shows people things they didn’t think were possible and invites them to play.
04
Design has a hand
Good design is human. It is an act of craftsmanship and artisanship. Good design shows through its patterns, materials, and idiosyncrasies that it was made by an individual with care and attention.
This section is a work in progress — check back soon.