Kevin Stauss

Most people walk into a business and see what's there. I walk in and see what's missing.

The sign that's in the wrong spot. The moment a customer hesitates because the next step isn't obvious. The system that works fine until it doesn't, and nobody can explain why. I just notice those things; always have.

I've spent my career in roles that didn't exist until I showed up. Live television production, where you solve problems in real time or everyone watching at home sees you fail. Wedding videography, where you get one shot at moments that actually matter to people. Five years at a laser tag arena where my job description was basically “everything involving a computer that nobody else wants to figure out.” Right now I'm building iOS apps, designing card games, and working the sales floor at a board game store. Sounds scattered until you realize it's all the same thing.

Every project comes back to one question: how do people actually experience this, and where does it break down?

I call it invisible complexity. The best-designed systems feel effortless to the person using them, even when there's a lot happening underneath. Disney does this. A great card game does this. A wedding film that makes you cry does this. The complexity doesn't disappear; it just becomes invisible.

That's what I do. I find the friction, I figure out why it's there, and I design something better. Sometimes that means writing code. Sometimes it means moving a sign six inches to the left.