Blueprints to Brands: How Architecture Shaped The Way I Design Everything

When people hear I went from designing buildings to building brands, digital products, and businesses, their first reaction is usually something like, “So you don’t do architecture anymore?”

Well, not in the traditional sense. But I never really stopped being an architect: I just changed what I’m building. Whether I am designing a multifamily urban infill, a food brand, or a user onboarding flow, the core challenges are strikingly similar:

Make it useful.
Make it intuitive.
Make it feel like someone thought it through.

Architecture gave me more than a design degree. It gave me a mental model I carry into every project, from physical space to digital systems, from concrete & wood to branding. Here's how:

1. Start with a Bird’s-Eye View

Before a single wall is built, architects imagine how a building works as a whole. The big picture always comes first.

Whether I’m building a website, a customer journey, or a brand identity, the first step is the same, ask:

• What is the goal?

• What are the constraints and challenges?

• What is the story we’re telling?

• How does it all connect?

Zooming out helps me design with clarity and avoid the metaphorical large garage ventilation ducts through penthouse units (this is a story for another day).

2. To Design is to Translate

Clients often struggle to articulate exactly what they want or need. As a designer (of spaces, systems, products, services, or stories), my role is part translator, part builder: turning ambiguity into form and feeling into function.

Listen. Ask. Sketch. Clarify.

This ability to turning emotion and intention into tangible, actionable outcomes is important in branding, UX, and product strategy. Because, from my experience, most clients don’t need more fancy wireframes or presentations; they need someone who can listen, synthesize, and show them solutions.

3. Constraints and Thinking within the Box.

Whether it’s zoning laws and gravity in architecture, legacy systems in tech, brand guidelines in design, or the ever-present budget in… well, everything, constraints are always part of the process.

It may not feel like it at times but constraints fuel creativity.
They force me to prioritize, to simplify, to innovate within bounds. And most importantly, they help me avoid the nightmare of realizing (sometimes too late) that your design needs to be completely reworked because “we can’t actually build that.”

4. Design for the Long Haul

Architects know that maintenance matters. After all, someone has to clean those glass façades and unclog those rooftop drains.

That’s how I think about systems now:

• Who maintains this website?

• Can the team update content without calling a developer?

• Will the brand still make sense when the product pivots?

Good design lasts. Great design evolves.

5. Create Repeatable Systems

One-offs are costly in architecture. Imagine if every floor plan in a 20-story building was different: chaos for HVAC, plumbing, and construction.

Likewise in UX and branding, consistency is a form of kindness for your team, for your users and costumers, and maybe most important of all, for your sanity. That’s why I lean into:

• Design systems

• Reusable components

• Brand guidelines that actually guide

It saves time, builds user trust, and, as a bonus, it can actually make engineers like you.

6. Way-finding and Communication

I’ve been lost in my share of hospitals, parking garages, and yes… even websites. That’s what bad communication feels like: disorienting, frustrating, and a little bit stressful.

When I was working in architecture, we solved this with clear sightlines, intuitive pathways, and signage. Now, in brand, product, and service design, I think about it the same way, only the “signs” might be brand messaging, navigation menus, packaging cues, or those small but intentional brand moments that reassure people they’re in the right place.

A “You are here” map, a friendly confirmation screen, an onboarding email that makes you feel supported — good way-finding builds trust no matter the medium.

7. Inclusive Design is Good Design

In architecture, inclusive design means creating spaces everyone can use. In product, brand, and service design, it means thinking beyond the “average” user by considering language, culture, sensory needs, and all the different ways people might interact with what you create.

I don’t always get it right. Sometimes I misunderstand, overlook, or just don’t realize a barrier exists until someone points it out.

Someone once told me that inclusive design is a mindset, not a checklist. And I’ve taken that to heart. So, with every project, I ask myself: Can someone understand this packaging if they don’t speak the main language? Can this brand story speak the needs of the target customers? Does this product photography represent the demographic of real customers?

Everyone wants to build brands, products, or services people trust. For me, that starts with an inclusive design mindset.

8. You Can’t User-Test a Building (Unfortunately)

One perk UX, branding, and product design have over architecture? We can test before launch. We show people prototypes, spot confusion, run A/B tests, and improve. Try doing that with a 10-story building!

In Conclusion: Good design is clear and easy to use.

Whether it’s an app, a brand, or a building, the goal is to make things make sense: to reduce friction, clarify intent, and support people as they get things done. It’s that feeling of effortlessly knowing where to go. Of clicking a button and feeling confident it worked. Of entering a space, physical or digital, and thinking, “Ah, someone really thought this through.”

Because in the end, we’re not just designing interfaces or services. We’re shaping how people experience the world.