Designer & Researcher · Certified RGD · IXDF Member · Calgary, AB
Sean Archie
From sketchbooks in the Philippines, to espresso machines in Canada, to pixels on a screen. Every chapter taught me something a design course never could.
My Story
Every path has unexpected turns. Mine made me a better designer.
The Aspiring Designer
A student with a vision and a sketchbook
I grew up drawing. When I pursued a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, I refused to choose between building things and designing them, so I did both simultaneously, enrolling in Digital Arts and Design at the same time. I led a team that shipped real software: a Registration System, an Infraction Monitoring System. But the project that defined this chapter was a mobile VR tour of a remote eco-park, built for people who could never visit it in person. That project became MoViT, and the research behind it was published internationally as Chapter 7 of Springer's e-Consumers in the Era of New Tourism, presented at Waseda University in Tokyo. I was still a student.
Published as Chapter 7 in Springer's e-Consumers in the Era of New Tourism
The Barista Chapter
A new country, a fresh graduate, and an industry that wanted Canadian experience first
When I moved to Canada in 2015, breaking into the design industry wasn't as simple as showing up with a portfolio. I was a fresh graduate with no Canadian work experience, and that gap matters here. While I kept applying and trying to get a foot in the door, I needed to survive. I joined Starbucks. What I found there surprised me: making coffee is a user experience problem. Every order is a constraint. Every customer is a user with a need, a mood, and a context. I became a Barista Trainer, then a Shift Supervisor, then a Coffee Master, a distinction fewer than 1% of partners ever earn. It wasn't the path I planned, but it taught me more about real human behaviour than any design course could.
Coffee Master, Barista Trainer, Shift Supervisor at Starbucks
Nearly a decade of reading what people actually needed, usually before they said it out loud.
The Designer's Return
Design was always the destination. Now it's the reality
I didn't ease back into design; I committed to it completely. A Professional Diploma from the UX Design Institute. A certificate from BrainStation. Uxcel. I wasn't collecting credentials for the sake of it; I was building a toolkit deliberately, from multiple angles. Today I bring together an IT foundation, front-end fluency, and the human empathy developed across years of customer-facing work. That combination doesn't happen by accident, and you can see it in the work, like CozyPaws, which came directly from watching pet owners struggle with broken booking flows.
UX Design Institute, BrainStation, Uxcel
The detour taught me more about people than any design course could have.
Senior Production Designer at DIRTT
Building credentials, sharpening craft, pursuing certification
I'm now a Senior Production Designer at DIRTT, promoted in July 2026 after a year of running the Artwork Department and rebuilding the pipeline that runs through it. Professional-grade design craft is the standard here, not the aspiration, and it's sharpened my eye for detail and my ability to deliver polished work under real production pressure. I hold the Certified RGD designation, Canada's only nationally regulated professional credential for designers, signalling rigorous standards in design ethics, business practice, and technical skill. I'm also an IXDF member, staying current with evolving best practices in user research, interaction patterns, and design thinking. I'm looking for service design, UX research, and process improvement roles where I can bring the full toolkit: research, systems thinking, empathy, and craft.
The person behind the work
Four Huskies
Sapphie, Sabre, Snow, and Skipper, all named with 'S' after me. We hit off-leash parks every weekend. Sound familiar? That's where the idea for CozyPaws came from.
Fantasy Gamer
I've been playing Genshin Impact since launch day. I'm drawn to games with deep lore, rich character arcs, and stunning visual design, the same qualities that make great UX.
PC Builder
I built my rig from scratch and I'm constantly upgrading it. Understanding how hardware works makes me a better collaborator with developers and engineers.
Lifelong Learner
I presented at Waseda University in Tokyo and had my research published by Springer, not because I was chasing accolades but because the work mattered and I wanted to do it right.
Expertise
UX Research
User interviews, personas, journey maps, affinity diagrams
Wireframing
Low-fidelity sketches to high-fidelity interactive prototypes
UI Design
Visual systems, brand identity, every pixel with purpose
Front-End Collab
IT background bridges design and technical reality
Usability Testing
Test across devices, iterate with data, design for real people
Academic Research
International conference presentation and Springer publication
Empathize
I start with people, not assumptions.
Define
Frame the real problem before solving it.
Ideate
Many bad ideas before one good one.
Prototype
Show it. Rough first, polished fast.
Test & Outcome
User feedback over my opinions, always.
I work in Figma, Adobe CC, Miro, Framer and Notion, and I build working prototypes in code when a static mockup will not answer the question. AI sits inside that workflow for research synthesis and rapid iteration, not in place of the thinking.
"I've taken an unconventional path: from software, to coffee, to design. Every chapter shaped how I think, empathize, and build. I'm looking for a team that values the whole person behind the portfolio."
Outside my work at DIRTT, I take on selective UX projects with small businesses.