Front-end engineering
React, Next.js, TypeScript, Astro, Tailwind, accessibility-first UI, progressive enhancement, performance tuning.
About
Builder energy, systems thinking, brand sensibility.
I'm Forrest, a multidisciplinary web developer specializing in front-end engineering, rapid tool prototyping, and collaborative brand design. Whether it's a product launch, internal dashboard, or marketing presence, I blend strategic thinking with hands-on implementation.
My work spans modern JavaScript frameworks, design systems, and the little details that make an experience memorable. Years of creating alongside agencies and early-stage teams taught me how to connect narrative, art direction, and interaction design into one cohesive story.
That background shows up in the way I guide rebrands, workshop tone and typography, and build modular asset kits so every touchpoint stays expressive. I'm equally comfortable pairing with product teams on architecture or refining typography until the layout feels right.
Capabilities
Tools, stacks, and workflows I rely on.
Product & tooling
Internal tools, design system kits, developer workflows, component libraries, Figma to code pipelines, documentation.
Brand & visual direction
Creative direction, art direction sprints, marketing sites, interactive storytelling, motion systems aligned with brand.
Collaboration
Leading multi-disciplinary pods, pairing with designers, mentoring engineers, and aligning exec stakeholders.
Experience
Recent roles and collaborations.
Harristechsolutions · Platform relaunch
End-to-end redesign and build for a tech support agency, blending product storytelling with a modular services catalog tailored to rapid-response teams.
- Crafted a headless CMS architecture so the team can launch service pages in minutes.
- Directed visual language tying together case studies, illustrations, and live data badges.
- Implemented performance budgets that keep the site sub-1s on Core Web Vitals.
Jake Inderman Homes · Boutique brokerage site
Designed and engineered an Aspire Mortgage partner site that balances premium listings with a personable, editorial tone.
- Built a searchable property showcase with CMS-driven filters and saved tour itineraries.
- Established a typography + photo treatment system that matches Jake’s analog brand kit.
- Automated listing imports and newsletter signup workflows to reduce manual upkeep.
MatttalksMortgage · Content-driven lead engine
Partnered with Aspire Mortgage’s MatttalksMortgage team to launch a content hub and booking funnel that feels more like a media brand.
- Produced a video-first layout system that adapts to long-form guides, shorts, and calculators.
- Integrated Calendly + CRM automations so inquiries route to the right follow-up track instantly.
- Spun up a Notion-to-site publishing workflow so new resources publish without developer help.
Selected work
Highlights from tool building and brand design.
Media Automation Tool
Premium mock-up shell showing how creative direction, integrated data, and on-brand motion can run a brokerage’s entire media arm from a single dashboard. Recruiters see how content ops, approvals, and live analytics feed a central canvas before shipping across channels, plus how editorial calendars, asset pipelines, and client reviews stay synchronized without endless vendor coordination.
The system demonstrates resource tagging, sentiment scoring, and legal sign-off trails so every deliverable is audit-ready. Stakeholders can preview cross-channel storytelling, adjust budget pacing, and trigger downstream automations using the same interface, proving how a single creative control room shrinks turnaround time while scaling content volume responsibly.
- Centralizes storytelling blocks, campaign assets, and live KPIs for leadership sign-off.
- Feeds downstream tools through API hooks so media drops, newsletters, and SMS hit simultaneously.
Custom CRM
Tailor-made workspace layering intake forms, profile timelines, and nurture scripts so hybrid teams see context instantly. Recruiters can trace every touchpoint, see what content performed, and personalize outreach on the spot, while leadership dashboards highlight revenue signals, staffing loads, and follow-up health in one glance.
The CRM storyboards qualification logic, embeds tone-of-voice snippets, and includes frictionless handoff notes so talent, sales, and operations each understand what to do next. Playbooks showcase how structured data captures nuance (family needs, budget guardrails, preferred communication cadence) and then automatically informs reporting, making it easy for hiring partners to grasp the impact.
Additional overlays simulate permissioning models, SLA timers, and cross-team comments so stakeholders can visualize governance-ready workflows without extra plugins.
- Structured in Sheets/Notion + synced via service accounts to stay editable without engineering.
- Connects seamlessly to the media automation shell for one source of truth across sales + marketing.
Automation Toolset
A suite of workflows orchestrating campaigns, alerts, and data hygiene with zero manual upkeep. Recruiters can see exactly how leads route, how reminders auto-fire, and which signals trigger retention plays, plus how vendor handoffs, compliance checks, and reporting packets automatically compile for leadership every week.
The toolset demonstrates branching automations: when a lead converts, it fires onboarding assets; when a deal stalls, it nudges content playlists; when a partner submits data, it reconciles sources and updates dashboards. These flows highlight how engineering-light operations can still feel enterprise-grade, reassuring recruiting stakeholders that the system anticipates scale and governance needs from day one.
There’s also a visual sandbox to test scenarios, letting hiring teams stress-test the automations before rolling into production.
- Google Workspace automations, custom APIs, and lightweight scripts that mirror enterprise stacks.
- Hands-off QA and deployment rituals baked in so ops teams can swap modules safely.
Ideas & notes
Field notes from building expressive products.
Bundled ops with Google Workspace
Google Workspace is the rare bundled stack that satisfies both IT and creative teams. Unifying mail, chat, docs, calendars, and App Script bots gives every department the same source of truth without bolting on six extra tools. Shared drives host briefs, calendars anchor launch cadences, and App Script automates CRM handoffs directly inside Sheets so small teams move like enterprise orgs.
Read article →Turning static assets into flexible media
Media automation isn’t about scheduling posts anymore—it’s about treating every asset as a dynamic object that can become a TikTok script, newsletter, or PDF in minutes. By anchoring copy, imagery, and data in a single schema, automation tools decide which format to ship next, letting lean teams behave like full studios without burning out.
Read article →Brand, theme, and product direction alignment
Campaigns collapse when content direction, theme design, and product execution drift apart. Mapping campaign pillars into theme tokens keeps typography, spacing, and motion aligned with product requirements—so every screen reinforces the story, approvals fall faster, and costly mid-flight rebrands disappear.
Read article →Tooling
From scripts to system thinking.
I regularly ship internal tools that keep teams unblocked: component generators, CI pipelines, quality bots, and integration scripts. My background across the stack helps me find leverage and automate where it matters.
Preferred stack: TypeScript everywhere, Node + Vite for prototyping, PNPM for mono-repo management, Tailwind or vanilla CSS with custom properties, Storybook for visual QA, and Notion for process documentation.
Contact
Let’s create something deliberate.
Have a product launch, design system, or tooling problem that needs a builder who understands brand? I take on a limited number of collaborations each quarter.
forrestsmithb@gmail.com