Who is Devin Pickering?

A design and AI leader with about fifteen years across startups and the Fortune 500. He leads design teams to solve hard problems and deliver products that work, and he still designs and builds himself.

Is Devin available to hire?

Yes. He is open to Director, VP, and C-suite design roles, and he takes on fractional design leadership and consulting through his studio, Surf Studios.

What makes Devin different from other design leaders?

He leads design and drives AI transformation at a senior level, a rare combination, and he still does the work himself rather than only directing it.

An AI-native company Devin founded, where AI agents write and illustrate personalized hardcover children’s books while humans supervise. It is live and delivering.

Where is Devin based?

Austin, Texas, and he works with teams anywhere.

How do I get in touch with Devin?

Send Devin a note from the contact page at devinpickering.com/contact/, which also has a button to copy his email address.

About

Hi, I’m Devin.

Most design leaders direct. I direct and build, leading design teams to solve complex problems, create clarity, and deliver products that work. Fifteen years across startups and the Fortune 500. I don’t bulldoze. I align, then raise the bar.

What I can do for you.

Lead your design org: Build, coach, and keep strong teams. Clear vision, honest critique, senior talent that stays and grows.
Make it AI-first: I run an AI-native company and lead an AI-first team today. I move AI from novelty to the default way design works.
Raise the craft bar: Org-wide design systems, evidence over opinion, and taste. Communicate, don’t decorate.

Selected work

Story Genie: Founded an AI company where parents make any story with any character, turning their child into the hero of a custom hardcover built to delight, teach, and stay with them.

Story Genie2023–Now

North America’s Largest Apparel Platform: Leading UXR, UX, and UI for one of the largest B2B and B2C apparel platforms in the US: I own the site design end to end, ship products that move real revenue, grow the team, and took the org AI-first.

North America’s Largest Apparel Platform2022–Now

Kinjo: Led design for two iOS apps that turn Roblox screen time into learning, on one scalable design system.

Kinjo2021–2022

Surf Studios · Client Work: The automotive industry's leading international brands trust my agency for digital design, growth, and the build, end to end: Permatex, Fast Orange, Spray Nine, Versachem, Evercoat, and more.

Surf Studios · Client Work2020–Now

See all my work →

How I got here.

2008: Founded iceDive Creative Solutions. My first company: a full-service design and web studio. It grew from my freelance work into a partnership with an established studio owner that ran under my brand, hundreds of sites plus our own web and email hosting, before its 2016 acquisition by nvision solutions.
2017: The Mysterious Package Company. Web Director in Toronto. Rebuilt the flagship store, conversion up 18.8%, A/B tested. Learned that story sells.
2018: Enverus, Creative Director. One creative voice across 10+ international brands at a multi-billion-dollar energy data-analytics company.
2019: Supply Drop, Design Director. Made a prediction engine feel simple enough to trust. Twelve months of homepage iterations, delivered.
2020: Founded Surf Studios. Big-name brands, no handoffs: Permatex, Evercoat, Fast Orange, and more, designed and built end to end.
2021: Kinjo, Design Director. Shipped two iOS apps on one design system. Learned to make growth a design problem.
2022: SanMar, Sr Manager of UX Product Design. Took a multi-billion-dollar design org AI-first. Still leading it today.
2023: Founded Story Genie. An AI-native company where agents produce and humans direct. Live and delivering hardcovers.
Now: All three at once. The apparel platform, the studio, the startup. Different scales, same bar.

Off the clock.

I’ve been designing since I was a kid. I sold my first website at 13 and never really clocked out since. Design isn’t a 9 to 5 for me, it’s how I think, and the work doesn’t stop when the workday does.

I build things because I like building them, not because anyone asked, the same instinct that became Story Genie. Here are a few of them. Off the screen, it’s usually the tin whistle, some Irish music, or a trail.

A browser game I built

Typing Quest: a keyboard game that draws magical creatures, set on a starfield — Typing Quest. Press a letter and a magical creature appears. Drawing, unicorns, and a glowing keyboard, all in the browser. A separate little thing I made for the fun of it.

Built by me, from my phone

An AI version of me.

The chat bubble in the corner is me: my real voice, my real work. For fun, you can also dress me up as one of sixteen characters and talk to that version instead. I built the whole thing myself, from my phone, with AI.

Or switch me into a character, hover a portrait and it’ll talk back.

The arcade.

Three games living inside the chat, each one I coded and built from scratch. You can beat me at all of them.

One of my Reddit RPAN livestreams once peaked at more than 840,000 viewers.

Accomplishments.

30+major product launches across B2B and B2C

20+designers mentored into lead and principal roles

160+sales scripts a year, now written by an agent I built

300+Figma users I grew across a 6,000-person org

“The most talented and innovative creative director I have ever worked with. Any team would be so lucky to have Devin leading the charge.”

VP of Marketing, managed Devin directly

Delivered, end to end

storygeniebooks.com · permatex.com · fastorangeclean.com · spraynine.com · versachem.com · training.evercoat.com · supplydrop.com · enverus.com. All designed and built by me. No cookie cutters.

Tools

Figma, Adobe Suite, HTML/CSS, WordPress, Shopify, plus the AI design and prototyping stack my teams run on. I take the work seriously, not myself. I ask good questions, coach without ego, and still think a well-timed GIF is sometimes the best UX.

Questions people ask.

Who is Devin Pickering?: A design and AI leader with about fifteen years across startups and the Fortune 500. He leads design teams to solve hard problems and deliver products that work, and he still designs and builds himself.
Is Devin available to hire?: Yes. He is open to Director, VP, and C-suite design roles, and he takes on fractional design leadership and consulting through his studio, Surf Studios.
What makes Devin different from other design leaders?: He leads design and drives AI transformation at a senior level, a rare combination, and he still does the work himself rather than only directing it.
What is Story Genie?: An AI-native company Devin founded, where AI agents write and illustrate personalized hardcover children’s books while humans supervise. It is live and delivering.
Where is Devin based?: Austin, Texas, and he works with teams anywhere.
How do I get in touch with Devin?: Send me a note on the contact page. There is a button there to copy my email too, if you would rather write to me directly.