Six years in Singapore at Grey Digital (then called Yolk before the rebrand), working as a front-end and UI developer across digital products, campaign sites, and brand work for some of the biggest clients in the region. This was the role that made me a design engineer in practice, well before the term existed.

Most of the work landed at the seam between visual design and the browser. I built the responsive HTML, the CSS, the interactive layer, and the email templates. I worked closely with project management and back-end on application logic, and I spent more time than I expected on cross-browser compatibility, performance, and the small details of how a campaign feels when you load it on the wrong device.

The shape of the role

The work fell into a few rough bands:

• Campaign sites and microsites for global brands: Microsoft, HBO, Canon, HSBC, Qatar Airways, Procter & Gamble
• Interactive touchscreens, mobile apps, and email marketing templates for the same client roster
• The plumbing that made all of it possible: reusable components, performance work, and the validation and integration glue between front-end and back-end

The clients were big and the work was constantly shipping. I learned in that role that the technical feasibility of a UI/UX design is a design decision in itself, and that the front-end developer is often the last person standing between a concept and the people using it.