Ariana Davies
UX + PRODUCT DESIGNER
ARIANA_
Her design language lives in the space between creativity and psychology.
Who I Am
“Good designers never start by trying to solve the problem given to them: they start by trying to understand what the real issues are.”
– Don Norman
We can always take estimated guesses to what the problem can be, but we’ll never know until the user reveals it to us. The user is the reason we design, so understanding what they need is the pinnacle of success.
“Systems thinking is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for
seeing patterns rather than static snapshots.”
– Peter Senge
Everything is connected in some capacity and it’s important to recognize that. Patterns are
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like.
Design is how it works.“
– Steve Jobs
When I’m not designing, I’m in the woods. I study how mycorrhizal networks pass nutrients between trees — a living internet built on reciprocity. It’s shaped everything about how I think about design systems, component libraries, and teams.
Four Truths from the Forest
Every principle I design by, I learned somewhere green and quiet first.
Networks Over Nodes
Systems Thinking & Design ArchitectureBeneath every old-growth forest is a mycelial web connecting thousands of trees — sharing nutrients, passing warnings, caring for the dying. I think like a network. I never design a single component; I design the relationship between all of them.
Intention Over Urgency
Pace, Patience & Iterative ProcessThe tide doesn’t rush — and it still reshapes continents. I’ve learned to hold space in my process the same way: moving with rhythm instead of react. The best work emerges when you stop forcing it and start listening to what it wants to become.
Growth Is the Design
Long-term Thinking & Iterative CraftA seed doesn’t apologize for not being a tree yet. Good design is the same — it has to move through stages of becoming. I embrace early ugliness, messy middles, and the quiet moment when something finally roots. I plant things I won’t always see fully bloom.
Drawn to the Light
Curiosity, Transformation & ReinventionThe moth doesn’t fight the dark — it navigates by the moon and searches for meaning in light. I’ve redesigned myself as many times as my work. Curiosity is the through-line. I’m always willing to dissolve the old version and emerge as something that fits what’s needed next.
What I Navigate By
Hover any star. Every skill is a point of light — and the lines between them are where the real magic lives.
What Grows in Me
The things I return to when the screens are off. Scroll to explore.
Where I first learned the grammar of systems and worlds
The one language the body speaks before the mind catches up
Proof that paying attention is its own reward
The fastest way to realize how beautifully wide the world is
Something living that only asks for water and a little patience
Where precision and intuition finally agree on something delicious
Thinking out loud without having to use words
Where I’ve Been
Photography is how I slow down. Every frame is proof that the world is worth paying attention to.
“The oldest trees here were saplings before any city on this continent existed.”
“An hour I will remember longer than most years.”
“Nothing humbles you faster than the Pacific at dawn.”
“Cities look most honest after midnight.”
“Sound before sight — the jungle announces itself.”
“At this elevation the silence has texture.”
“Can you remember who you were,
before the world told you who you should be?”
— Charles Bukowski
See the Work