CF Grugan

CF often describes his career as a series of happy accidents that led him to become a leader in a field that, at the time, barely had a name. His journey started in graphic design, took a detour through academia as a professor, and ultimately landed him in software engineering. Along the way, he realized the immense friction between the worlds of design and development wasn't a people problem, but a language problem.

This insight led him to build Comcast's first-ever Design Engineering team—a group of engineers living within the design org—to act as translators. His team created a shared language built on design systems, design tokens, and automated pipelines, which allowed them to deliver theme-able, reusable components that both designers and engineers could trust, ultimately changing how the company's products were built.

Today, I find myself in a leadership position within a rapidly evolving field that defies easy categorization. It's a role that requires constant learning, adaptation, and the ability to see connections where others might see contradictions.

I believe that the most innovative solutions often emerge from the intersection of seemingly disparate disciplines. My approach combines analytical thinking with creative intuition, drawing from both technical expertise and artistic sensibility to tackle complex challenges.

Whether I'm working on digital interactions, building communities, or creating analog art, I'm guided by a commitment to authenticity and a belief that technology should serve human needs and experiences, not the other way around.