I'm an inter-disciplinary designer crafting imaginative experiences.

Hi, I'm Dawson Wood, a designer based in British Columbia who treats every project as an act of world-building—whether it's a brand identity, a game, or a physical product. My work starts with physical artifacts: vintage newspapers, print ephemera, and analog textures that I scan and repurpose to anchor digital experiences in something real and lived-in. There's a weight to these materials that brings authenticity to contemporary work.

I came to design through industrial design, which taught me to think about structure, materiality, and how people interact with objects. That foundation carries into everything—I'm as interested in how a layout guides the eye as I am in how a product sits in the hand or how a brand system holds together. Bold visuals grounded in historical craft, modern tools informed by outdated techniques.

Hi, I'm Dawson Wood, a designer based in British Columbia. My work starts with physical artifacts—vintage newspapers, print ephemera, analog textures—that I scan and repurpose to ground digital experiences in something real.

With a background in industrial design, I bring bold visuals rooted in historical craft across branding, games, and products.

Let's build something together.

Project Showcase

DESIGN THEORY:

Several consistent design philosophies emerge—patterns that reveal how I approach problems regardless of medium or audience. These aren't separate principles; they're interconnected beliefs about what makes design truly work for people.

1. Making Invisible Systems Visible

Complex ideas become accessible when they're made tangible and observable. Whether it's STEM concepts for preschoolers, suppressed historical narratives, or the passage of time in a single location, I focus on transforming abstract systems into experiences people can see, touch, and understand intuitively.

Mecha Builders, Age of Aquarius, NanaimoVision, Sea Stories

2. Tactility as Learning Language

Physical interaction creates understanding that screens alone cannot achieve. The weight of a card, the click of a spinner, the resistance of sand—these sensory details aren't decoration. They're how we learn, remember, and make meaning. When design honors the body's role in cognition, complexity becomes navigable.

Redboy & The Adventure Crew, Wicked West, Hydroslide, Modular Handheld

3. Co-Creation & Community-Centered Design

The best solutions emerge when you design with people, not for them. I prioritize direct collaboration with the communities my work serves—whether that's children with learning differences, parents seeking connection, or historians preserving marginalized voices. Their expertise shapes every decision, ensuring designs meet real needs rather than assumed ones.

Hydroslide, Sea Stories, Age of Aquarius, NanaimoVision

4. Accessibility as Core Design, Not Addition

Inclusive design makes better products for everyone, not just edge cases. When I center the needs of non-readers, left-handed players, or users with limited mobility, the resulting designs become clearer, more intuitive, and more flexible for all users. Accessibility isn't a feature—it's a lens that reveals better solutions.

Mecha Builders, Modular Handheld, NanaimoVision, Age of Aquarius

5. Form Serves Function Serves Theme

The strongest designs unify aesthetics, mechanics, and meaning into one coherent whole. When visual style reinforces how something works, and both express why it matters, users don't just understand the design—they feel it. This alignment transforms functional objects into experiences that resonate emotionally.

Age of Aquarius, Wicked West, Redboy, NanaimoVision

What This All Means

These five principles aren't a checklist—they're a unified approach to a central question: How do we create experiences that respect intelligence, honour context, and remove barriers to wonder? I don't design for hypothetical "average users." I design for specific people with real needs—preschoolers who can't read yet, left-handed gamers tired of compromise, communities whose histories have been erased, parents who want to connect with their children through play.

The through-line isn't a visual style or preferred medium. It's a commitment to meeting people where they are while refusing to accept that accessibility, beauty, and depth are mutually exclusive. Whether it's a video game, a tabletop prototype, a public sculpture, or an educational toy, the question remains the same: What barriers can I remove? What complexity can I make intuitive? Whose voice needs amplifying? This portfolio represents my answer: experiences that feel effortless because the hard work happened in design, not in use.

Let's build something that matters

Every project here asks: How do we make this easier, more intuitive, more joyful? I design experiences that respect intelligence and remove barriers—whether it's teaching STEM through sand molds, creating controllers for left-handed gamers, or revealing suppressed histories through interactive storytelling.

I'm available for game design, UX consultation, and projects that center accessibility and community impact. If you're building something that puts people first, let's talk.