Appstem – Chris Harris Profile
Albert Einstein said, "after a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well." Appstem Creative Director Chris Harris has a similar perspective when it comes to combining his expertise in both art and science to design and build meaningful apps for the company’s array of clients.
Chris studied art and design at Cal Poly and spent his early career doing traditional graphic design work for a variety of industries, creating things like marketing materials, websites and print collateral. It was a job designing books that changed the way he looked at his career trajectory. By immersing himself in the systematic process of book design - arguably the very first kind of graphic design - Chris began thinking critically about design systems and the ways that a collection of components, colors and other elements could be combined to create a functional design. It was this idea of putting components together into a technical design that originally drew Chris to Appstem.
CEO Robert Armstrong was looking for a designer to assist with projects and was connected with Chris by an Appstem employee that Chris had worked with at a previous agency.
“Chris does so much more than a typical Creative Director. He’s taken on more of a product owner role for many of our larger client projects while also overseeing the design and development efforts. He’s an expert in building digital products from the ground up and seeing them through to completion. He’s also pretty technical and even develops software in his free time.” - Robert Armstrong, Appstem CEO.
Chris came on board as the first full-time designer, but soon helped build out the team. The move to grow the design bench better positioned Appstem to be a more holistic partner to its clients. The team doesn’t just look at the technical needs of a project. They bring knowledge and design experience to each client, helping build a final product that not only meets a client’s original needs but also provides additional strategic value, often leading to long term strategic relationships.
“The company has evolved from pure development to fully integrated design services,” Chris said. “We not only work to understand a client’s business objectives, but we are also able to help bring blurry, more nebulous ideas into focus to create functional and accessible designs. It takes both art and science to do that.”
Chris’ deep curiosity about how things work extends to some of his interests outside of Appstem. Two of his other passions - bread baking and homebrewing - are also built on the concept of putting elements together in a precise and deliberate way to create a finished product. In other words, they also marry art and science to reach their final design.
“Everyone has a subjective opinion on taste and flavor, but both baking and brewing are about craft and chemistry. It’s the same with apps. The technological elements need to be there, but it takes design to make them appeal to the end users,” he said.
Chris is always looking for talented designers to join his team. To learn more about career opportunities at Appstem, visit https://appstem.com/careers.
