My name is Landon. I’m 17 years old, and I live in New Hampshire, USA. My whole life, I’ve always been a curious and creative kid. When I was really young, I was constantly taking my baby sister’s toys apart and putting them back together just to see how they worked. Back then, I was also crazy obsessed with bridges and how they functioned. I would always go with my great-grandfather to watch the progress on a local bridge being rebuilt over the river, and I made sure to draw pictures of bridges, crafting what seemed like a new drawing every day. Along with that, at this young age, I was also obsessed with how businesses are run and marketing of these businesses. I remember pretending my great grandparents house was a whole foods and I pretended to run it like a real business, making up advertisements and commercials and acting them out in front of my grandparents.

As time went on, middle school came around, and I sort of lost my passion for bridges and physical creations, shifting my focus to digital creations instead. I became obsessed with Apple and their products—almost a little too much—and followed their every move. The COVID-19 pandemic hit when I was in sixth grade, giving me even more time to explore the possibilities of the internet. Although I had this burning passion for technology and creating things, I always felt the need to hide this part of myself from my friends or anyone else at school, fearing judgment or being stereotyped with a certain group of people. Today, I’m still a bit like this, not really open with my inner circle about my passion—not out of fear of judgment but just to spare them from boredom by telling them all this.

In about seventh grade, I discovered Adobe XD and started tinkering by copying existing user interfaces found on the iPhone, maybe adding my own twist with what I thought was visually appealing (looking back, those designs were horrendous 😭). I moved on to other tools but finally landed on Figma, and I’ve been there ever since. My graphic design skills have greatly improved since seventh grade, but there’s still so much more for me to learn. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a concept or design that I started, mostly because of my impulsivity and how easily I get bored. However, I do use my graphic design skills for school projects and to flex my ability to make better-looking Google Slides and posters than everyone else.

In September 2023, I got the spontaneous idea to create SchoolMate, mostly because my school’s provided app looked absolutely terrible. I initially created it for myself, but then I decided to release it on the App Store for others to try out. Coding was never my strong suit, but with the help of AI and ChatGPT, I learned the basics and now consider myself a pretty good beginner. I mainly code and update SchoolMate as something to do when I’m bored, but I’m glad to also have the opportunity to share it with the world on the App Store. SchoolMate has also given me the ability to play with marketing on social media and in the app store, using trial and error to find what really sells SchoolMate as a product, even if that's to only a few people.

Besides coding, I also sell my old clothes on Depop and eBay (if anyone’s looking), and I love going to the beach with all my friends, cooking, and playing around with music creation and remixes. I'm never focused on one thing, and I am also never stuck inside on my computer all day. I have so many different interests that I like to keep to build a happy balanced life for myself.

Below, you can see the evolution of some of the things that I have created and how I have evolved as a designer.