Nathan Curtis

DESIGN SYSTEM CONSULTant

Nathan started Directed Edges in 2024 to provide design system expertise to clients and the worldwide community. He's passionate about information architecture and consults with design systems teams to architect solutions, drive strategy and optimize operations.

Nathan wrote Modular Web Design in 2009, authors a well-known design systems blog, and speaks at events worldwide. Prior to starting Directed Edges, Nathan led EightShapes with Dan Brown from 2006 to 2024.

Experience

Since 2006, Nathan has consulted with 80+ design system teams, including:

Morningstar (24)

Verizon (24)

Cisco (24)

Marriott (18)

Fidelity (12)

Discovery (12)

Credit Karma (12)

Capital One (9)

Target (6)

REI (3)

IDEXX (6)

ServiceNow (6)

NetApp (6)

Hudl

Google

Salesforce

Twitter

Sun

Nationwide

eBay

Ancestry

Atlassian

Citi

Automattic

Wells Fargo

Dropbox

Yahoo

Faire

Liberty Mutual

Software AG

Paylocity

FCS America

Morningstar (24)

Verizon (24)

Cisco (24)

Marriott (18)

Fidelity (12)

Discovery (12)

Credit Karma (12)

Capital One (9)

Target (6)

REI (3)

IDEXX (6)

ServiceNow (6)

NetApp (6)

Hudl

Google

Salesforce

Twitter

Sun

Nationwide

eBay

Ancestry

Atlassian

Citi

Automattic

Wells Fargo

Dropbox

Yahoo

Faire

Liberty Mutual

Software AG

Paylocity

FCS America

Morningstar (24)

Verizon (24)

Cisco (24)

Marriott (18)

Fidelity (12)

Discovery (12)

Credit Karma (12)

Capital One (9)

Target (6)

REI (3)

IDEXX (6)

ServiceNow (6)

NetApp (6)

Hudl

Google

Salesforce

Twitter

Sun

Nationwide

eBay

Ancestry

Atlassian

Citi

Automattic

Wells Fargo

Dropbox

Yahoo

Faire

Liberty Mutual

Software AG

Paylocity

FCS America

(##) indicates months serving as a lead driving the design system program.

Writing

Writing

Writing

A design systems book before "design systems." It elaborates on component architecture, how to build libraries and create component and pattern docs using tools of the day.

Tools

Nathan has been making and sharing useful design systems tools with community since 2006. Remember EightShapes Unify, the InDesign design docs and specs templates? How about those Adobe Illustrator keyboard shortcuts?

Recent tools include:

Figma plugin
Figma plugin

Tools

Nathan has been making and sharing useful design systems tools with community since 2006. Remember EightShapes Unify, the InDesign design docs and specs templates? How about those Adobe Illustrator keyboard shortcuts?

Recent tools include:

Figma plugin
Figma plugin

Tools

Nathan has been making and sharing useful design systems tools with community since 2006. Remember EightShapes Unify, the InDesign design docs and specs templates? How about those Adobe Illustrator keyboard shortcuts?

Recent tools include:

Figma plugin
Figma plugin

Appearances

Appearances

Appearances

Workshops

Design tokens & UI component architecture

Conceive, built and support a scalable architecture of configurable and composable design tokens and UI components for a durable library that stands the test of time.

Design system planning and process

Scope, plan and run processes to make features, deliver releases, tackle complex initiatives, and guide an organization through a major new generation of an entire library.

recent Talks
2024
2024
2024

SmashingConf

Antwerp, Belgium

October 2024

SmashingConf

Antwerp, Belgium

October 2024

SmashingConf

Antwerp, Belgium

October 2024

SmashingConf

New York, NY

October, 2024

SmashingConf

New York, NY

October, 2024

SmashingConf

New York, NY

October, 2024

Converge by ZeroHeight

Brighton, UK

October, 2024

Converge by ZeroHeight

Brighton, UK

October, 2024

Converge by ZeroHeight

Brighton, UK

October, 2024

Into Design Systems

Online

May 2024

Into Design Systems

Online

May 2024

Into Design Systems

Online

May 2024

2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022

Figma Schema

New York, NY

November 2022

Figma Schema

New York, NY

November 2022

Figma Schema

New York, NY

November 2022

Directed Edges LLC

12805 Misty Creek Ln

Fairfax, VA 22033


Twitter • LinkedIn • Email

Directed Edges LLC

12805 Misty Creek Ln

Fairfax, VA 22033


Twitter • LinkedIn • Email

Directed Edges LLC

12805 Misty Creek Ln

Fairfax, VA 22033


Twitter • LinkedIn • Email