# Front-end Design Engineer — AI-accelerated interface design in code URL: https://indiecrafts.dev/ Freelance front-end design engineer in the French Alps — UX design, UI design, product design and design systems. I design and build websites and digital interfaces directly in code, accelerated by AI. - **Eyebrow**: Config-first template ### Ship client websites in a weekend A modular Next.js foundation with i18n, SEO, a11y and Tailwind wired up — edit config, not code. ## Blocks #### The Web Atelier of the Alps - **Location**: Grenoble, Annecy, Genève #### Direct interface generation, expertly steered by AI I use my creative and critical eye to iterate with an AI agent — as if I did it by hand, only faster. That saved time goes back into the finishing of your projects. #### Steps ###### 1. Frame, then prototype We validate your goals and the technical complexity. I then quickly structure a working prototype from our discussions and your content, avoiding the mockup phase. ###### 2. Iterate fast You react to an interactive prototype, available online. After each iteration, the flow logic, the information architecture and the feel improve, until the structure is validated. ###### 3. Style and optimize Brand image, design and interactions are polished on a solid, coherent structure for maximum conversion. We also tune speed, SEO and accessibility before going live. #### Illustrations - **Project**: Aura Website - **Task1**: Activity presentation - **Task2**: A modern image - **Task3**: On-site quote - **Task4**: Fast loading - **Task5**: SEO optimised - **Feedback1**: Love the structure 🔥 - **Feedback2**: Can the "Get a quote" pop a bit more? - **Brand**: Aura - **Nav1**: Offers - **Nav2**: Pricing - **Nav3**: Clients - **Nav Cta**: Start - **Badge**: 2026 Trends Report - **Headline**: BigTech know-how, now yours - **Subhead**: The skills, standards and polish BigTech uses — transferred to your team. - **Cta**: Get a quote - **Cta Secondary**: Live demo - **Feature1**: Automation - **Feature2**: Cloud - **Feature3**: Product design - **Feature4**: Data & AI - **Feature Desc1**: Repetitive work handled automatically, end to end. - **Feature Desc2**: Scalable, secure infrastructure that grows with you. - **Feature Desc3**: Interfaces your customers actually enjoy using. - **Feature Desc4**: Turn your data into decisions, with AI built in. - **Audit Seo**: SEO - **Audit Performance**: Performance - **Audit Accessibility**: Accessibility #### The questions I'm asked most. How I work, what I build with, and what a project looks like — the short version. #### Items ##### Q1 - **Q**: What exactly is a front-end design engineer? - **A**: A hybrid role at the border of design and front-end development — often described as a "designer who codes" or a "UX unicorn". ##### Q2 - **Q**: You mention AI — who's actually doing the work? - **A**: Me. I use AI as a tool, not as autopilot: I keep the creative eye and critical judgment, and I direct and correct every iteration. ##### Q3 - **Q**: How does a project actually run? - **A**: Three steps: framing and a code prototype (no mockups), iterations on a live interactive prototype, then styling and optimisation (speed, SEO, accessibility). ##### Q4 - **Q**: Can you take on the whole project, or work with my team? - **A**: Both, depending on complexity. I run projects end to end, or pair with your developers and product team. ##### Q5 - **Q**: What does a project cost, and how do you bill? - **A**: Every project is quoted individually, after a short call, based on the work, its complexity and your timeline. ##### Q6 - **Q**: Where are you based, and do you work remotely? - **A**: I'm based in the French Alps and work remotely across France and Switzerland — and can come on-site on request. #### Tell me what you'd like to build. - **Intro**: A short message is enough — what the work is, roughly what you're aiming for, and when. I reply within two working days with a few questions and a time for a 30-minute call. - **Linkedin Label**: Connect on LinkedIn ##### Name - **Label**: Your name - **Placeholder**: Your name ##### Email - **Label**: Your email - **Placeholder**: you@example.com ##### Message - **Label**: Your brief - **Placeholder**: What are you planning? Rough scope, budget, and timing — and the best way to reach you. - **Submit**: Send the brief - **Sent**: Message sent — thanks, I'll get back to you shortly. - **Error**: Sending failed. Please retry or email me directly. #### They trusted Indiecrafts. A heartfelt thank-you to the teams and leaders who placed their trust in me and helped me grow professionally. #### Items - **Text**: His design approach including code very early in the design process was a perfect fit with our Agile workflow, lifting deliverable quality without slowing the cadence. His comprehension of business goals delivered high-end solutions that pleased our products' users. ###### Julien Laure ###### Partner @ Theodo - **Text**: If you're looking for someone who can develop and expand your design system and speak the language of your engineering team, reach out to Thibault. Despite working for us as a contractor, I especially appreciated his ability to lead and drive his work independently. ###### Robert Kortenoeven ###### Design Leader, Miro, ex-Zalando - **Text**: Thibault did an amazing job during the last 4 years with us at BNPP CIB. From ideation to production, his knowledge, skills and expertise allowed to rapidly create well-designed products and services that are currently used by thousands of users on a daily basis. ###### Julien Veybel ###### Executive Leader · BNP Paribas CIB #### For those who want an autonomous, efficient expert. Smaller organisations value my ingenuity and accessible solutions; those with ambitious projects value my speed and experience. #### Items ###### New businesses and non-profits that want a high-performing first showcase. You're starting out and every week counts. I ship a clear, credible site fast, easy to update yourselves, from idea to launch in a few weeks. Built with modern tools your teams can master. ###### Independents who need a professional showcase site Your next client often arrives half-convinced by a referral — the site just has to keep them. I build a showcase that makes your independent business look established and trustworthy, and creates a personal brand that reflects you, easy to maintain and grow. ###### Teams launching an event, festival, or product Online experiences that make people want to book. Trained in motion design and 3D, and building interactively, I deliver a lively event site, polished with online booking — rich, graphic, animated and mobile experiences that drive more conversion. ###### Businesses and non-profits that sell online You want to sell products or collect donations, and avoid the weight of a Shopify or WooCommerce. I build lightweight, custom shops that help you convert, on mobile especially. Fast and cheap to run with serverless and headless solutions. ###### Teams looking to modernise an existing digital product Preserving what exists, I migrate your product to modern, high-performing technology to gain in image, mobile experience, accessibility, and load speed. ###### Technical teams that need interface design directly in code Senior design reinforcement for complex products, dashboards, internal apps or fundraising prototypes. Ultra-fast design and development in Next.js, Shadcn/ui that serves as a working demo and technical foundation for your in-house developers. #### Recent work, shipped. A quick look at the websites and app interfaces I've designed and built lately. - **Nda Note**: NDA · illustrative image - **See More**: See more - **See Less**: See less #### Items ###### Siemens AG ###### Cinélangues ###### Yak Architecture ###### La Grange aux Skis #### The experiences that marked my technical and creative journey. A selection of projects that pushed me to grow technically, adapt and keep learning. - **Nda Note**: NDA · illustrative image #### Items ###### Founder & Developer - **Meta**: Dec 2024 — present · Europe Wahio.design, my personal full-stack project — I explore the latest web design generation tools, generative AI, Vibe Coding and Edge infrastructure. This project let me refine and validate my recent skills in AI-assisted production processes. Designed and built solo, end to end. The service turns an idea into a wearable: just describe your idea and a generative pipeline, with 200 graphic styles and 400 themes, produces a unique design, printable on around thirty products — printed in Europe and delivered in days. ###### Independent design & development - **Meta**: 2012 — present · French Alps, Remote An independent freelancer for 15 years, trained in image and web engineering, I work across consulting, design and development of interfaces and complete digital products. My expertise focuses in particular on front-end design challenges. I build digital products fully or partially, pairing with your teams. Over the years I've worked with organisations of every kind — BNP Paribas IP and BNP Paribas CIB, the BNP Paribas Group, L'Institut Français, SeLoger, Vente Privée, Theodo and the Conseil Régional du Lot-et-Garonne, as well as smaller structures and non-profits, with just as much pleasure. ###### Design Systems & Design Operations - **Meta**: Feb 2024 — Sep 2024 · Munich, DE Siemens is a global conglomerate spanning industry, energy, healthcare and infrastructure across 200+ countries — with a dozen design systems built in-house and hundreds of designers. I proposed solutions to optimise the management of these design systems and knowledge sharing across many teams. I proposed different scenarios for the evolution of the internal design systems, along with solutions to bring together design teams facing the same challenges — enabling common, standardised practices to take hold. ###### Design Systems & Product Design - **Meta**: Aug 2022 — Feb 2024 · Paris, FR / London, UK Shipfix is an AI-enabled data and business-process platform for maritime freight — turning the daily overload of order emails into a powerful market overview for shipowners, traders and brokers. I optimised the product design system, folding in the brand language and mobile elements. A cleaner inventory, a full restructure of the Figma libraries and business-domain component classification enabled a faster workflow and safer file updates — and I supported the product team on strategic design projects. ###### zDirect — Design System Manager - **Meta**: Jun 2021 — Apr 2022 · Berlin, DE Zalando is Europe's largest fashion e-commerce platform; zDirect is the entry point for brand partners selling directly to its customers. I optimised the design system behind the zDirect marketplace for performance and usability, serving the teams and partners alike. I supported a 20-designer team and a 10-developer UI engineering team, smoothing handoffs between the design and development teams and setting up a dual-track agile process. I improved the documentation with ready-to-use examples, streamlined component publishing, and optimised the Figma library — structure, auto-layout and deprecation. ###### Digital Marketplace — Design System Engineer - **Meta**: Jul 2015 — Jul 2019 · 4 years 1 month · Paris, FR The Digital Marketplace is BNP CIB's unified platform for selecting, ordering, delivering and monitoring cloud products and business services — a collaborative hub for the bank's digital offering. The engineering team ranked 2nd at the Banking Technology Awards 2018. I built the atomic design system in ReactJS and Styled Components, working with 20 front-end developers and 50 domain experts — documented in Storybook, with structural constraints for standardised, fast construction that limits technical debt. Design sprints and fast iterative prototyping, up to a full refactor of the interface. ###### Product design in code - **Meta**: Sep 2012 — Jul 2015 · Paris, FR The fast-growing Theodo group is dedicated to building complex digital products. I brought my design expertise to the engineering teams through Design Thinking applied to Agile / Lean methods, notably for BNP IP, Safran and Dassault Systèmes. The production method was extremely fast, built on short iterations: interactive prototypes and iterative product design on a short cycle, working closely with seasoned developers and product owners on projects with demanding constraints. Finished designs were delivered as merge requests. ###### Civil Aviation — Design in Code - **Meta**: 2013 · via Theodo · Paris, FR Collaborated on the design and development of an interface for real-time flight data analysis, in the civil aviation sector. Cassiopé turns raw recorded flight data into actionable insight — maps, plots, 3D trajectory replay and live monitoring. The work happened directly in code with Theodo's team of 10 developers — improvements delivered via Git and Agile. Built in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with a method of fast, successive prototype refinements, constantly adjusted with business feedback and respecting the technical constraints. ###### Avionics Support — Design in Code - **Meta**: 2014–2015 · via Theodo · Paris, FR Contributed to the design and development of Safran's avionics automatic-support interface, in the military and defence sector. This automatic-support system spans pilot helmets, onboard computing and connected devices. Same setup as on Cassiopé: a design-in-code workflow with Theodo, fast continuous-improvement iterations shipped through Git within an agile team of 10 developers, in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. ###### Co-founder & Digital Designer - **Meta**: 2009 — 2012 · Paris, FR Co-founder and digital designer of Spin Interactive, a Paris digital agency building websites and interactive experiences for major media and brands. Custom editorial platforms, publishing tools, multi-channel campaigns and brand sites. We designed and built digital products for clients such as TV5 Monde, Le Monde, France 24, Canal+, Arte, Le Coq Sportif and Siaci Saint Honoré. ###### Motion/3D Designer - **Meta**: 2009 · Apprenticeship · Los Angeles, CA Fisheggs creates high-impact visual systems for television, streaming, and brands — blending decades of craft with a modern, exploration-first workflow that delivers clarity, speed, and standout creative. Real-world practice of advanced 3D and digital compositing techniques for US media. Concept boards, animated 3D scenes and final compositing. Adapted into different formats and languages for TV broadcast and on-air studio graphics. - **Text**: A digital design and Design System expert, I design modern websites and interfaces directly in code. I put in place intelligent solutions that bring businesses and non-profits a real gain in image and online performance. #### Thibault Montaufray #### Front-end Design Engineer · 27 Years of Web Design - **Linkedin Label**: LinkedIn #### Solid foundations that adapt to your needs Modern, proven tools and AI, under my expert control, to speed up the build and the quality of the graphic language. #### Items ###### React The most-adopted UI library, with a huge ecosystem and an enormous talent pool. ###### Next.js Fast, SEO-friendly pages on a solid foundation, backed by a strong, active community. ###### TypeScript Typed code that catches bugs early, for fewer regressions and safer changes over time. ###### Sanity Studio A flexible content studio where your team updates content without ever touching code. ###### Shadcn/ui Accessible, customisable interface components for a consistent and polished look. ###### Storybook A large library of reusable components your team can keep building on, on demand. ###### Netlify Fast, reliable hosting with instant deploys and almost no running cost to speak of. ###### Claude Code The AI assistant in my toolchain — modern and capable, always under my review. #### Modern design that converts. Modern code that lasts. My expertise lets me quickly ship effective, modern, easy-to-use products. Depending on your needs, I can handle it all — solo or alongside your teams. #### Items ###### Websites that truly help your business Business sites, brand refreshes, event pages, portfolios, simple online shops. Beautiful, fast, and easy to use on any phone — built to make a great first impression and turn visitors into customers. ###### Mentions ###### SEO & SAIO optimised Built to rank on Google and surface in AI-powered search. ###### High accessibility Built with accessible components by default. ###### Easy to update Change your content yourself — no code, no developer needed. ###### Polished interfaces for complex products The dashboards your team or your customers log into every day. I make complex business processes and productivity easier through well-designed digital interfaces, pairing with your team on the back-end. ###### Mentions ###### Interactive & data-dense Live dashboards and information-dense screens. ###### Coded directly Built with your data, for faster development. ###### Seamless experiences More efficiency and less friction, for fast actions. ###### A design system for ultra-fast delivery. A modern creation process paired with a personal component library, drawn from my experience in design systems and product design. A faster build that frees up more time for the final result. ###### Mentions ###### Quality & flexibility High-quality output and easy to adjust. ###### Transferable to your teams On demand, the library and method can be handed over to you. ###### Vibe Coding-compatible Built to plug into AI-assisted coding workflows. #### Logistics Network Domestic Routes #### Stats - **Hubs**: Hubs - **Active**: Active - **Delayed**: Delayed #### Groups - **Transport Mode**: Transport Mode - **Status**: Status - **Region**: Region #### Modes - **Air**: Air - **Air Freight**: Air Freight - **Ground**: Ground #### Statuses - **Active**: Active - **Delayed**: Delayed #### Regions - **West**: West - **Midwest**: Midwest - **South**: South - **Northeast**: Northeast #### Region Icons - **West**: W - **Midwest**: MW - **South**: S - **Northeast**: NE #### Summary - **Label**: Summary - **Shipments**: Shipments - **Routes**: Routes #### Legend - **Hub**: Hub #### Tooltip - **Shipments**: {count} shipments