Portrait of Jacob McAdam

Hi! I'm Jacob. I'm a designer and developer. I work and live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Autobiography

Early on I was an artist—drawing, painting, and crafting my way through life. In my high school years I joined Artstart as an apprentice artist where I learned to paint murals around Sonoma County, and other works of art for sale.
When I moved on to college I studies graphic design and poured myself into the fundamentals of visual communication. I later graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science.
To support myself through school I worked as a web developer. I learned how to code websites from scratch and then build WordPress themes. I worked for marketing agencies who served the dental, health, hospitality, and winery industries.
I joined the tech industry out in the San Francisco Bay Area where both my skills as a front-end web developer and visual designer could be used together.
Product design attracted me for several reasons. One in particular was how research could be leveraged to eliminate subjective rumination. As a UX Designer I was able to maintain my roots in creativity as I worked through complicated problems, while using the science of data to inform critical decisions.
I am attracted to roles and spaces that sit between worlds—art and science, or data and heart—and love to find the connection points between them.

Recommendations

I had the pleasure of working with Jacob during his tenure as a UX Designer at Inkling. He was instrumental in creating comprehensive designs and experiences across multiple products, and his contributions were critical to our success. Jacob’s pragmatic and process-oriented approach ensured that he achieved the right results efficiently. His ability to focus on driving outcomes through well-defined methods, while also having the flexibility to jump in and contribute to new projects or meet tight deadlines, was truly impressive. I always appreciated his candor, customer obsession, and dedication to his craft. His insights and collaborative spirit made a significant impact on our team. Working with Jacob was a great experience and I would gladly do so again.
Steve Yesel
Steve Yesel
Vice President of Product Strategy
Jacob and I worked together at Inkling for several years and in different capacities/teams. Within a short amount of time I quickly realized how talented Jacob is! His eye for design aligned with technical skills put him into a rare category. We pride ourselves at inkling to be "user friendly" and Jacob embodied that, helping all customers feel like they already knew how to use our product based on the design; whether in a template or within the actual UX, which he did both excellently in his many roles!
Blake Hedlund
Blake Hedlund
Director of Sales Enablement at Inkling
When it comes to web design and development, Jacob is a top notch performer. He understands branding and improving a clients product better than anyone I know. His ability to pay attention to details could possibly be a superpower so I totally recommend him.
Moe Himed
Moe Himed
Lead Developer at OptiRev