The team is shipping. Nobody has time to work ahead.
Current commitments fill the calendar, while the next opportunity keeps waiting. I can work through the upcoming flows, interfaces, and prototypes while your team delivers.
Product direction & prototyping
Give shape to what’s next.
I help product teams explore ideas, resolve difficult flows, and prepare upcoming features through design and working code. I work alongside your designers and engineers—or ahead of them while they deliver.
FORM STUDY — 001IF / EXPLORATIONS
Sound familiar?
Important work.
No room to move it forward.
It’s on the roadmap, but it isn’t ready to build.
You know what the feature should achieve. How it fits into the product, how it behaves, and what the team needs to implement are still open. I work through those details with your designers and engineers.
You keep discussing the idea. Everyone pictures something different.
Another document or meeting only gets you so far. I turn the conversation into designs and working prototypes your team can try, react to, and refine together.
Small additions have made the product hard to use.
Each feature made sense on its own. Now the navigation, workflow, or interface needs another look. I work across the structure and details to find a more coherent experience.
Selected work
Product work.
In practice.
Client engagement · React Native
Move mobile forward while the team keeps shipping.
The product team was focused on improving its web application. I was brought in to develop a React Native app alongside that work.
Working through the mobile experience exposed friction in the navigation and information architecture. The app became a place to prototype those decisions quickly, including improvements the team could carry back to the web.
I delivered a complete UI shell with clear integration points and configurable test data. Stakeholders could evaluate different product states before the backend was connected.
What the team could work with
- 01
A working mobile experience
Navigation, information architecture, and interactions worked through in React Native.
- 02
Different states to evaluate
Configurable test-data setups let stakeholders try the situations they needed to inspect.
- 03
A clear path to integration
Defined connection points for the backend, with a UI the team could already use and discuss.
The mobile work also created a place to explore changes that could inform the web product.
Weft · Product I’m building
Experience the product before installing the hardware.
Weft controls equipment in campervans and expedition vehicles. We needed a way for someone to understand its value without first shipping and installing hardware.
I designed and developed a flow that starts with a phone scan for supported equipment. That inventory becomes the basis for a demo tailored to their vehicle.
When someone leaves the demo, they can buy, book a call, or share it with a decision maker who can preview it too. The experience connects product discovery to a next step, with no hardware shipment or purchase commitment needed to try it.
From their vehicle to a relevant demo
- 01
Scan with a phone
Find the supported equipment in the vehicle.
- 02
Explore a tailored demo
See Weft in the context of that equipment.
- 03
Choose the next step
Leaving the demo opens a page with a way forward.
A shared demo lets the next decision maker evaluate the experience themselves.
La Tela · Product I build & operate
Give the product a daily rhythm.
La Tela needed a clearer rhythm for how people used its learning content. We developed trails: guided journeys that open one step each day, combining learning, reflection, and something to put into practice.
That principle shaped the experience around each step: what welcomes you back, how you participate, what you take into your day, and how the product recognizes the journey when you finish.
A detail that changed the experience
Finishing a trail originally sent people back to the chooser. I changed that so their completed journey stayed with them until they chose another. The final recap developed into a reflection on the whole journey, drawing on their own contributions.
One step, with room to put it into practice
- 01
Today’s step
A guided sequence of learning content and participation.
- 02
Something to carry into the day
A personal recap, reflection, and small actions to try.
- 03
A place to return to
The next step becomes available the following day. Missed steps remain available to catch up on.
The daily pace leaves time for practice. Completion gives the whole journey a meaningful ending.
Who you’ll work with
Alex Bendiken.
I’m a full-stack developer and designer. I give shape to ideas across product structure, user flows, interaction design, visual design, and code.
I’ve led technical teams, built a web service that signed up a million users in its first year, and designed products I continue to operate. That experience informs the questions I ask before a team commits to a direction.
I know what it takes to integrate a UI into a working product. I work with your team’s stack, conventions, and constraints from the outset, and shape the designs, code, and handoff to make that work as straightforward as possible.
Agency & technical leadership
Makalu
I co-ran the agency, where we created award-winning work for Google, Virgin America, and Live Nation. For nearly a decade, I led our technical team for Rock am Ring and Rock im Park.
Built & operated
La Tela
I designed, developed, and continue to operate the platform and apps, bringing parenting education, children’s content, and a family community into one subscription service.
Currently building
Weft
I’m building a premium campervan and expedition vehicle control system, bringing product design and engineering together around life on the road.
How we work together
Work ahead.Work it through.Move it forward.
Get close to the product.
We look at what you’re trying to make possible, the existing work, and the constraints. We agree a useful starting point and a focused scope.
Make, try, and revise.
I work through flows, layouts, interactions, and code in many small iterations. Each pass gives us something more concrete to react to and something new to work through.
Follow the changes that matter.
We review the work together and follow the discoveries that suggest a larger shift. Your designers and engineers help work through the implications as the direction develops.
Leave the team ready to continue.
You receive the agreed designs and code, the reasoning behind the direction, and clear integration notes. I also codify the approach in reusable AI skills and practical handbooks.
A focused engagement
One month.
Focused product work.
Explore an idea, resolve a difficult flow, or prepare the next feature. We agree the scope and deliverables before starting.
We kick off together, review progress regularly, and finish with a walkthrough of the designs or code, the reasoning, and the next steps. You bring a point person and your team’s context.
A method your team keeps.
You keep the reasoning behind the work, practical handbooks, and reusable instructions for your AI tools—so your team can apply the approach to future features.
One-time purchase. No subscription or automatic renewal. Book another engagement whenever you need it.
Product direction & prototyping
$7,500 USD
A month of design, development, and direct collaboration with Alex.
- A focused piece of product work and agreed scope
- Design and code developed through iteration
- Working prototypes to try and refine
- Reviews with your team at agreed points
- The product direction, reasoning, and next steps
- Reusable AI skills and team handbooks
- Source files and handoff notes tailored to your team
Scope and deliverables agreed before starting. Your team handles production integration, deployment, and maintenance.
Before we begin
A few practical
questions.
Can we start before we know exactly what we need?
Yes. Bring the opportunity, disagreement, or part of the product that feels unresolved. Defining the question is part of the work. We agree a focused scope before the engagement begins.
Is this a subscription?
No. Each engagement is a one-time purchase covering one focused month, with scope and deliverables agreed in advance. It ends when that engagement is complete. You can book another whenever you need it; nothing renews automatically.
How much time will you need from our team?
A point person needs to participate in the kickoff and agreed reviews, with input from the people who understand the product and its constraints. We set the meeting cadence and feedback expectations together before starting.
How do you work with our designers and engineers?
They’re part of the conversation from the outset. I work with their stack, component patterns, and constraints, make alternatives concrete, and review implementation implications together. I bring full-stack experience to the details that make a UI easier to integrate, and document the decisions and remaining work clearly.
What if we discover a bigger unresolved question?
We make it explicit and decide whether to refocus the remaining scope or record it as a next step. Additional work is agreed before it starts.
Does a prototype mean the idea is validated?
A prototype helps people evaluate an experience. Team agreement and customer evidence answer different questions. The handoff records assumptions and what still needs testing; validation requires the relevant customer research.
Can our team repeat the approach afterward?
Yes. The handoff includes reusable AI skills—written instructions for your AI tools—and practical handbooks for your team. They document the approach we used, the context behind it, and the review criteria, so you can apply it to future questions and adapt it as you learn.
What will be ready for implementation?
You receive the agreed designs or code, shaped around your team’s conventions, with documented UI behavior, assumptions, and integration notes. We review the handoff together so your engineers know how to take it forward. Prototypes may use sample data and simulated behavior; I make those boundaries clear. Your engineers handle production integration, backend connections, hardening, deployment, and maintenance. Larger implementations are scoped separately.
Let’s find the starting point
What’s your team
working through?
Tell me what you’re trying to make possible, what needs attention next, and your timing. We’ll discuss fit and shape a focused first engagement.
Talk through your product challengehello@iterativeform.com