Karen Dettmar
Creative Technologist · Design Engineer · New York City
[email protected] · linkedin.com/in/kdettmar · karendettmar.com
Designer and front-end engineer with roughly seven years building production interfaces at the intersection of design and code. I hand-write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, work in React and TypeScript, and prototype in code rather than argue about a mockup. Most of that time has been spent on the seam between design and engineering: building the tools, components, and documentation that let both sides ship from the same source. Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex are core to how I work.
Skills & Tools
Engineering TypeScript, JavaScript, React, React Native, Vue, Next.js, Astro, HTML5, CSS3, SASS, Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Canvas animation, responsive layouts, component architecture, REST APIs, Git
Design Figma, Sketch, design systems, prototyping in code, wireframing, low and hi-fi prototypes, visual and brand systems, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Research User calls, user personas, contextual inquiry, information architecture, usability testing, beta testing, QA
AI Claude API, prompt design, structured output design, LLM integration, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Midjourney
Platforms WordPress, Shopify and Liquid, Contentful, LEMP stack
Experience
- Museum Label Generator. Turned one museum object record into six distinct interpretive formats, from wall label to kids label to audio script. Defined what each format is for, then wrote constraints tight enough that six voices stayed genuinely distinct, with human review and override built into the interface at every stage. Public case study documents the architecture and five design decisions. React, Netlify Functions, Claude API.
- Generative Textile Pattern Tool. Real-time Canvas animation driven by live user input, with editable palette, density, and repeat structure, exporting to SVG for production. Five pattern systems written by hand. The Claude API proposes palette and style; every choice after that stays with the user.
- Garment Construction Decoder. Plain-language garment description in, structured technical breakdown out: seam types, fabric behavior, lining and closure options. Output schema designed so a non-expert can act on the result.
- Built and shipped engineer-facing tools and interactive learning experiences used by 7,000+ global employees, owning the full development lifecycle from prototype through public deployment.
- Designed and led the InnerSource Tournament, a company-wide campaign around InnerSource readiness, documentation standards, and code coverage across the AI and Data business units. Result: 150 participants and 40% of capabilities brought to the highest standard under the self-serve criteria model.
- Redesigned and implemented Intuit's external-facing open source website.
- Created the framework and review process for engineers submitting CFPs to highly leveraged conferences; ran content run-throughs and edited external blog posts.
- Delivered internal training on React Security, InnerSource, OpenSource, Design Systems, and documentation standards, and drove design system adoption across multiple business units.
- Presented new product releases to the global developer organization.
- Planned and executed key pieces of the first ever Wix DevCon: built a demo website from scratch showcasing the platform's capabilities, and delivered the keynote presenting new releases. Result: a community that started at 10 developers became a 300-person live keynote audience. The demo build also surfaced and fixed platform bugs.
- Designed and ran a user study assessing developer experience on the platform. Findings drove product, R&D, and UX to ship onboarding UI updates, refreshed documentation, and new product features.
- Established the first NYC Wix meetups where no local community existed. Result: 8 attendees at the first meetup to 16 repeat attendees monthly.
- Taught workshops on JavaScript fundamentals, UI/UX best practice, and design-to-code transitions, including a workshop that took college design students through their portfolio finals.
- Redesigned and deployed the company intranet, consulting with the branding team on interface and technical requirements to make it the primary channel for company communication. Built in Confluence, CSS, and JavaScript. Result: 25% increase in time on page.
- Built an internal travel management application: researched, wireframed, and coded a responsive, mobile-friendly single-page app in VueJS, JavaScript, HTML, and SASS, defining user flow and data structure to the travel manager's requirements. Result: replaced and retired the deprecated legacy system.
- Maintained, updated, and built mobile modular components for the existing site.
- Redesigned and implemented the company website, meeting regularly with the CEO on design direction. Built on a LEMP stack (CentOS, NGINX, MySQL, PHP) with a WordPress theme written from scratch. Result: 10% increase in page visits, and the redesign was what made the campaign launch on schedule.
- Produced monthly print and digital campaigns around studio releases, including advertisements published in Cinefex and Variety, with accompanying hero image updates and blog posts.
- Built a Raspberry Pi conference room booking system for the studio.
- Maintained and redesigned components for multilingual company sites, providing bespoke landing pages for high-profile corporate clients (Microsoft, Apple, IBM) alongside the consumer-facing traveler experience.
- Built clean, scalable, responsive templates by hand in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Worked closely with the Digital Media Manager to design, create, deploy, and QA corporate sites across regions, serving as the defining document for corporate brand and company culture.
Education
Certification in Fashion Design Parsons School of Design – The New School · Full-time 2025
Sewing & Garment Construction Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
Full Stack Web Development Program: MEAN, Ruby on Rails, Python & Django Coding Dojo · Washington, D.C.
B.A. Studio Art (Printmaking) · B.A. Politics (Foreign Affairs) University of Virginia