Here comes the Unicorn (or Unicode) 🦄

Hi there! I’m Kohei (pronounced co-hey), an experienced, multitalented UX engineer based in Toronto, Canada, who’s been surviving at the intersection of business, design and technology for 20+ years. I love getting my hands dirty to solve real-world problems, make things uncomplicated & modernized, and help people be more productive. 🌟

What I do

My work spans the full spectrum: from research and design (UX/UI, IA, competitive analysis, web design, poster design) to development (frontend, backend, browser extensions, APIs) to communication (copywriting, technical writing, marketing, DevRel, English-Japanese translation). Think of me as a ninja equipped with miscellaneous skills — or simply a hyper-generalist. 🥷

My tech stack

When it comes to web development tech stack, I’m mainly experienced in React, AngularJS, Node.js, Perl, Python and PHP. However, most of my projects these days are done with Svelte and SvelteKit for simplicity and performance. I prefer to write TypeScript-flavoured JavaScript for readability and maintainability.

My projects

Take a look at my current flagship project, Sveltia CMS, a popular, open source, Git-based headless CMS. It has numerous improvements over its predecessor and is now used by thousands of websites worldwide, including a U.S. government agency. Sveltia CMS is the perfect showcase of my problem-solving superpower and the force of UX engineering. 💪

You can also find my previous projects, BzDeck, FlareTail.js, Bugzilla UX and Firefox Site Compatibility, as well as open source contributions to Mozilla here and there. I have had an on-and-off relationship with Mozilla, my former employer, since the early 2000s. 🦊


Sponsor me

If you like my work and want to support me, please consider sponsoring me via GitHub Sponsors. Your sponsorship will help me continue to create and maintain open source projects, and contribute to the community. Thank you for your support! 🙏

Hire me

I have worked with clients in Canada, U.S., Australia, Japan and Germany as a freelancer. If you’re launching a startup or running a small business, this kind of one-stop top talent (full-stack web developer + UX/UI designer + marketer + more) is sure to be helpful. Feel free to reach out to me via [email](mailto:[email protected]), Bluesky or LinkedIn today! 👋

Fun facts about me

Generalists are rare, but I’m also genetically exceedingly rare. Perhaps I’m the only person on the planet with these traits:

Broken biological clock

• I lost sense of time and stopped aging around 25 years ago.
• Now I look less than half my age. People often mistake me for a student, or even a teenager, but I’m actually in my mid-40s 🤣
• Because my circadian rhythm is lost, I can easily work at night and avoid jet lag or sleep disruption due to daylight saving time. These days, I hit the gym at 4 a.m.

Unbroken voice

• I was a boy soprano.
• My voice didn’t break, so I can still sing mezzo-soprano naturally. If I were a singer, I’d be called a natural castrato — only a handful of professional singers in the world are known to have this condition.
• That said, my voice deepened, giving me a wide vocal range that spans from bass to soprano.

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