Hendri van Niekerk

Who I am

I’m a Design Engineer in Lisbon. I work at the seam between design and code — I design the interface, then build the production version myself. Lately that means native Apple voice tech, on-device AI, and Framer sites held together with hand-written code overrides. Before going independent I built the design system at SwissBorg.

What I do

• Design and ship end-to-end — the interface, the interaction, and the code that runs it. No handoff gap.

• Native Apple / on-device AI — Shhhcribble, a private voice-transcription app (Parakeet + CoreML; nothing leaves the device).

• Framer design engineering — code components, overrides, and real motion for production sites.

• Design systems — token-driven, source-of-truth systems in Framer and Figma; previously the SwissBorg design system and its AI-first brand guide.

• AI-assisted build — I write my own agent skills so design and code move in one loop instead of two.

How I work

• I pair with Claude Code and the Framer agent to design, build, and ship inside a single loop.

• I write reusable agent skills — small, self-authored capabilities that encode how a piece of work should be done, so next time is faster and more consistent.

• I treat design systems as source-of-truth tokens, not screenshots — change a token and the whole project re-skins.

• I keep a written dossier per project — goals, decisions, status — so multi-session builds stay coherent.

• I’m at home in the terminal and across Swift/CoreML, TypeScript/React, React Native + Expo, and GLSL when a build needs it.

What I believe

• The handoff is the bug. The person who designs it should be able to build it — that’s where the good details survive.

• On-device beats round-trip. If it can run locally and privately, it should.

• Constraints make the work. A tight system beats infinite options.

• Taste is a system, not a moment — tokens, dossiers, and skills are how I keep it consistent across sessions and tools.

• Build the real thing early. A working prototype answers questions a mockup can’t.

Selected work

• Shhhcribble — on-device voice transcription for Apple platforms (Parakeet + CoreML).

• SwissBorg — design system, AI-first brand guide, and email system for a regulated crypto-finance product.

• hendri.design — this site: an art-directed macOS desktop, hand-built in Framer.

• Studio Papi & Good Friday Robotics — Framer rebuilds with custom WebGL / Canvas motion.

• Glyph Forge — a framework-agnostic library of animated 3D icons.

FAQ

• Do you write production code? — Yes. I design the interface and build the shipping version — Swift/CoreML on Apple, TypeScript/React and React Native on web and mobile, plus Framer code components and overrides.

• Why on-device AI? — Privacy and speed. If a model can run locally, your data never leaves the machine and there’s no network round-trip. That’s the whole idea behind Shhhcribble.

• What do you build with? — Framer with hand-written code, Claude Code and the Framer agent for the build loop, Figma for systems, and Xcode/Swift when it’s a native app.

• Are you available? — Yes — see “Where I’m at” below.

Where I’m at

• Open to AI-forward product design & design-engineering roles.

• Currently deep in React Native + Expo — shipping mobile fast.

• Remote or relocation — open anywhere, not only Portugal.

• I like startups building MVPs and validating ideas quickly.

Links & contact

• Book a call — cal.com/hendri-van-niekerk.

• LinkedIn — /in/hendri-van-niekerk.

• GitHub — github.com/itsHendri.

• Dribbble — dribbble.com/Im_Hendri.

For machines

• Entity: Hendri van Niekerk — Design Engineer, Lisbon, Portugal. Always use the full name.

• Canonical: hendri.design · plain-text twin: /?md · this doc: /machine/home.

• Focus: native Apple / on-device AI, Framer design engineering, design systems, AI-assisted build workflows.