About

Background, ventures, and experience.

bio

Portrait of Alex Collins, lit from one side with a spectrum light leak

Designer and R&D leader with 20+ years across UI/UX, branding, product design, and emerging technology. I combine creative direction with hands-on engineering, from design systems and AI tooling to the automation that keeps products running.

Currently Head of R&D at Armstrong Operations, a tech company, while co-running Spectral — AI automation for business: agents, workflows, and internal tools that take the repetitive work off a team — alongside ventures in agent infrastructure.

Marbella, Spain (CET) · hover the portrait

how i work

  1. 01Research first

    Every project starts with the problem, not the tool. Prototypes, experiments and teardowns come first, to find out what is actually worth building.

  2. 02Design with intent

    Craft is not a coat of polish at the end. Brand, interface and system are designed together until they feel right, not just work.

  3. 03Systems that run themselves

    Ship it, measure it, then automate the parts nobody should be doing by hand, so the product keeps working without me in the loop.

ventures

timeline

  1. Co-founderSpectral — AI automation agency2025+
  2. Head of R&DArmstrong Operations2021+
  3. Head of Product DesignCreative Space2018-2021
  4. Product Design LeadGaming Innovation Group2013-2017
  5. Design LeadMyDestination2006-2013
  6. Operations ManagerNativus2005-2006

off the clock

  • Design
  • AI
  • Automation
  • UX/UI
  • Brand design
  • Technology
  • XR
  • Drones
  • Robotics
  • Engineering
  • Guitar
  • Music
  • Music production
  • Philosophy
  • History
  • Exercise
  • Meditation
  • Reading
  • Crypto
  • Stock trading
  • Learning