About
Kwirita is the product design engineering practice of Lance Quejada, based in Manila. Lance has worked with US teams since 2008, from the Philippines and Singapore.
I studied computer science at the University of the Philippines and have designed products ever since: first at GoAbroad.com, then as the only product designer at Proudcloud, a Manila software studio.
In 2012 I joined Lumatic, a San Francisco maps startup, as its founding product designer, working from Singapore. Then Nanigans in Boston, where I worked on Ad Engine as the company moved from managed service to self-service software. Then two more founding roles: Photo Butler, which used AI to pick the best of an event’s shared photos, and Pantastic, which built commerce tools for independent brands.
The thread through all of it: first versions, small teams, and a designer who also writes the front end. Kwirita has been the name for my independent work since 2008. Now it is the whole job, for startups building with AI.
How I work
- The same hands design and build.
- Fewer hand-offs, so fewer decisions get made by default.
- Decisions are written down.
- A first version is a hundred small decisions. Writing them down lets the team see them, argue with them, and keep them.
- One month at a time.
- The work has to earn the next month.