Matt Quinn
Design Engineer
currently @ RBC — Toronto / Waterloo Region
Journal
A diary of the shifts that AI is taking design and engineering through.
The Stack
May 2, 2026
A reflection on how AI agents may bypass traditional digital surfaces, and what that means for design, brand, commitment, identity, and the future of experience design.
Design and AI Collide
April 25, 2026
The Lingering Weakness
January 26, 2026
The storm has hit for those who code. A firsthand account of a wild year in AI—from bubble talk to Opus 4.5 to agents that run while you sleep.
Work
8 years at RBC building systems for enterprise design teams.
01 / 03
2018 — 2020
Lead Product Designer
02 / 03
2021 — 2025
Director, RBC Design System
03 / 03
2026 — now
Principal Design Engineer
01 / 03
2018 — 2020
Lead Product Designer
02 / 03
2021 — 2025
Director, RBC Design System
03 / 03
2026 — now
Principal Design Engineer
Current Projects
Where I'm spending my exploratory cycles right now. The through-line is treating AI as a creative collaborator — for design tooling, dev workflows, and the way I think.
Interactive Design System
A color & token playground combining ok-themes, typster, and cardopia. Designed to draft, generate, and inspect a full design system end-to-end.
exploreAI Dev Harness
A Claude Code plugin that turns repeated coding workflows into reusable intents — plan, implement, review — so AI-assisted development feels deliberate.
exploreBoard of Directors
A panel of AI personas built from the people, mentors, and frameworks I keep in my Obsidian knowledge base — distinct voices to pressure-test ideas against.
explorePhotography
Where I go when I'm off the screen.