About - John Hanacek

Bio

Product Designer & Design Engineer building AI-native products and spatial computing interfaces.

I design and code agentic systems, interactive experiences, and AI-augmented tools. Whatever the problem calls for: context engineering, agent orchestration, data architecture, web, mobile, XR, robotics, poetry and art.

Since 2012 I've served as founding designer for startups and R&D teams. The work is 0→1 product development, design system creation, and technical prototyping, now through JHDesign LLC (est. 2024). Current explorations: MetaMedium, dynamic tools that adapt to thought, and Earth Star, an autonomous creativity & research system.

Off the clock

Based in San Diego. I'm a UCSD alum who went east for grad school in DC, toured with friends' band, then came home to the ocean on purpose. I cook from scratch: albondigas, rice tahdig, whole fish on the grill, a brownie recipe from memory. I garden native California plants. I hike, camp, and photograph across Southern California.

Work Experience

2024–Present

Independent Product Design Engineer

JHDesign LLC

OpenProse (2026): founding design in two months. Brand, five logo directions, 137 homepage approaches as live pages across 471 commits, one canonical style.
Muse.bio (2024, 2026): user-journey and personas workshops. Built a Claude Code + Figma MCP system that turns workshop output into structured results. Handed off.
JH Coaching OS: shipped an AI coaching product (agent, materials, context docs, dashboard). Clients leave with a chief-of-staff agent around their own work, or the skills to build software.

2022–2024

Lead XR Product Designer

Nanome Inc.

Led product design for Nanome 2 on Meta Quest, the companion web portal and the MARA AI assistant. All shipped. Supervised the visionOS beta.
Ran 24 alpha and beta sessions with scientists at Pfizer, Novartis and academic labs. Coded the feedback into bugs, questions, evidence and patterns.
Replaced teleport navigation with Spotlight/Follow: labeled cursors and a shared, non-rivalrous molecule. A pillar of Nanome 2.

2021–2022

Immersive UI/UX Designer

BadVR, Inc.

Designed the AROC situational-awareness AR HUD and its modular layout grid, with hand tracking on Meta Quest and HoloLens 2. Shipped.
Insurance damage-assessment demo over a simulated New York for Munich Re: design, recorded demo content, manuals.

2019–2021

Founding CEO/CTO, Co-Founder

AvatarMEDIC, Inc.

Co-founded a medtech startup for remote trauma intervention through XR telepresence and robotics. Led strategy, pitching, concept and engineering direction. Founder Institute SF (2020).
Built the Unity robot demo, visual design, animatics and composites. The digital-twin robotic medical assistant won the Aerospace Medical Association's R&D Innovation Award (2022).

2015–2018

UI/UX Design Lead

Collaborate.org

Product design and interactive mockups, remote.

2014–2015

Graduate Associate

CNDLS, Georgetown University

Pedagogical tools. Co-authored EDULEARN15 research on the spread of technology-enhanced teaching.

2012–2024

Designer, Photographer, Product Maker

Independent practice (JHphotography, JHDesign)

Blok Dok (2013): designed, made and sold a wooden iPhone dock, with packaging, labels, instructions and photography.

2010–2012

Primary Photographer

Qualcomm Institute (Calit2), UC San Diego

Event coverage, technical documentation and portraiture.

2008–2011

Photo Editor & Photojournalist

UCSD Guardian

Primary photography; coordinated staff photographers for editorial needs.

2007–2011

Ocean Lifeguard (seasonal)

California State Parks

Aquatic rescue, public safety and first aid; Junior Lifeguards instructor.

Education

Georgetown University

Washington, DC · 2014–2016

MA, Communication, Culture & Technology

Thesis: “As We May Sketch”: AI-interpreted drawing interface, a riff on Bush's 'As We May Think'. Supporting papers: 'Art Math, Math Art', the precursor to MetaMedium. Second thesis: Political and social implications of technology standardization.

"Most Meta", voted by peers (2016)

UC San Diego

La Jolla, CA · 2008–2012

BA, Political Science / International Relations; minor in Neuroscience

Thesis: Remotely piloted aircraft and just war theory, closing on ground robotics deployment.

Areas of Expertise

Design & Product

User Research
3D Interaction Design
Product Design & Prototyping
Design Systems Architecture

AI & Development

LLM Integration & AI Coding
Agent Orchestration
Intelligence Augmentation
Conversational UX

Physical/Virtual Convergence

Robot Control & Manipulation
Digital Twins & Teleoperation
3D Scanning & Photogrammetry
XR / Spatial Computing UX

How I Work

Handling Disagreement

Does the best design available at the level of authority he has, and advocates for what he thinks is best for the product. Works with engineering to think through ways to make a thing easier to build while still getting what the user needs. more →

Ambiguity and Constraint

Ambiguity is where he works best. He is always looking for structure, including the unspoken structure inside processes everyone already considers settled. more →

Critique and Design Reviews

Runs critique playfully, leaning on open-ended "how might we" statements to avoid solutionizing, where a design gets taken too literally too early. Sets expectations going into any review, manages stakeholders, and levels with peers. more →

Working with AI

Treats AI as an omni-developer that is a bit too obedient, which makes clear definitions and expectations the designer’s job. Builds systems to verify output. more →

Failure and Resilience

AvatarMEDIC was ambitious and too early, underfunded, and eventually his own capital was exhausted. He gave up the fundraising product dream and pivoted the company into a consultancy that brought in revenue. more →