About
I’m Alex Jammali. Most of my work comes back to 1 moment: the first week somewhere new, when you don’t know the words yet or who to ask.
I’m an experience designer and photographer, and a community builder at heart.
I spent 10 years in classrooms, mostly with kids who’d just arrived in the US, and I trained teachers to make their lessons work for them. I wrote my MPA thesis on supporting families new to the country, then moved abroad myself, first to Skopje and then to the Netherlands.
These days I run the community side of Inqubator Leeuwarden, and I research and design apps with Berke Arca at our studio, Third Floor Studios. At RoHaus & Co. I make Paper Trails, a conversation card game, and Cozy Corner Post, a snail-mail club.
I’ve had a camera in my hands since 2009, and it comes to almost everything.
Before the screens
10 years of classrooms
From 2015 I was the English-learner specialist at Edison Middle School in Green Bay, co-teaching and coaching teachers. Most of my students were refugees, new to the country and to the language.
Every summer from 2016 to 2019 I ran EL Explorers, a summer school of daily outings around the city for students who’d just arrived, with community partners, free admission and free bus rides arranged.
At Edison I also led building-wide training days. In one, teachers sat in the seat of an English learner for a lesson, then each picked 1 support to try in their own class.
In fall 2022 I taught EDUC 280, Supporting English Language Learning, to 12 future teachers at St. Norbert College. I wrote my section around belonging: every class opened with a social warm-up and closed with an exit ticket.
“Keeps all of us students extremely engaged and teaches the content in a very understandable way.”
Along the way
Picks up a camera for good
Starts AEJ Photography in Green Bay: families, couples and big reunions.
Studies in Cork, Ireland
And helps out in a primary school there.
Student-teaches in Chandigarh, India
Then graduates from St. Norbert College and starts as an English-learner specialist at Edison Middle School.
Starts EL Explorers
A summer school of daily outings for students new to the country.
Finishes an MPA
Master of Public Administration, Touro University Worldwide. Thesis on supporting families new to the country.
Teaches future teachers
EDUC 280 at St. Norbert College, for 12 future teachers in the Sophomore Block.
Moves to Skopje
Teaches middle school math and science at QSI International School, and starts DesignLab’s UX Academy.
Design school, on the side
WanderNest and a livability layer for Google Maps, as DesignLab concept studies.
Leeuwarden
UnStuck, 1st place at an AI x UX hackathon with MentorBot, co-founds RoHaus & Co., and joins Inqubator in November.
Things ship
The Launchpad opens at Inqubator, Forkiee 2.0 goes live, my sister’s pottery site launches, and I photograph Energiso and PawsOnTheGo.
How I work
I’ll sit in on your Friday drinks, or record myself thinking out loud the first time I use your app, with timestamps for you. Then I ask the people who actually use the thing.
See it at InqubatorI write in plain words, and I’ll tell you when a word on your screen needs explaining before anyone has to ask. Forkiee gives every dish a reason for the same reason.
See ForkieeA line from my old teacher trainings: have them engage socially before you have them engage academically. It still runs my events, and it’s how Paper Trails started.
See Paper TrailsI ask before I photograph anyone, and I keep the yes on file. Families from my Green Bay years liked that I’m good with big groups and small kids.
See the photographyI build with AI every day. Claude helps me prototype in an afternoon and make sense of hours of interviews, and Wispr Flow turns my rambling into first drafts. The photos and the decisions stay mine.
See MentorBotI hand over things people can pick up straight away, like tickets your developer can build from or a calendar your team can keep running without me.
Ask me howTools
- Design and research
- Figma, FigJam, Maze, Zoom, Lovable. Interviews, think-aloud walkthroughs, usability tests, WhatsApp polls and a jar of sticky notes
- Building and writing
- Claude (Claude Code and Claude Design), Wispr Flow, Canva, Shopify, Substack, Metricool
- Photography
- Canon EOS 6D Mark II, Lightroom
- Studied
- MPA, Touro University Worldwide. BA in Education, St. Norbert College. DesignLab UX Academy