Hi, I’m Callum Flack. I’m a designer and engineer from Australia.
Designing since 1999, coding since 2011, fluent in both. From fragile idea to prototype to product and distribution, I shorten feedback loops and nail the details that “make it talk”.
I believe that discerning judgment across disciplines is the antidote to any mediocre outcome, including AI slop. How can you make something worth paying attention to without first learning how to pay attention?
I’ve done the rounds: founded a startup engineering team through to its sale, launched a viral AI product before ChatGPT, run my own agency, my own record labels, and created brands at Saatchi & Saatchi. I enjoy the scrap.
Some highlights:
- Currently working on personal data sovereignty at Vana, a San Francisco-based start-up. This is my second stint (my first was 2022–2024). We built a viral generative AI app before ChatGPT existed. More soon.
- Built Cleared from initial commit in 2019 through to its sale in 2022. I assembled and lead its engineering team, and designed and built the app.
- Ran my own agency 2015 to 2020 for Australian and US clients, remote from Cairns. I planned, designed, built and managed projects from brief to launch.
- In the 00s, I did brand design at Saatchi & Saatchi, London among other places. You can still find my 2000-era brand work in Australian supermarkets.
You can also check out some case studies.
I collect music of all kinds and ran multiple vinyl record labels with friends between 2007 and 2013, for which I designed (or rebuilt) all the record covers.
I read books and watch films voraciously; Gerald Murnane’s “Border Districts” or Jonathon Glazer’s “Under The Skin” are current favourites. My favourite artist is either Agnes Martin or Joseph Cornell.
I’ve lived in 3 countries and 8 cities. Home is now tropical Cairns, Australia with my wife and children.