About

Kris with his pupster, Junie

This is the personal website of a Kris Bell. There are many Kris Bells. One is an accomplished rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and is not to be confused with Big Star Chris Bell, or Chris Bell Band Chris Bell who share similar bios. I should probably make music. There’s a Kris Bell who coaches swimming, and another who offers financial services, and another who plays college football.

Kris Bells are legion, apparently.

No, I’m the Kris Bell who happened to buy this domain name way back in the year 2000. Sorry to the other Kris Bells who want it.

The professional-adjacent bio

I spent 20-something years in tech as a designer and design leader. I have a Master’s Degree in Information Management from the UW’s ISchool. I’m deeply interested in design and technology, though not for the sake of design and technology, but for their systemic impact on humans individually and humankind writ large. I’m also deeply interested in things that don’t involve modern technology (“modern technology“ meaning computing and screens), which I’m worried we’re increasingly ignoring in our lives.

Not long ago I left big tech. I’m not that old, so I didn’t “retire” to live out my golden years. At 50 years old, I’ve got a lot of charge left in my battery. Rather, I left the workforce to attend to the needs of my family and to work on projects, both tech and non-tech, that invigorate rather than enervate. One of these involves writing, which I’ve done a lot of in my life (krisbell.com was once a travel blog), and for which until I built this thing lacked an outlet. Others involve long cooking projects, reading books I’ve been meaning to read, weightlifting, and, yes, a bit of vibe coding.

I’m also consulting on UX strategy via my micro-consultancy, v1v10. Right now I have one client, but might be open to more as soon as this puppy grows up.

What you can expect

This site is or will be a scattershot mix of armchair-chair philosophy screeds, life updates, recipes, and who the hell knows what else. There’s no binding theme. I need to fly free, man.

Thanks for indulging me.