Who on earth is Maxwell Kirwin?

There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’, but there is a Max – at least in ours, anyway. He’s one of our Developers, and while he needs no introduction, here’s one coming right up. Join us as we discuss the joys of cuddling cats and listening to music on vinyl.

 

Who are you and what do you do at KOTA?

Hello! I’m Maxwell Kirwin, Creative Front-end Web Developer at KOTA.

 

How did you get here?

I ask myself this every morning aha. 

From youth through to school, I was always drawing and making things.

After school, I studied Fine Art at university, but soon after, I quickly realised that I wanted to work within the digital medium. That’s when I started working in a local college marketing department – first with design, but eventually in web development.

I’m happiest when I’m able to collaborate with others creatively. I enjoy taking ideas, improving them and bringing them to life!

I’ve always seen KOTA as one of the UK’s leading design and development agencies, so when I saw a job opportunity, I jumped at it!

I don’t think the developer ecosystem has ever been this exciting and interesting, and I’m really looking forward to launching the projects I’ve been privileged to work on.

 

Three favourite brands and why?

1. Vercel: As a platform, Vercel really smash it when it comes to launching your ideas onto the web. However, what I really love is how from the back-end tooling to the design system, to the YouTube video graphics and back again,Vercel makes everything they do feel high quality and premium.
2. P&Co: As a small independent fashion company, they just do everything right. Even using the domain name pand.co to spell out the company name is next level! Their Shopify site is a really good example of a site built with design at its core. I often use it as a case study for my own Shopify builds!
3. Drift: On the subject of small independents, I’m totally obsessed with music and I’m incredibly lucky to have one of the best record shops in the UK round the corner from me. Drift knows how to market their brand, create great merch and operate an amazing Shopify site. They work on interesting projects like ‘Dinked’ (for limited edition records) and even have their own music festival (Sea Change). The design and feeling of everything they do is completely on point.

 

Good web design is…

Being brave! Whether that means trying something new or doubling down on what makes you different. Being brave is innovating and pushing things forward.

 

What do you geek out over?

I’m an absolutely huge music obsessive (snob, some say) and I have a huge record collection.

I’ve usually got  a record on while I’m coding away, just soaking in the vibes.

 

What’s your morning routine? 

On most working days, I wake up at 6am, but snooze for at least 30 mins. After I’ve resisted spending all day cuddling the cats, I hit the gym around 7am. I’ll work out for just over an hour, grab a shower and then hit the road. Currently, I’m working from my mum’s as I have an office room there and I’m in the process of buying a house with my fiancé. Once I get to mum’s, I pet the dog (a Jack Russell-Pug mix called Peggy), make a tea and log on!

(My desk. It’s a standing desk but tbh I rarely stand using it 🙁 )

Where do you live? What’s it like? 

I’m from the English Riviera: Torbay! Pretty much lived here all my life (other than uni).

It’s a bit of a holiday location in Devon, but I love it for the beaches. Any time I can log off after a long day coding and then drive down to the beach and paddleboard is a good day in my book.

The band Metronomy did an album dedicated to the area called ‘English Riviera’. If you need a bit of Devon sun in your life, I recommend giving it a listen (on vinyl, of course…).