More than a website.
I'm Allen. I run Hearth Digital, but that's only part of what I do. I'm also finishing up an accounting degree, building apps on the side, thinking about branding and design in my spare time, and reading more than is probably necessary about philosophy, psychology, and history.
This page is the longer version of the story.
I'm self-taught in web development. Next.js, React, Tailwind, TypeScript — all picked up by building real things, not sitting through courses. I work part-time while contracting in SEO and web development and finishing my accounting degree, which I've taken at a pace that let me build real experience alongside it. GPA sits around a 3.7. I'm close to done.
The accounting background isn't a detour. It's an advantage. I understand how a business actually works, what the numbers mean, and why a website needs to do more than look good. When I talk about conversions and ROI with a client, it's not marketing language. It's how I actually think.
The tech field is where I'm headed. The work is already here. The degree is almost done. What comes next, I'm building toward on my own terms.
Things I'm building.
Family App
A private communication app built for family. Think GroupMe but designed specifically for the people who matter most. Built it for myself first, because the tools that already exist never felt quite right.
Work Coordination App
A team communication tool built around how people actually work. The concept started in notes, grew into a real project. The same instinct that drives the client work: if the existing tools aren't good enough, build something better.
Friends' Projects
A handful of friends each have a project they're building. I help with the code where it makes sense, but more often I'm the one asking the right questions, stress-testing ideas, and making sure what they ship actually works.
Design as a practice.
Photoshop has been part of my workflow for years. Most of it started with fantasy football, building team logos, crests, the kind of thing that has no deadline and no client, just a standard you set for yourself. That kind of practice matters. It's where you figure out what you actually know.
I've taken that into real work too. A flower shop logo and business card set, branding explorations, identity work. Nothing I did because I had to. All of it because I wanted to see if I could get it right.
I'm also working on a clothing concept. The brand is built around an idea I keep coming back to: people have more choice in the emotions they portray than they realize. The clothing is a vehicle for that, wordy by design and meant to make someone stop and think about what love actually looks like when you choose to put it into the world deliberately. It's a slow project, and that's fine. Some things take the time they take.
What I read into.
Philosophy, psychology, history. I read into all of it, not as an academic exercise, but because understanding how people think, why things happened, and what ideas have actually held up over time makes me better at everything else I do. Design is psychology. Business is history repeating. Good copy is philosophy made accessible.
I'm curious in a way that doesn't always have a clear application. That's fine with me. The connections show up eventually.
Where I'm headed.
The first goal is simple: retire my mom. Everything I build toward, the client work, the apps, the skills I keep adding, that's what it's pointed at. Not some abstract version of success. A specific person, a specific outcome.
After that, a place out in the country. Somewhere it rains, but still has good days. Far enough out that it feels like real space, close enough that civilization isn't a drive away. A homestead kind of life — land, quiet, room to think. Basketball in the driveway. Work I take pride in every day.
That's the whole picture. I'm not in a hurry, but I'm not waiting either.
Want to work with someone like this?
You know who I am now. If that sounds like the right fit for your project, let's talk.
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