Bilal Harry Lindemann.

In the late 1990s, while living in the Philippines, he got his first computer: a Compaq. He was proud of it and spent days and nights finding out what he could do with it. Online, he discovered websites whose design and animation made him want to look under the surface. He explored graphic design and 3D modelling, then found Flash, where animation, design and code could come together. He learned ActionScript through books, experimentation and studying how other people had built their work, tracing the code and changing things to understand what happened. It is a way of learning he still returns to today.

Looking inside things was already a habit. As a child, he took apart radio-controlled cars and combined parts from different models, assembled battery packs and built a dynamo in his small workshop. Even his father’s television came apart. It sometimes got him into trouble, but experimenting and trying again was how he learned.

He went on to open his first design studio in the Philippines, taking on branding and web projects. After moving to Germany, he was asked to lead the development of an interactive storytelling experience for children. The project took him back to the Philippines, where he led a team for two years to bring it to life.

In 2005, an opportunity with a Dubai-based agency brought him to the city he has called home ever since. Five years later, he co-founded Lindemann Rock.

Through the studio, he has worked on brand and digital programmes for organisations including Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, JW Marriott and Abu Dhabi Financial Group. This includes MYLAND for Land Rover↗ (opens in a new tab), a campaign website developed with Wunderman Dubai, bringing films, stories and community contributions together in one place.

As projects grew, the code behind them became as much a concern as the interface. Working alongside developers, he saw how hard it could be to maintain a product when only one person understood how it was built. Learning PHP and databases helped him take more responsibility for that work: understanding the implementation, questioning decisions and making it easier for someone else to pick up later.

Those concerns became central to his work with larger teams. As part of the TAMM core team in Abu Dhabi, he led the design system supporting more than 800 government services across 30 entities. Alongside components and accessibility guidance, he worked on how teams contributed to the system and used it, running workshops and supporting adoption.

Today, he leads designers and researchers while staying close to the work himself. Research helps him decide which problems deserve attention; working prototypes make ideas tangible enough to test and discuss. His work across Europe and the Gulf has also made language and accessibility part of those early decisions, including how an experience works in Arabic and from right to left.

His recent work includes the brand and digital transformation of Al Hatab Foods, connecting physical retail, customer communications and digital services. The website and rewards platform connect the brand with practical customer needs, from finding product information to accessing membership and rewards.

His work also includes the website for Ali Alghanim & Sons Automotive↗ (opens in a new tab) in Kuwait, bringing multiple automotive brands together with vehicle information, offers and access to after-sales services.

Recurring problems in client work have also led him to build his own products. His family of Craft CMS tools helps teams find content, manage links, work across languages and investigate problems. The tools share a common foundation, so improvements can benefit several products and there is less to maintain separately.

He is now exploring how people review and take responsibility for AI-assisted development through Proof-Carrying Workflows. The system connects what an agent was allowed to do with the code it changed and the evidence it left behind. He is testing PCW locally ahead of a public release, while continuing to develop design tokens and tools for building consistent, accessible interfaces.

That curiosity is part of everyday life, too. Whether he is growing plants, making pizza or working on a car, he wants to understand what makes things work and what he could do differently. His latest experiment is homemade ginger beer. He believes we are never done learning, however much experience we have, and getting things wrong is part of that. There is always something to question, reconsider or understand a little better.