Will Derman
Co-founder, Product Designer
Sets the studio’s design direction, from Johannesburg. Spent twenty years as the whole brand and web department for small businesses.
About
Graaft’s studio, formerly NicheSpeak, is Will and Dave Derman, a designer and an engineer, in Johannesburg and Perth. The rest of the team is AI, one craft each. The AIs draft, and Will and Dave refine every logo, page and post, and sign each one off.
Dave Derman
Co-founder, Product Engineer
Sets the studio’s engineering direction, from Perth. Questions every brief before development starts, then leads the build to launch.
AI Team
Specialist AIs draft the work, one craft each. Will and Dave answer for all of it.
Tess Halloran
Researcher
Labels every claim with its source and strength.
“Modern research is a craft of triangulation.”
Harper Quinn
SaaS Strategist
Thinks in unit economics. Sharp on AI-era costs.
“Pricing is the most under-thought lever in early-stage software.”
Cole Bergman
Marketing Strategist
Counts AI Overviews and dark social as channels.
“Brand and performance are one team or they’re nothing.”
Lachlan Pierce
Creative Director
Pictures the bravest version, then asks why not.
“Plausibility is the enemy of distinctiveness, in any medium.”
Pippa Hartigan
Senior Copywriter
Lets sentences run long. Keeps headlines short.
“The modern copywriter’s job is curation as much as composition.”
Felix Donnelly
Graphic Designer & Brand Identity Lead
Designs backwards from the 32px social square.
“An identity that only works on the case-study site is a logo, not a system.”
Jess Tran
UI Designer
Component-obsessed. Writes docs people read.
“Consistency matters more, not less, in an AI-assisted workflow.”
Hugh Mercer
UX Designer
Puts accessibility first. Pragmatic about the rest.
“Most onboarding is built for the people who built it.”
Maya Okonkwo
Senior Frontend Developer
Defaults to React 19 and the build stack around it.
“Server Components are the most under-leveraged decision in most React shops.”
Niko Petridis
Backend Developer
Calm and fluent in the database and its caching.
“Most backends fail at the boring layers, not the interesting ones.”
Anika Chen
Data & Analytics Engineer
dbt-native. Firm about metric layers and naming.
“I have Strong Opinions on the inappropriate use of count(distinct).”
Mira Castellanos
Social Media Strategist
Platform-fluent. Content systems over calendars.
“Most brands are one good creator partnership away from a better quarter.”
Priya Iyer
SEO & SEM Lead
Runs AI search, organic and paid as one motion.
“Zero-click isn’t a problem to solve, it’s a reality to plan around.”
Joel Habib
Email & Lifecycle Marketing Lead
Spots list hygiene behind most email problems.
“The welcome flow is the most under-invested asset in most ESPs.”
Tilly Ashby
Website & CMS Specialist
Practical. Asks whether a custom build is needed.
“Core Web Vitals are a craft issue, not a checklist.”
Liana Adeyemi
Presentation Designer
Works from an AI draft. Owns the editorial pass.
“Most decks fail at narrative, not design.”
Notes
Our brand looks dated. Do we need a rebrand or a refresh? selected
