About

About Mojave Paint

During an extended stay at my California desert getaway I started building Mojave Paint. I've got all I need down there for effective macOS development — a 5K monitor, Starlink internet, and plenty of White Claw.

The concept for this really started in 2021, after leaving my second stint at Google. I had a vision for a web based image editor, something akin to Photopea but with a more unique look and feel. I spent a fair bit of time on that before losing interest and when I decided, in Februrary 2026, to start checking out these new AI coding tools, I thought why not revive the idea and this time as a native macOS Swift app.

The look and feel is obviously retro, but there is a rationale behind much of this. The hard edged 1x graphics communicate precision, hand placed pixels being the complete opposite of the smeared/averaged uncanny AI look. There is no dark mode. Most apps have dark mode and light mode, but light mode is retina burning bright and there is no goldilocks mode. I call the Mojave Paint theme "toasted light mode". With an image editor, I believe it's important to keep a neutral amount of light coming in from around the document. Not black, not white, but neutral medium. Think of how when watching TV at night it's nice to have a lamp on near the television.

These are just some of the many ways that Mojave Paint is crafted with love and passion. I hope you like it, and, give it some leeway for not being all that complete just yet.

-John
April 2, 2026

Edit Oct 27, 2026 — I'm in the process of redrawing those 1x icons to be 2x art. You can have hard edged binary thresholded art that looks crisp on 2x display and still imparts the idea of precision. Also I added a dark mode, it's a work in progress though.

About John

Born in Seattle, went to University of Washington for Computer Science and Engineering. Long history in big tech including Amazon, Google, Uber and Apple, mostly as a front-end focused engineer. See my work history at linkedin.com/in/jpsimons (that profile photo is 20 years old and now I think it's funny just to leave it).

More recently I took a break from tech to start a mobile knife sharpening business in Seattle, called Burly Burr Knife Sharpening. I work out of a 1961 Olson Grumman step van, sharpening on abrasive belts and leather strops.

When I'm not in Seattle (neighborhood of Fremont) I'm usually at my high desert cabin in Landers, California (in the Mojave Desert). I'm an avid record collector, I like all the usual stuff like hiking and barbecueing, I have several friends in bands so I often go see them play around Seattle or Tacoma, oh and I got into running last year so be sure to give me a thumbs up on Strava.