Derek Hunten
Product Designer
San Francisco
San Francisco
Garlic is the foodie app for your group chat. Reviews from people you trust and have fun with.
Let's be honest, Yxlp and Gxxgle maps suck ass. Garlic acts like talking to your friends. Instead of cryptic 8.34 stars, ratings are clear emotions like 😍. Ratings for Food/Service/Vibe/Value are independent, so its instantly clear how the totality of your experience was. Rate and recommend individual food items, so Jonny will know to get the pizza and not the spaghetti. It's mutuals-only, so Karen-who-hates-mustard doesn't tank ratings. No bots.
Work: I designed the app top-to-bottom: colorful, fun, and with great UX. With help from my pal Claude, I've been developing the frontend, backend, and everything in between.
In my free time I like to draw animations on my iPad with Procreate. I've been posting them on my GIPHY as stickers & GIFs since 2020. As of 2026, I have racked up 2.4 billion total views (which is pretty neat). Fun fact: my most used GIF is the one you see here.
In 2025 I started a brand and product design studio called Hello Universe Studio with my partner Tracy. We focus on zero to one design (mainly for startups) where we do everything including logos, strategy, creative direction, animations, websites, and beyond.
The latest project we're working on is branding a local restaurant in SF, so our scope of clients is more than just tech companies :-)