We are the two-person team behind Horse. Hello! And thanks for supporting our little indie browser.
Read on for the personal Trails that brought us to where we are today.
♞ Pascal Pixel, Design & Engineering
It started in the year 1998, when I was just a curious child with a love for technology. I remember the moment clearly, as I inserted a CD-ROM into the family computer and it automatically launched a full-screen custom interface for children that allowed shareware installations. I was hooked. I wanted to know how it worked.
At the ripe old age of 8, I went and adapted what I had learned to help my grandmother use her computer more easily, fiddling with what turned out to be HTML files on that fateful disk, allowing her to boot Solitaire, or get on the Internet, all while hiding the rest of the complex Windows user interface.
In 2005, I joined a social network for artists, and with another CD-ROM I had the software to start making my own custom interfaces. I launched custom themes and icons for Windows XP that got featured in magazines from Tokyo, to Amsterdam, to Rio, and won various online awards with my work.
From 2007, I freelanced as a designer and engineer. And after graduating in 2012, I worked for various companies as a Web Designer, UX Engineer, and finally as Head of UX. I was always at my best as a one-man project machine, taking vague ramblings of CEOs and turning them into coherent working demos in the space of a few days. I did well. All while traveling the world as a digital nomad for a decade.
But in 2022, I did something unexpected. I took a leap of faith and went full-time independent to make nerdy things I love, and that I think are truly useful to people, instead of the VC-funded startup that I was working for the ten years prior. And so Horse Browser was born.
♘ Elly McKeown, Marketing & Community
Starting out on an academic path, I first learnt the importance of well-organised research as an undergraduate in History at the University of Oxford. Around this time, I also made the interesting discovery that my mind works best when I plot out ideas in visual formats (at this point, old-fashioned pen-and-paper mind maps!).
After graduating, I moved into a career in photo research, working at a number of different specialist photo agencies. This work taught me the value of good data asset management systems and how well-designed tech can make or break your day (and business!). It was here that I started running into the problem of ‘too many tabs’ as I juggled agency clients and photo research assignments. My pre-Horse browser was a sight for sore eyes!
In 2021, I moved to Lisbon, where I met and now live with Pascal. Horse Browser brings together my passion for research and visual-thinking, and I love getting to work with such an exciting research tool every day.
