LUKEBEARD
Luke Beard is a designer, photographer, and creative technologist based in Atlanta, Georgia. Born in the United Kingdom but has since become a dual US/UK citizen, he calls Atlanta home, after moving from San Francisco in 2013. He is probably most well known for founding Exposure, a photography focused platform for visual storytellers.
He is currently the Creative Director at Electric Hospitality, the Atlanta restaurant group behind Muchacho, Ladybird, Ranger Station, and Tiger Sun, and fractional Head of Product at Opulist, a design focused location discovery app he designed and built end to end and shipped in 2026. His earlier work includes interim Head of Product at Fohr, Chief Design Officer on Avelo Smart Running Shoes, and co-founding Any Distance, a social fitness app that won an Apple Design Award in 2023. He spent time in roles at Hipstamatic, Buffer, Zerply, and Voyage, the autonomous taxi company where he was the first designer.
Suggestions
Things Luke thinks are good,
An Occasional Email
Here and there Luke sends updates about his work, launches and new suggestions.
Questions
- Who is Luke Beard?
- Luke Beard is a multidisciplinary designer, photographer, and creative technologist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a dual US/UK citizen, born in the United Kingdom and living in Atlanta since 2013. His self-described focus: design good products, take great photos. He founded Exposure and has led design and product at companies including Fohr, Avelo, Any Distance, and Voyage.
- What does Luke work on now?
- Luke is Creative Director at Electric Hospitality, the Atlanta restaurant group behind Muchacho, Ladybird, Ranger Station, and Tiger Sun; fractional Head of Product at Opulist, a venue discovery iOS app he designed and built end to end; and Founder and CEO of Exposure, a photography hosting and publishing platform.
- What is Exposure?
- Exposure (exposure.co) is a photography hosting and publishing platform Luke founded in 2013 and still leads. It gives photographers and writers a calm, long-form alternative to disposable social feeds. Clients span Fortune 500 (Rivian, National Geographic), sports (NFL, MLS), NGOs (World Wildlife Fund, United Nations), government (US State Department), and education (MIT, Yale, UC Berkeley).
- What is Any Distance?
- Any Distance was a social fitness app Luke co-founded and led as CEO and designer from 2020 to 2023. It won the Apple Design Award for Visual and Graphics in 2023, reached over 100,000 downloads, and was named twice as Apple App of the Day. It was built around positivity and motivation rather than algorithms, ads, or competition.
- What is Luke's background?
- Luke studied Computer Science at the Royal Forest of Dean College. His career spans Fohr (Interim Head of Product), Avelo (Chief Design Officer, leading the design of the world's smartest running shoe), Blank Street, Voyage (first designer at the autonomous taxi service), Uncrate, Elepath, WillCall, Hipstamatic, Buffer, and Zerply.
- Where is Luke based?
- Atlanta, Georgia. He was born in the United Kingdom, is a dual US/UK citizen, and has lived in Atlanta since 2013.
- How can I contact Luke?
- Email luke@beard.co with the problem, current stage, intended outcome, and useful time frame.
- What details should a project note include?
- Include what you are making, who it is for, what is already true, where the work is stuck, and what a good outcome would look like.