ABOUT + BACKGROUND

Jenn with Two n’s

I grew up in the Midwest before screen time was a thing – playing “Make Me Laugh” with my cousins in my parents’ basement. Turns out our homegrown form of sketch comedy helped me think on my feet and turn a phrase from an early age. I loved every minute of it, and my sense of humor, humility, curiosity and passion have always guided me throughout my creative career and life in general.

Wisconsin gave me my roots, education and beer drinking chops. Chicago gave me my sweet doggies and lots of great food. LA was sunny with a side of salad. Seattle was where I learned a ton and found a new path. And coming full circle back to Milwaukee finally feels like home, with the perfect mix of my favorite things.

My core background is in copywriting and design, but I think creative is more about solving a problem and telling great stories. I’ve always dug into each challenge to find the unique insight that will lead to a bold idea and then execute and deliver it in a way that connects to the audience in a real way.  

I enjoy working on projects that require both strategy and visual design, as well as building new brands and product development. I have a lot of experience bringing brands to life through market research and brand standards. That led me to get UX/UI certified this past year to expand my knowledge base with some new tools under my belt to more fully shift into product design and development. I have always loved conducting human-centric user research, facilitating cross-functional collaboration and creating comprehensive design systems.

My goal is to create work that has a positive impact on the people that create it and delights the people it was made for. I also like bullet points, so here’s some other stuff you should know about me:

• Creator – I have a ton of experience creating ownable content and disruptive creative concepts through original photography, design and video. I also have a crazy good eye for detail – I can hang frames by eyeballing the space.

• Leader – I’ve led teams both large and small. I think everyone has valuable ideas, and I love rallying people together for the best solution. I also know that the way to gain respect is to dive in and do the work – I label my layers, always.

• Researcher – I’ve done a lot of market research and research by committee. I love analyzing businesses from the inside out, and I know way more than I ever thought I would about SaaS, nonprofits, rare diseases and puppy casting calls.

• Collaborator – I pride myself on cultivating very strong client, vendor and freelance relationships. I treat everyone with the same level of respect and empathy and my approach is to always plus up all of our ideas, together.

• Storyteller – My favorite thing about the creative process is working with the people at the heart of the brand to really dig into what makes it different. Then I focus on bringing that story to life with meaningful content and clean design. 

Long story, long… I can lead, I can follow. Mostly, I just love to create awesome work with good people. If you made it this far, I know you’re good people. So, give me a call. I’d love to buy you a beer or talk about what we can create over a whole meal of food.

PAST + PRESENT

Collaborators

826LA
Alcon
Allovus
American Funds
ASB Studios
AT&T ForHealth
BioMarin
Builder Media Solutions
The Black Pineapple
Cardinal Health
Crown Imports
Elanco Animal Health
EventUp
General Assembly
James Hardie
Just Practice ACT
Kite Pharma
Lake Forest College
Lemonhead Candy
Michael Lewis Company
Microsoft
McKesson
MobileCause
Northwestern Mutual
Pep Boys
PK Productions
Putzmeister
Red Folder Consulting
Royal Building Products
T-Mobile
Waggish Apparel

personal + photography

Life Inspires Art

What I Love

• Designing for fun, traveling and framing a great photo.

• That time right after the sunset when the sky keeps you guessing.

• Yacht rock on a pontoon boat with an ice-cold beer in a koozie.

• Walking my dogs by the water and playing ball with Murph.