Design Director - Product Designer - Illustrator - Mentor
JONATHAN KNEELAND
create
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involve
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educate
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evolve
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create 〰️ involve 〰️ educate 〰️ evolve 〰️
the self-intro:
I'm an experienced art director, designer, illustrator, and team leader from the Boston area. I relocated to New Jersey in 2018 to be closer to family and have been rebuilding my brand in the NYC, NJ & Philadelphia metro areas ever since.
Throughout my career, I've have had the opportunity to work with many influential brands, publications, directors and talented peers in the creative and product design industries.
A true design nerd at heart, I get deep satisfaction from working with clients or in-house teams to build better experiences and bring a more modern aesthetics and experiences to their users. I’m also deeply embedded in the AI landscape as an early adopter to better understand where it can intersect with human interaction design: Ideation, Ethics, Emotion, and Accountability.
the work-history part
I'm dedicated to the craft of design and always strive for the most effective outcome with each new challenge I take on. I'm usually known as the "go-to-guy" for most creative and production issues. I have a wealth of knowledge based in tools & processes from over 20 years of experience.
I've worked with just about every kind of vertical around; non-profits, startups, pharma, finance, health, automotive, technology, retail, digital subscription, and CPG industries. I find that having a wide breadth of experiences have given me a unique perspective on creativity and how technology enables us to connect with our audiences.
I maintain a deep and long-standing relationship with Adobe's Creative leadership teams. I've been working with Adobe programs since 1995 and have a solid mastery in the most current versions Creative Cloud and it's connected applications. I was on Adobe's Customer Advisory Board in 2015-2017, an active and founding member of their Ambassador Program, and worked on the Pre-Alpha for what is now known as Adobe XD. Excluding Adobe, I'm also fluent in Figma, Sketch, Flinto, Zeplin, UXPin, Clip Studio, Axure, InVision, Corel Painter, Zbrush, Procreate, ToonBoom Storyboard Pro and Harmony.
the personal outro
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I’ve become a bit of a travel buff lately. COVID gave me some severe FOMO, so I try and go to a new place every few months to experience new cultures, languages and people all over the world. I used to be an avid cyclist, but my poor bike has been collecting cobwebs…
I’m also slightly movie/tv obsessed. I’ve built my own private “Netflix-like” server and primarily binge on animation, documentaries, and stuff that needs subtitles.
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I started my career as a fine art student that desperately wanted to learn how to paint digitally before it was a “thing”. I’ve been able to maintain most of my drawing skills over the years while working on concept art, sequential art, and art moots.
I’m also trying to learn Spanish and Japanese. (It’s going slow… >_< ) -
Originally, my family is from the New England/Boston area. After 9 years in Beantown, I’m currently in the Central NJ area and attempting to get used to suburbia. By my side is my wife & partner plus 2 small dogs that love to snuggle, play chase, and bark at everything.