A smiling man with glasses and a beard relaxing on a red leather couch with a woman, enjoying a moment together.

I’ve turned great ideas 
into amazing experiences 
for over 25 years.

I’m an experienced UX design leader with a 25-year career creating transformative user experiences, leading cross-functional teams, and driving business growth for major brands and consultancies.

I have a proven track record as a co-founder and design executive, delivering omni-channel strategies and innovative product solutions at top-tier agencies and Fortune 500. Pretty cool.

An accomplished design author, educator, and public speaker with expertise in brand strategy, customer experience, and cross-cultural design, I’m recognized for fostering agile environments and scalable processes that measurably improve customer engagement and retention. And as a design instructor, I mentoring emerging designers and shaping the next generation of UX talent.

As a director, consultant, and designer working with some of the biggest agencies and brands in the Southeast, I’ve been fortunate to create experiences for a pretty snappy list of clients, including:

A few words from some awesome colleagues.

  • Black and white close-up of a young man with light-colored hair and blue eyes, gazing into the distance with a thoughtful expression. Blurred trees in the background.

    When people talk about the mythical “design unicorn” who can do it all, they're talking about JD.

    This man has front-line experience with more types of media strategies than most advertising agencies. I don't care if you're a startup or a world government, JD has the design thinking and critical chops to raise your output to the next level.

    But he's a business unicorn, too: someone who can bring in the profits without forgetting about humanity, compassion and inclusion. I know him to be a principled leader and impressive colleague, and would throw him into any tough setup.

    —Alex White

  • A smiling man dressed in a black tuxedo with a bow tie, standing indoors with a blurred background.

    Great leaders are not easy to come by and leaders who will actually get their hands dirty are that much more rare.

    I’m grateful to have worked under JD and to learn from someone who is a progressive thinker and knows how to seize the day. JD is the perfect example of what I call a “Creative Genius” … no matter what deadline has been set I have observed JD time and time again exceed expectations and deliver exceptional work to our client.

    I also admire how JDs manages work life balance and I truly have learned to keep my eye on what’s important in life no matter how hard I work.

    —Jamaz Hall

  • A man with dark skin, wearing a patterned shirt over a white collared shirt, sitting indoors at a restaurant or café with blurred warm lights and people in the background.

    JD is one of the best bosses and mentors I have had.

    I have learned so much from him and he has supported me in so many ways. His years of experience show as an amazing designer, a keen strategist, and an understanding leader. He lives and breathes design and is a visionary in the field.

    —Chukwuemeka Aligbe

  • A woman with short blonde hair smiling, wearing a gray military-style jacket, standing against a plain gray background.

    JD is a creative powerhouse that leads our design team with an adept understanding of our creative individuality.

    He knows how to bring out the best of our diverse team as individuals and as a group, by contributing thought provoking ideas while maintaining a nurturing, yet hands off approach. JD has the ability to remain calm under pressure and his energy is infectious. I look forward to coming to work each and every day and being a part of his most diverse and creative team.

    —Lisa Plato

  • A smiling man with brown hair and facial hair taking a selfie outdoors, with trees and grass in the background.

    JD has the perfect blend of creative skills and understands not only how to drive an initiative towards success, but also how to speak to a client.

    Not only is his work surgically precise, he is also able to produce and iterate blindingly fast. If you need great UX work, strategic thinking, creative direction, and/or a beautiful interface, JD is the first person to talk to.

    —Brian Edwards

  • A man with dark hair, glasses, and a light complexion smiling at the camera, wearing a blue shirt indoors.

    He is incredibly talented.

    He's one of the type of people who can wear multiple UX hats—able to jump from IA to Creative Design to asset creation. His work output has always been top quality. Some of his Android designs are the best I've seen for the platform.

    He is great in front of a client and is a cohesive team member on every project. We also competed in two Hackathons together. His output and creativity within a 24 hour time box was staggering. Not only did he design for four applications in the 24 timeline, he was still able to get on stage and present to 3,000 attendees at the end of the competition to help us win 2nd place.

  • Close-up photo of a man with dark hair, beard, and mustache, smiling at the camera, against a plain background.

    JD easily ranks in the top ranks of creative directors and designer whom I have worked with over twenty years.

    It is difficult to think of a better blend of personality, experience and skills than he brings to bear in his role, whether it be in a web or mobile space. Keen intelligence and a preternatural intuition for design are just the baseline.

    JD also possesses a strong work ethic; the ability to mentor, guide and facilitate—whether within a project of mixed skills or a functional team of similarly-minded designers. plus an openness to feedback (because, let's face it, I am not a designer, but he pretended I am) paired with the ability to back his positions up diplomatically.

    —Steve Fitzgerald, PMP CSM

A handful of recent successes.

Professional results
Move forward. Faster & smarter.
Move forward. Faster & smarter.

An omnichannel Experience Transformation & brand strategy refresh for Forward.

Forward, a North American multi-modal freight carrier with more than 200 locations and nearly $2 billion in annual revenue, needed help consolidating multiple brands and disparate lines of business—spread across more than a dozen websites!—into a single engaging customer experience.

How can we get them across the finish line without disrupting their supply chain? With an omnichannel design process we call Experience Transformation.

Read More →
A diversity of data & representation.
A diversity of data & representation.

Consumer product design for Yoga Therapy Library.

The experts at The Sundara Foundation were looking for a way to get their decades of yoga-informed trauma therapy into the hands of yoga instructors everywhere while simultaneously offering more diverse representations of their students. The solution was both a new company and a new suite of products—the Yoga Therapy Library.

Read More →

And a few articles I’m quite proud of.

Thought leadership
Inside the Experience Transformation process.
Inside the Experience Transformation process.

It’s no longer enough to improve your user experience. It’s time to transform it.

Experience Transformation is Sharpen’s tested and repeatable process for elevating both the user’s experience and the business’ results through the rigorous application of design-thinking principles and an omnichannel approach to tactical execution.

It’s pretty cool.

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UX your life.
UX your life.

Applying the user-centered process to your life (and stuff).

The defining characteristic of UX design is its focus on user research and on an iterative, user-centered, approach to creating solutions. But what if we applied the user-centered design process to ourselves, our lives, and our careers?

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I’m an artist but not the starving kind.
I’m an artist but not the starving kind.

Teaching creative business is more than just good business.

“I could get an art student to do it for $35 and a six-pack.” I remember the first time a prospective client said that to try to intimidate me into accepting dramatically reduced fees for Website design services. I was newly self-employed and hungry for work, so I conceded. I delivered a great Web site, but I hated my client for making me work for so little—and myself for not knowing how to get what I deserved.

Read More →

I’ve also taught Design Thinking to creatives and muggles, alike.

As a teacher, I’ve taught at universities, portfolio schools, and even stood-up the full-time immersive curriculum and program at General Assembly. And as a creative leader, I’ve hosted a spectrum of killer talks, engaging workshops, and hands-on coaching options at conferences and corporate events. So, whether I’m running a Unicorn Invasion improv game, present about making research actionable, coaching teams through “Design Your Life,” or partnering with sponsors to create something new, my expertise and content runs the gamut.

Check out these awesome organizations I’ve worked with…

Find me on LinkedIn.

Check out my CV and let’s connect. I’m always down to chat with fellow creatives (and folks who need creatives).