A man with gray hair, glasses, and a beard, wearing a patterned shirt and vest, sitting on a red leather couch against a light-colored wall with a friendly expression.

Design leader.

Storyteller.

Politico.

Awesome dad, strategic design leader, sci-fi novelist, politico, & cancer survivor.

(Also, I’m charming AF.)

I’m a design leader, speculative fiction author, and progressive politico working at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and impact.

Whether I’m shaping user experiences, building strange new worlds, or fighting for a more inclusive Georgia, I bring bold ideas to life through thoughtful execution, clear communication, and a deep belief in people-centered design—in every sense of the word.

Reach out and let’s make something amazing together.

A signature

Design leader.

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.

Professional results.

As a design director, UX consultant, and designer working with some of the biggest agencies and brands in the Southeast, I’ve been fortunate to create experiences and achieving winning results for companies ranging from Fortune 5s to startups.

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 →

Thought leadership.

From time to time, I’ve written about design in a variety of professional publications, including Newsweek and Smashing Magazine.

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.

Read More →
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?

Read More →

Storyteller.

I tell tall tales, build strange worlds, and explore the hard truths in between.

I’m an author who loves blending deep characters, cinematic action, and big ideas into stories that don’t quite fit one genre box. My debut novel, Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man, reimagines a Western icon with a sci-fi twist. It was a Philip K. Dick Award and Georgia Author of the Year nominee that readers and critics alike praised for its grit, originality, and heart.

There is another west. Much wilder.

Calamity: Being an Account of Calamity Jane and Her Gunslinging Green Man is a gritty, violent reimagining of a frontier legend, where a tough teenage outcast and her alien gunslinger fight for survival across a Wilder West unlike any you’ve seen before. Together, they face down savage spacemen, vengeful posses, and native tribes on the warpath, blending Western grit with a sharp sci-fi twist.

A hardcover book titled 'Calamity' by JD Jordan, featuring a silhouette of a woman with a cowboy hat and a sniper rifle on the cover, with red, black, and white abstract background design.

Short fiction.

From spectral swamps to suburban crawlspaces, I like to explores the quiet places where grief and wonder meet. The clash of the fantastic and the mundane. Stories of haunted friendships, mythic legacies, and the desperate, beautiful ways we try to reclaim love, power, and ourselves.

Short fiction
“The Shortcut.”
“The Shortcut.”

A dark-fantasy excerpt featured in Tales from The Magician’s Skull.

When a shortcut strands two travelers in a haunted ruin, a reluctant swordsman must follow his friend—freshly murdered and unnaturally reborn—into a cursed swamp where ancient love and unholy vengeance still stir. The Shortcut is a dark-fantasy tale of spectral possession, decaying empires, and the dreadful cost of loyalty.

Read More →
“Sh/ft.”
“Sh/ft.”

A modern-day sci-fi short featured in The Granville Gazette.

When sixteen-year-old Winnow discovers she’s not the only Hopi who can teleport, she’s thrust into a world of government ops, cosmic myth, and viral fame—but what shakes her most is the fear of losing the one thing she’s never had before: being seen. In a future shaped by ancestral magic and modern exploitation, Sh/ft is a blisteringly sharp coming-of-age story about power, identity, and the price of belonging.

Read More →

Politico.

I ran for office to protect our freedoms—and built the most effective campaign for the Georgia State Senate.

I’m a progressive political organizer, candidate, and coalition builder with a record of high-impact leadership in one of Georgia’s most competitive suburban districts. In 2024, I led a grassroots campaign for State Senate District 56 that shattered Democratic turnout records, activated tens of thousands of voters, and united dozens of regional organizations to fight back against extremist overreach.

Thank you!

Thank you for your attention, for volunteering, for donating—and to 45,557 of you, for voting!

A man with gray hair and beard, wearing sunglasses and a patterned shirt, holding a microphone and speaking at an outdoor event with a flag of the United States in the background. The image features the text 'The 2024 Election', 'Thank you!', and the logo for JD Jordan for the 56th State Senate.

Video library.

From stump speeches alongside Stacey Abrams and campaign ads with gumption to TikTok’s showcasing a growth mindset, there’s plenty of footage and reels from the campaign trail

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).