
Brian Whitfield
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Austin, TX, United States
Toptal member since July 22, 2019
Brian is a versatile brand, product, and web designer specializing in visual identity, interaction design, strategy, and art direction. For 15+ years, he's designed hundreds of cross-platform interactive experiences and brand systems across industries—from technology and healthcare to eCommerce and non-profits—including for Dell, Ford, Listrak, PepsiCo, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and many startups. All with passion and an ethos rooted in extensibility, efficiency, and essence.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Multi-disciplinary Designer
Self-employed (Independent Designer)
- Created complete brand systems, including logos, brand and product naming, visual languages, colors, typography, icons, and illustration styles.
- Collaborated with many startups and enterprise businesses to create comprehensive design system libraries with established design principles, components, colors, typography, and more.
- Used primary design tools such as Figma, Sketch, and Abstract, while virtual meetings were handled via Slack, Zoom, and email.
- Established an independent studio and creative journal featuring hundreds of branded assets for publishing social media-focused content and merchandise.
Senior Product Designer
SparkCognition
- Designed over five advanced UI concepts powered by artificial intelligence.
- Worked closely with the chief designer, team members, and technologists to conceptualize, storyboard, and refine design directions.
- Interfaced and presented digital design direction/experiences with Fortune 500 partners in the commercial, manufacturing, and government space.
- Designed digital experiences for PepsiCo, Koenigsegg, Ford, and Dubai RTA.
Senior UI Product Designer
Dell
- Led and collaborated on more than three cross-platform mobile apps (iOS and Android) and more than five web apps.
- Built several design-system-component libraries that supported multiple products.
- Designed brand identity systems (logos, app icons, colors, and so on) and advanced UI concepts.
- Facilitated and assisted UX methods, including journey map creation, user flows, empathy maps, and various user-centered design practices.
- Worked on multiple products simultaneously: on cross-functional teams consisting of designers, developers, UX researchers, marketing, and project managers.
- Conducted design and user research, including UX audits, heuristic analyses, and competitive analyses.
- Utilized my digital agency marketing and advertising experience to prepare and write copy for product pages and landing screens.
Multimedia Designer
TKO Advertising
- Crafted over five brand identities, logos, and illustrations for digital products and events.
- Designed over ten websites, visual design systems, and custom icons and illustrations for businesses and organizations in tech, retail, entertainment, government spaces.
- Assisted in the front-end development of responsive and SEO-driven websites.
- Designed over ten marketing campaigns, which included animated web banners, custom formatted emails, posters, and flyers.
- Worked closely on a cross-functional team of art directors, illustrators, designers, and developers to strategize, ideate, and output branding, copywriting, motion, web, print, and video.
- Enhanced photography so that they would be ready for print and the web.
Student Marketing Designer
Texas State University
- Worked with over 25 different student organizations to create marketing materials to increase student engagement—while adhering to university brand guidelines.
- Built upon and scaled the design of legacy print and web applications.
- Designed and developed custom landing web pages for the university website.
Graphic and Web Designer and Developer
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- Redesigned and developed a regional website via a custom WordPress site.
- Implemented a CMS (WordPress) with analytics and SEO.
- Designed and handled the copywriting for over 10 marketing campaigns.
- Designed extensive identities for over 15 regional events.
- Created ambient signage mockups for campus buildings.
Multimedia Specialist
Northwest Vista College
- Designed and assisted the front-end development of HOLA, an academic advising site for newly enrolled students to complete for course credit.
- Designed and developed and online virtual tour interactive application to experience and learn about the campus prior to visiting.
- Designed over a dozen logos and graphics for campus promotions and marketing.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Communication Design
Texas State University - San Marcos, TX, USA
Associate in Applied Science Degree in Multimedia Technology
Northwest Vista College - San Antonio, TX, USA
Skills
Tools
Adobe CC, InVision, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Adobe Creative Suite, Google Slides, Illustrator CC, Photoshop CC, Adobe, Affinity Photo, Axure RP Pro, Zeplin, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Slack, Affinity Designer, Microsoft Office, Airtable, AI Tools, Canva, Framer Prototyping, Adobe Firefly, Jira, Adobe After Effects, SketchUp, Blender, Flash, FullStory, Hotjar, Visual Studio
Languages
HTML, Visual Design Language, CSS, JavaScript, Flash ActionScript
Platforms
Mobile, Figma, Web, Big Cartel, WordPress, iOS, Android, Axure, Shopify, Webflow, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), SharePoint
Industry Expertise
Events, Marketing, Cybersecurity, Education, Games, Hospitality
Other
UI Design, Logo Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, UX Design, Visual Design, Typography, Style Guides, Documentation, Design Systems, UI Components, Patterns, Mockups, Web Design, Icon Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Company Naming, Dashboards, Brand Identity, Brand Design, Graphic Design, Mobile App Design, Responsive Design, App Design, App Icon Design, Mobile Web Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), High-fidelity Mockups, High-fidelity Prototypes, Data Visualization, Product Design, Branding, Design Research, Interaction Design (IxD), Print Design, Iconography, PowerPoint Design, Identity, Visual Identity, Design Libraries, Brand Strategy, Presentations, Rapid Prototyping, Creative Briefs, Naming, Color Palettes, Mood Boards, Mobile Design, UI Audits, Brand Guidelines, Marketing Design, Journey Mapping, Visual Brand Guidelines, Sitemaps, Print, Design Principles, Design, Mobile UI, Mobile Applications, Customer Journey, User Journey Maps, Story Mapping, Websites, Front-end Design, Web Components, Style Tile, Digital Product Design, Color Scheme Design, Brand Logos, Wordmark, Color Schemes, Logo Systems, Visual Storytelling, Presentation Design, Dashboard Design, Landing Page Design, Framer, Communication Design, Design Thinking, Content Management Systems (CMS), Component Libraries, Website Migration, Brand Books, UI Branding, User Flows, Lean Experiments, Web App Design, MVP Design, User Journeys, User Experience Design, Web App UX, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Brochure Design, PDF Design, Design Guidelines, Guidelines, Mobile App UI, Mobile Apps, Interactive Prototypes, Digital Design, Digital Brand Identity, Visual Assets, Accessibility, Atomic Design, Digital Asset Management, WCAG 2, Social Media, UX Research, UX Audits, Affinity Mapping, Low-fidelity Prototypes, Landing Pages, Adobe Creative Cloud, High-fidelity Wireframes, Web App UI, Mobile UI Design, Creative Design, Workflow, Web UX, Marketing Collateral Development, Onboarding, Type Design, Illustration, Enterprise, Packaging, Collateral, Writing & Editing, Brochures, Higher Education, T-shirt Design, eCommerce, User Research, Creative Direction, Art Direction, Design Language, SaaS, Motion Graphics, Motion Design, Animation, Editorial Design, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agile, Consumer Applications, Mobile User Acquisition, Web Applications, User Conversion, UI Animation, User Onboarding, Mobile UX Design, Enterprise SaaS, SaaS Design, Flow Diagrams, Flowcharts, Storyboarding, Agile UX, Project Management, Mobile UX, Responsive UI, Responsive Web Apps, User Testing, B2B, B2C, Direct to Consumer (D2C), Motion & Animation Design, WordPress Design, Human-machine Interface (HMI), Information Architecture (IA), Pitch Deck Design, Infographs, Storytelling, E-learning, User Validation, Social Media Design, Color Theory, Design Strategy, UX Strategy, Pitch Decks, AI Design, AI Prompts, Consumer Insights, Print Production, Product Branding, Omnichannel Marketing, UX Leadership, Package Design, Signage, Banner Ads, Video Editing, Design Leadership, Ads, Community, Content Creation, Form Design, Web Development, 3D Modeling, Game Design, Fashion Design, Mascot Design, User Retention, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Remote User Testing, Front-end Development, Animated Logos, Usability Testing, UI Style Guides, Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS), Enterprise Design, Mobile Prototypes, Remote Usability Testing, DevOps, Prompt Engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), Leadership, Microsoft Clarity, Crazy Egg, Affinity Software, Healthcare Services
Experience
- UI Design - 15 years
- Web Design - 15 years
- Product Design - 12 years
- Adobe Creative Cloud - 12 years
- Brand Design - 12 years
- Design Systems - 10 years
- Figma - 9 years
- Framer - 6 years
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