
Brian Whitfield
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Austin, TX, United States
Toptal member since July 22, 2019
Brian is a multidisciplinary designer specializing in brand strategy, identity, product design, and art direction. His design ethos can be defined as efficient, adaptable, and sparked with enlightenment. For over ten years, Brian's designed complete brand systems, cross-platform mobile and web applications, and creative campaigns for hundreds of brands and organizations, including Dell, Ford, PepsiCo, Listrak, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
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.
- Worked 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 & Web Designer/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 ten 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
InVision, Adobe Experience Design (XD), Adobe Creative Suite, Axure RP Pro, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Slack, Microsoft Office, Miro, Adobe Dreamweaver, Affinity Photo, Adobe CC, Zeplin, Jira, Airtable, ProtoPie, Adobe After Effects, Affinity Designer, SketchUp, Blender, Autodesk 3ds Max, Flash
Languages
Visual Design Language, HTML, CSS, Markdown, JavaScript, Flash ActionScript
Platforms
Web, Figma, Big Cartel, WordPress, Axure, Shopify, Webflow, MacOS, Windows, iMac, PC, iOS, Android, Mobile, Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
Industry Expertise
Consumer Products, Cybersecurity, Events, Apparel & Accessories, Marketing, Music, Games
Other
UI Design, Logo Design, Wireframing, Prototyping, Sketching, UX Design, Visual Design, Style Guides, Design Systems, UI Components, Icon Sets, Web Design, Icon Design, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Company Naming, Logotype, Brand Identity, Brand Design, Graphic Design, Mobile App Design, App Icon Design, High-fidelity Mockups, High-fidelity Prototypes, Low-fidelity Mockups, Low-fidelity Prototypes, Product Design, Branding, Design Research, Interaction Design (IxD), Iconography, PowerPoint Design, Visual Identity, Design Libraries, Web App Design, Creative Briefs, Naming, Color Palettes, Mood Boards, Mobile Design, Brand Guidelines, Visual Brand Guidelines, Design Principles, Design, Mobile UI, Mobile Applications, Front-end Design, Web Components, Style Tile, Digital Product Design, Color Scheme Design, Wordmark, Color Schemes, Logo Systems, Landing Page Design, Framer, Communication Design, Typography, Type Design, Documentation, Patterns, Mockups, Illustration, Promotional Leaflets & Flyers, Responsive Design, eCommerce, Mobile Web Design, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Data Visualization, User Research, Print Design, Creative Direction, Art Direction, Design Language, Brand Strategy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Art, UI Audits, Journey Mapping, Sitemaps, Print, Event Branding, Event Collateral, Collateral Design, Consumer Applications, Mobile User Acquisition, Web Applications, UI Animation, UX Testing, UI Testing, Mobile UX Design, Enterprise SaaS, SaaS Design, User Journey Maps, Websites, B2B, B2C, Direct to Consumer (D2C), WordPress Design, Human-machine Interface (HMI), Information Architecture (IA), Pitch Deck Design, Visual Storytelling, Presentation Design, Infographs, Storytelling, Dashboard Design, E-learning, User Validation, Networking, IT, IT Infrastructure, Abstracts, MacBook, Font Design, Theater & Performing Arts, Push Notifications, Dashboards, Enterprise, Pattern Design, Web Development, jQuery, Colleges & Universities, Virtual Tours, Packaging, 3D Modeling, Collateral, Writing & Editing, IT Support, Dell EMC, Brochures, Higher Education, University, T-shirt Design, Game Design, Django, App Design, Wire, Conceptual Design, Fashion Design, Identity, SaaS, Visualization Design, Motion Graphics, Motion Design, Animation, Editorial Design, Brand Systems, Presentations, Web Marketing, SMS Marketing, Rapid Prototyping, Video Presentations, Web App Testing, Motion Interaction, Digital Illustration, Marketing Design, Mascot Design, Agile, User Conversion, User Retention, User Onboarding, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Flow Diagrams, Flowcharts, Customer Journeys, Product Journeys, Storyboarding, Story Mapping, Agile UX, Project Management, Mobile UX, Responsive UI, Responsive Web Apps, User Testing, Remote User Testing, Front-end Development, Motion & Animation Design, Animated Logos, Usability Testing, Smart Homes, Smart Home Technology, Home Apps, Brand Logos, Medicine
Experience
- Logo Design - 15 years
- UI Design - 14 years
- Prototyping - 12 years
- Branding - 12 years
- Product Design - 12 years
- Figma - 9 years
- Sketch - 8 years
- Art Direction - 4 years
Tools
- Sketch
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