James Madson
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Seattle, WA, United States
Toptal member since September 16, 2019
James is a product designer with over 15 years of experience designing interfaces and experiences across a broad range of industries. He's passionate about health and science-based products, collaborating to craft aesthetic and useful tools that improve our world. Most recently, James has worked alongside St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In the past, he's worked with brands such as Nike, Hoka, UGG, Reuters, Stack Overflow, and Xprize.
Portfolio
Work Experience
Design Director
NatureQuant
- Designed a fresh logo, brand, and website for the new startup, establishing a mature identity that assisted founders in connecting and collaborating with dozens of organizations like Harvard, MIT, REI, and the National Park Service.
- Built the design system, Juniper, within Figma, solidifying our design elements and components to share with developers and stakeholders.
- Designed and prototyped the company's primary health app NatureDose to track user's time spent indoors and in nature.
Lead Designer and Owner
JM Design & Development
- Managed UI/UX projects for startups, non-profits, and international brands while working 100% remote.
- Prepared and presented slides and prototypes to client teams and key stakeholders.
- Created the entire brand identity, successful web user on-boarding, print marketing materials, and brand guidelines for a rising real estate startup, Bundle Select.
- Conducted competitor research, brand placement, and logo design.
- Designed and developed user interfaces, from rough sketches and prototypes to design systems and production-ready code.
Lead Product Designer
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – St. Jude Cloud
- Redesigned the PeCan Knowledge Base, pecan.stjude.cloud, a curated pediatric cancer genomics data platform enabling any research in the world to access valuable clinical data within minutes, all within a logical and aesthetic user experience.
- Built a design system from the ground up, establishing cross-department communication and consistency within the brand, creating the source of truth for all things design.
- Conducted design reviews and crafted executive-level presentations and branding for multiple new initiatives.
Senior Designer
Oregon Center of Applied Science
- Led the design of Jauntly, a goals-based responsive web app, featured in Amazon and Firefox app stores.
- Conducted user research and interviews. Created user flows and wireframes for various health and wellness products.
- Developed front-end interfaces and guidelines alongside the engineering team.
Designer and Production Manager
Harris Design & Print
- Designed logos and branding and developed websites for startups and Fortune 500 clients.
- Managed the large-format print production department, interfacing with clients and overseeing installations.
- Installed vehicle wraps and environmental vinyl graphics.
Skills
Tools
Adobe Photoshop, Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Google Docs, Slack, Figma Component Library, InVision Studio, Adobe InDesign, GitHub, Trello, Visual Studio, Mailchimp, CorelDRAW, Jekyll, Basecamp, Jira, Google Sheets, Blender, 3ds Max, Adobe After Effects, Microsoft PowerPoint
Platforms
Web, Figma, iOS, Android, Mobile, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), TouchDesigner, RStudio
Languages
HTML, CSS, Clean, JavaScript, Less, R
Industry Expertise
Apparel & Accessories, Health, Health & Wellness
Other
Interactive Prototypes, UI Branding, Design Leadership, Rapid Prototyping, Design Systems, User Interface (UI), User Experience (UX), Wireframing, Logo Design, User Journey Maps, Empathy Mapping, User Empathy, Communication, Responsive Design, Responsive Web Apps, Lean Startups, Art Direction, Sitemaps, Logo Systems, Brand Books, Web Design, Digital Design, Lean UX, Branding, Product Design, UX Design, UI Design, Visual Design, Tailwind CSS, Web App Design, App Design, Mobile App Design, Web App UX, Design Revamps, Design Reviews, Detail-oriented, Discovery, High-fidelity Prototypes, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Responsive Web Design (RWD), UX Audits, UX Research, Web Applications, Web Application Design, User Flows, User Personas, Project Estimation, Stakeholder Engagement, User Testing, User Stories, User-centered Design (UCD), User Experience Design, Cross-functional Collaboration, Content Design, Brand Design, Design, WebApp, Digital Strategy, Design Workshops, Intercom, Felt, App UI, Clean Design, Component Libraries, Custom Themes, UI Pattern Library, Color Palettes, Dashboard Design, Presentations, Journalism, News Publications, Agile UX, eCommerce Design, Remote User Testing, Lean Research, Personas, Mobile Prototypes, Responsive, User Journeys, Flat Design, Color Science, User Paths, Web Dashboards, Typography, Microsites, Websites, Event Marketing, Mobile Web, Creative Design, Website Redesign, Rapid Sketching, Mobile Navigation, Registration & Sign-up, Minimal UI, Iterative Design, Minimalism, Icon Design, Interaction Design (IxD), Pitch Decks, Interactive UI, Nonprofits, Grid Systems, Portfolio System Design, Content Strategy, Research, Public Health, Sass, JSON, Newsletters, Newsletter Design, Cavalry, Vue, Nuxt.js, Laravel, Django, Adobe Premiere, Bioinformatics, Front-end Development, Copywriting, UX Strategy, Web Marketing, Illustration, Next.js, Framer
Experience
- HTML - 20 years
- Wireframing - 20 years
- User Interface (UI) - 20 years
- Branding - 20 years
- CSS - 18 years
- Product Design - 16 years
- User Experience (UX) - 15 years
- Figma - 6 years
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