James Klahn

About

Brand designer with 6+ years of experience building identity systems, campaign creative, and visual systems for consumer, B2B, and DTC companies. Designs across brand, web, print, and motion with strong typography, layout, and craft; comfortable creating brand systems from scratch or evolving existing ones. Integrates AI tools into workflow to accelerate ideation and execution without compromising quality or brand guidelines.

Experience

• Brand Designer (Freelance) · Boykov Design Co.01-01-2019

  • Designed brand identity systems and logos for 100+ clients across SaaS, consumer, retail, real estate, and industrial manufacturing. • Led full rebrands inlcuding logo, type, color, photography, brand guidelines, web design, illustrations, and more. • Built customer profiles and positioning frameworks that shaped visual direction for clients pivoting brand strategy. • Managed full client lifecycle from discovery through delivery, with consistent on-time execution and clear communication. Madison, WI

• Creative Strategist & Graphic Designer (Contract) · Notch (formerly MadMen AI)09-01-2024 – 09-01-2025

  • Steered creative strategy for 10+ high-growth accounts ($100k+ monthly spend), utilizing performance data to iterate on visuals and lower CPA. • Partnered with founders to define GTM strategies, producing 10+ high-converting videos and 50+ static assets that generated thousands of organic and paid views; often converting into paid users or beta testers. • Pioneered AI-integrated design workflows to accelerate concept testing and iteration speed, significantly enhancing creative output without sacrificing quality, brand guidelines, or messaging frameworks. • Exceeded ROAS target by delivering 1400+ performance-driven ad creatives, through rigorous A/B testing and design optimization. Remote

• Graphic Designer · Mead & Hunt05-01-2023 – 09-01-2024

  • Designed visual assets and campaigns for social and web channels across food & beverage, aviation, and energy markets. • Designed and shipped high-fidelity wireframes for an internal rebrand and UX audit, modernizing the company’s information architecture. • Conceptualized and prototyped a mobile app experience designed to increase student engagement in architecture and engineering career paths. • Supported integrated marketing campaigns across multiple verticals, contributing brand-consistent assets across print and digital. Middleton, WI

• Graphic Designer (Contract) · Duluth Trading Company05-01-2022 – 09-01-2024

  • Designed 500+ seasonal campaign assets across paid social, email, and web channels; directly supporting aggressive e-commerce revenue targets. • Led UX/UI research initiatives and user testing, developing interactive prototypes that informed the roadmap for future web architecture updates. • Optimized digital asset management (DAM) workflows by executing a migration from Salesforce to Amplience, reducing asset retrieval time and improving the customer experience. Mount Horeb, WI

• UX / UI Designer (Contract) · CARCADE09-01-2022 – 12-01-2022

  • Developed and applied brand standards & organizational system to provide easy access to supportive elements. Milwaukee, WI

• Graphic Design Intern · Kohler01-01-2022 – 04-01-2022

  • Designed and prototyped a fully interactive application in Figma to unblock a key internal initiative, filling a critical resource gap for the product team. Mount Horeb, WI

Education

• Milwaukee Institute of Art & DesignBachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) | Communication Design | GPA: 4, Communication Design

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