Kyle Johnston

About Me

I’m a passionate and unflappable designer and creative leader with twenty years of broad-ranging experience, including practicing and leading design, creative strategy, and operational leadership and team development. I’ve utilized my passion for communication design, user experience design, and team leadership to successfully build, manage, and mentor diverse teams in both in-house and agency environments.

Currently, I’m a Staff Product Designer at Etsy, where I collaborate with cross-functional product partners in engineering, research, analytics, and product management to define product strategy and priorities and run experiments that optimize buyer experiences across Etsy’s website and native apps.

Previous to Etsy, my experience includes:

  • Owner and principal designer at flow14, an independent branding and design studio that specializes in delivering results-driven design.
  • Senior Designer at Stay Alfred, offering upscale travel apartments in the best downtown neighborhoods
  • Director of Creative Services at Vista Outdoor, a leader in the outdoor sports and recreation markets
  • Creative Director at DEG, one of the fastest-growing digital agencies in the country
  • Creative Director at Garmin, the global leader in GPS navigation and wearable technology

Download my complete resume and learn more about my career.

Key Skills & Tools

Skills

Design
Web and Print Design, Branding, User Experience (UX), UI, Wireframing and Prototyping, Design Strategy, Campaign and Content Development

Development
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Processing, React, TypeScript

Leadership
Creative Direction, Hiring and Team Building, Career Path Development

Tools

Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign), Keynote, Sketch, Figma, InVision, GitHub, WordPress

Speaking & Writing

Speaking

Freelance vs. Agency vs. Corporate
Panel Moderator
AAF-KC Spark KC Career Conference
November 2015

Herding Cats
Federal Reserve Bank
Web Developers, Editors & Designers Conference
September 2015

Professional Organizations & Awards

Professional Organizations

AAF-KC Board of Directors
Vice President, Membership, 2015—2016
Corporate Membership Chair, 2014—2015

AIGA KC
Web Communications Chair, 2011—2013

Johnson County Community College
Dean’s Advisory Board, 2010—Present
Interactive Media Advisory Board, 2006—Present

Awards

Gold American Advertising Award (Regional), 2015, Garmin YouTube video series

Gold American Advertising Award (Regional), 2009, Garmin Outdoor interactive microsite

National American Advertising Award Nomination, 2009, Garmin Outdoor interactive microsite