1.
ART DIRECTION
VISUAL & INTERACTION
RESEARCH & STRATEGY
BRAND COMMUNICATIONS
DESIGN EDUCATION
JENNIFER SUKIS

2.
I grew up learning
how to imagine and
build my own ideas.
My mom was a designer. My dad, an engineer.

3.
When I went to college for Visual Communication
Design, I wound up creating things like this.
They generally made my professors look like this:
During college I’d been toying around with the idea of marrying typography with light and shadow. For my senior project I created
a typographic time line of psychological development based on Carl Jung’s book, “The Development of Personality.” The shadows
cast by the transparent Childhood and Young Adult panels are a visual metaphor for Jung’s theories that events in early development
have significant effects on our mental stages later in life. The structure itself allows the calendar to be seen as a layered whole
rather than just linear. I also liked that the structure made the time line cyclical, alluding to reincarnation or one life ending and
another beginning.

4.
I left school early for the chance to work with Rigsby Design. To this day I draw on the lessons I learned
there about critical thinking, typography, design standards and storytelling. Afterwards, I went to work for a
start-up and came to appreciate and admire the real challenges of building a successful company like this one.
In it’s 50th Anniversary issue, Communication Arts cited Rigsby Design as one of the most influential American firms of the past half century.

5.
On a flight from New York to Cleveland, I landed
a project with the passenger sitting beside me,
the Creative Experience Director for Progressive
Insurance. Faced with the choice of turning it
down or finding help, I called on two of my former
Rigsby co-workers. Combining our talents,
resources and client lists, we formed a scalable
business model based on our shared principles
for design and communications.
PRINCIPLE
Principle specializes in high-end brands, non-profits, education, and corporate conceptual work. It quickly gained notice, was featured in every major design magazine, and is still running shop today.

6.
After a decade in the world of print and branding,
I was eager to be challenged by something new.
When Principle landed a project with Microsoft
to develop new ideas around desktop states and
copyrightable UI, I decided it was time to go learn
all I could about digital experiences.
All of this work is under strict NDA agreement.
Please, no sharing beyond our conversations.
*

7.
My five years with frog have been
an education in team ergonomics,
interdisciplinary diplomacy and
creative leadership, cultivating a
culture of critique and collaboration,
challenging what’s possible, moving
rapidly and with targeted direction
through concept iterations and art
direction, and finding ways to
express experiences that create
excitement and buy-in for clients
and their stakeholders.
The opportunity to plan
programs, lead teams, roll-up my
sleeves and design interactions,
visuals, research, strategy and
presentations, has given me a deep
appreciation of frog’s knack for
crafting a careful balance between
chaos and structure that leaves
enough undefined to prevent anyone
from ever feeling dangerously
comfortable or at risk of falling into
a cookie-cutter way of thinking.

8.
In-field research of the trash systems in Bangalore
Qual, quant, and participatory research Mentoring designers into collaborating
Design strategy for future-of and platform modeling
Expressing experiences to clients through interaction, visuals, and videoLeading teams from planning to devIndia Austin

9.
QuickBooks Visual Redesign
INTUIT
In 2011 QuickBooks was one of the
most popular, yet most outdated,
applications on the market.
Bringing it up to speed with a more
future facing UX and visual design
approach required surgical precision
as every variation from the original
UI was a tension point with devoted
users. Qualitative research, trend
reports, and market analysis were
vital in establishing a core belief
with the key stakeholders that this
leap from their safety zone was safer
than standing still.

10.
Swipes from the previous QuickBooks UI.
Snapshot of a preliminary concept presentation to Intuit.

11.
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION // MR & MRS JONES

12.
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION // CURRENCY

13.
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION // CALCULATOR

14.
QuickBooks 2013 was an exercise in going far out with ideas
to find a few powerful moments of polish and restraint. The
new UI retains the features users love but surfaces them as
a searchable, sortable tool set that’s present throughout the
experience. The visual design does a lot of heavy lifting to
improve usability by brining hierarchy, contrast and simplicity
to dense views. When the update hit the shelves, Intuit was
praised by experts and consumers for their foresight into user
needs and design improvements.

15.
Design Language Vision
at&t
When at&t was ready to revisit their
digital visual language, we were all
too aware of the challenges our
designs would face once we released
the assets. As Art Director on the
account, I was responsible for
overseeing the visual approach
across seven product teams,
helping designers be creative within
limitations and stress-testing their
ideas across the system.
Planning an approach that would
put freedom back into the process
before strapping the designs in rules
and regulations required starting
with exercises that would open up
our minds to new ideas as well as
satisfy the client’s desire to explore
the boundaries and feel confident in
their decisions.

16.
Most of the team had been working
in the old design language for
months. Our need to cut loose and
start fresh was top priority when we
structured a no-holds-barred period
of ideation followed by a grounding
system design processes. We set
them loose to capture moments of
inspiration in the world beyond their
screens. They visited museums, con-
struction sites, playgrounds, big box
stores, dog parks, coffee shops, even
hired comedians to act out gestures.
The massive collection of artifacts
this exercise produced was
synthesized into image based
behavior maps of what it means
to be touchable, immersive, playful,
focused, and human. With specific
revelations in mind, we finally began
shaping a new system.
The following pages are just a
few studies I designed out of the
hundreds of sketches generated by
the team over 11 weeks.

17.
The vision for the design language
expressed a sense of playfulness
contrasted with clean organization,
giving at&t’s internal teams
a huge bank of design moments
to elaborate and evolve upon
while establishing a framework that
was strong enough to withstand
the application of new campaign
directions and nuances.
IDENTITY
CONVERSATIONS MEDIA
LOCATION TRANSACTIONS

18.
Experience Platform Strategy
CHASE FREEDOM
Cash back rewards cards who
base their incentives in percentage
earnings and deals are locked in a
race to the bottom. Consumers,
asked to choose in that context,
will always choose the card that
gives them the most cash back –
regardless of brand or features.
Chase challenged us to find new
ways to bring value to these coupon
clippers. We challenged them in
return to think beyond features, and
focus on elevating the entire
experience to cater to the unique
desires of their audience in ways that
combined with the tools and habits
they were already using.

19.
MAP WHAT’S COOL
MAP THE PROVOCATIONS ON THE CHART. AT THE END OF THE EXERCISE,
STIMULI IN THE WINNERS CIRCLE WILL BE ASKED:
•WOULD TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THEM?
•WOULD THEY SAVE YOU TIME?
•WOULD THEY MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER?
•HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR THESE SERVICES?
REWARDS ZONE
YOU CAN PICK UP TO THREE 5-MILE
RADIUS ZONES WHERE YOU'LL EARN 5%
CASH BACK. THESE CAN BE UPDATED
ONCE A QUARTER.
FUN TO DO
GET TASKS DONE
WORKS FOR MY
LIFE
DOESNT WORK
FOR MY LIFE
WINNERS
CIRCLE
During the Discovery phase, I led our team
of visual, interaction, research and strategy
designers in planning and 26 generative
research sessions.
We synthesized our findings into a set of
design target insights and experience
principles that became the foundation for
the Experience Platform Strategy.
SAMPLE RESEARCH EXERCISE
SEATTLE
11
PHILLY
15
“ANYTHING WHERE YOU CAN BUY TIME IN LIFE, IT’S
A HUGE COMMODITY…THAT’S A VALUABLE THING.
THAT’S WORTH AN INVESTMENT.”

20.
The Experience Platform was a way of
distilling everything we learned during
research into a simple framework that
allowed us to align our vision with
Chase’s team and guide our upcoming
collaborative workshops.
I worked closely with our Executive Creative
and Strategy Directors to define precisely
what the Platform was setting out to
accomplish, how it mapped back to the
design target’s behaviors, and what direction
it set for the Freedom brand experience.
01
DO LITTLE THINGS
WELL. SIMPLE + FAST.
Grand gestures or over-the-top
experiences are not expected—but
simply great execution across the
journey would be a game changer in
the category.
02
CLARITY +
TRANSPARENCY
Brand experiences should be as
clear, straight forward and simple as
possible to reduce anxiety and build
trust. Terms and conditions should
be up-front, with clear choice points
and no game play.
03
GIVE ME CHOICE +
CONTROL
Give them enough options that they
can find something that reflects
personal needs and allow them to
create moments of their own
journey.
FOUNDATIONALMUSTHAVESDESIGNTARGET
04
AMPLIFY MY AWESOMENESS
The best way to become a part of their behaviors is to
enable the ones they already exhibit. Checking accounts
daily, planning on paper, setting reminders – we should
find ways to be uniquely useful, embrace these habits
and help make them easier.
06
HELP ME BE THE CFO
Finances can lead to tensions in any relationship.
Help the CFOs educate and guide their families by better
operationalizing the role.
CUSTOM BUILT TO HELP
ME DO MORE.
*
3. DELIGHTFUL1. CUSTOM BUILT 2. ENGAGING
The card adds quality to my
life by giving me a sense of
accomplishment and
progress, combined with small
moments of fun along the way.
The card feels like it was made
for me. It reflects my personal
preferences about how and
where I earn—which makes it
feel like I’m always getting
more out of it.
The card empowers me to take
action and do things my way. It
behaves with real transparency
and fits into my systems for how
I shop/spend while helping me
optimize my ROI.
COLLECTIVELY, THE EXPERIENCE SHOULD FEEL…

21.
Four months of research and design
culminated in three sample approaches
that defined the types of features that spoke
to customer needs, how they could work
together to amplify the journey, as well as
a plan for moving forward with testing and
business modeling.
The concepts varied from conservative
category personalization, to proactive deal
finding, to intensely interactive gaming –
the most extreme and their favorite which is
now being developed for further quant and
qual studies.
CONCEPT 1 // CARD BUILDER

22.
CONCEPT 2 // DEAL FINDER

23.
CONCEPT 3 // ULTIMATE FREEDOM

24.
UX Strategy
ADP Innovation Lab
By virtue of the data already
included in your paycheck, ADP
has a wholly unique record of highly
sensitive information – your
salary and employment changes,
vacation days, how much you’re
investing and how much you’re
spending on healthcare…not to
mention harboring an entire suite of
HR and time management apps that
most people don’t know exist.
This year, new leadership is
attempting to rebuild their business
from the ground up. They’re
pushing themselves and the firms
they consult with to create
experiences that will position them
at the forefront of UX innovation.

25.
With a UX that looked like this, we had our
work cut out for us. But the good news was
we were starting with a clean slate – there
was nothing we were asked to inherit from
old interaction patterns, visuals or even code.
The key to this project was breaking the
traditional model of pages, i.e. wires, and
making the entire system dynamic and
predictive. That meant just components.
No page layouts, but rather endless ways to
constantly be adapting to new behavioral
data, even outside of the system.
The new UX is imagined not as a place you
go to see how much vacation time you’ve
accrued, but rather, an experience that gives
HR specialists, managers and employees a
place to collaboratively share and streamline
their conversations and content across their
entire career journey.

26.
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION 1

27.
53
YES
YES
YES
YES YES
YES
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION 2

28.
54
YES
YES
YES
YES
VISUAL UI EXPLORATION 3

29.
REFINED VISUAL DESIGN DIRECTION

30.
The moment that makes this UX different
from others is the “Show Me” bar.
It replaces a traditional navigation and
simply inquires where you want to go.
Because where you land could look different
every time you visit based on your behaviors,
upcoming events, etc., we bookended the
bar with the “Views” button.
Views allow the users to create and save a
customized collection of components that
become their quick link to revisiting and
sharing that particular composition.
For example, they might create their own
“Home” view, or one for new employees of
forms and tools they’ll need to get familiar
with. They can also search other people’s
Views by tags and popularity, adapt, socialize
or re-save as their own.

31.
UX DEMO SCREENSHOTS

32.
Off the clock.

33.
I enjoy learning through experience, trying to improve my eye and explore new philosophies though my own art and adventures.

34.
Sensing trend patterns in counter culture, the arts and on the street is something I’ve always been drawn to and what I’ve adapted
my use of social apps to help me discover and witness across a much wider range of demographics and locations.

35.
I take on occasional print work for the enjoyment of agonizing over kerning, paper weight, color builds – all that control we don’t
get to obsess about in screen design.

36.
The ritual of drinking coffee has been part of my life since I was three. I designed this identity for a coffee stand in Austin in exchange for pour over training…and free cortados.

37.
I’ve been working with Punctum Records in Brooklyn for the past year as an advisor on their board and designing this template “Blue Note-esque” approach to the covers for their all vinyl label.

38.
In 2012, I took a leave from all
things routine to load up the car
with cameras, paper, pens and
coffee and drive across the country
to visit a few amazing folks who
abandoned their safe paths in
search of a more meaningful one.
I asked them about their approach
to life, how they found their new
direction, what it felt like when they
decided to walk away and what they
risked and gained from choosing a
future that was full of uncertainty.
What I discovered was a collection
of thought trends happening across
the country– people thinking
deeply and working to improve not
only about their own well-being,
but their role in the future of
humanity and the world at large.
And what the oceans are telling us.
And a mass love for lasagna.
I came home and put all these
answers to life in book and called it
To Be Brave. The end.
ROBERT OVETZ
SHARON ELSAYED
BERT CRENCA
CRAIG KALLOCHClick to read the articles HOW Design & Neenah Paper published about the project.

39.
Jennifer is the type of designer every team needs.
She has a beautiful humility that sets the tone
for the project and the design. I would describe her
style as open and empathetic, but not void of her
own point of view, self and style. She’s the type
of person that team members go to to talk
though ideas, she gives thoughtful guidance as
an Art Director but also has the graphic skills
to show, not just tell.
PAUL PUGH
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR AT FROG
Jen is the rare designer who really ‘gets it’.
She never stops asking questions, and her curiosity
inevitably leads to deep levels of understanding
and clear, surprising, wholly original solutions.
All that coupled with good horse sense and a solid
business approach. It is truly fun to watch this
woman work.
LANA RIGSBY
RIGSBY HULL DESIGN
Jennifer is flexible, creative, visionary, thoughtful
and always makes a significant contribution.
She’s a great asset, intellectual sparring partner
and designer. I highly recommend her to augment
any team looking to follow through on
visionary work.
ANDREAS FORSLAND
SENIOR DESIGN MANAGER AT PHILIPS
Working with Jen has been an incredibly positive
experience. Her boundless energy and positivity
are uplifting for both client and team. Jen especially
shines in vision and concept - she leads with grace
and generosity and is a model of how to keep the
holistic view of the product in view while creatively
problem solving.
Jen came on to an existing product team with me
in a time when our designers were really struggling
to find their foothold with the client and with
inspiration for the product. She was a huge help in
redirecting energy and grounding the design team,
helping them to find their voice with the client and
broadening their vision of the product.
CAREY JENKINS
PRODUCT MANAGER AT SUBSTANTIAL
Jen is fantastic. I watched her bring numerous proj-
ects to life creating vision, energy, and
organization out of ambiguity. Jen has the rare abili-
ty to translate seemingly disparate business require-
ments into high-level strategy and an amazing User
Experience. But most of all, Jen is
a reliable leader, an inspiring designer, and a
trustworthy friend. She would be a great
addition to any team.
HENRY VOGLER
SENIOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT SUBSTANTIAL
I first worked with Jen when she took over market-
ing at Substantial. Her intelligence and “get it
done” attitude immediately resulted in major
improvements in several specific areas that helped
our overall marketing reach. In an environment
where understanding our marketing needs is tricky
and where there are several stakeholders with
sometimes competing needs, this was no small
task! It was a pleasure working with Jen and I
would happily work with her again.
STEVE SALAZAR
GM AND DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY AT SUBSTANTIAL
I had the pleasure of working daily with Jennifer
on a long, challenging client project. She was
running the program and client management;
I was providing oversight. Jennifer was able to
iterate with the client by patiently listening, deciding
to change directions when appropriate, and holding
on to our recommendations when she thought it
was best. She successfully led a team of designers
through this process; shielding them from the ups
and downs of client drama. Jennifer is thoughtful,
diligent, and fun to work with. She is ready for heavy
management responsibilities in addition to
challenging creative work!
LISA JACKSON
EXECUTIVE STRATEGY DIRECTOR AT FROG
It was a privilege to work with Jennifer, during her
time in the frog Seattle studio. As a Visual Designer, I
appreciated her unwavering commitment to craft—
both in practice and critique. She balances Creative
Direction, with it’s sometimes more managerial pos-
ture, with contribution (in the act of making). Jenni-
fer’s intellectual approach compliments the emotive
disposition of her work, from her background in
traditional graphic design.
Beyond project work, Jennifer started several initi-
ates in our studio to build rigor around critical design
thinking and application. This included a small men-
torship group for designers who wanted to build vi-
sual skills, as well as sessions hosted for the broader
studio to learn and practice methods of critique. I
hope to cross paths with Jennifer in the future, she is
a rare find.
SOPHIE MILTON
SENIOR VISUAL DESIGNER AT FROG