Creative Technologist Since 1994
Jason Cranford Teague
Design For A Human Future
About
Good design doesn't announce itself — it makes people feel capable, confident, and understood. For thirty years I've helped organizations stop building what they think users want and start building what users actually need.
My practice runs across four areas: experience design — strategy and craft from discovery through launch; writing across nineteen books and decades of published work; coaching to build lasting design capability in teams and individuals; and speaking on the craft of building for the web — from SXSW to UX New Zealand.
Experience Design
UX strategy and experience design for organizations that want their digital products to work better — from discovery and architecture through visual systems, prototyping, and launch.
IRS
UX Strategy & Design Workshop outputs fed directly into the redesign of an online payments system used by millions of American citizens and businesses.
UX Strategy & Design
IRS
The IRS payments team invited me in to help refine the online product that millions of citizens and businesses use every day.
I ran a two-day design thinking workshop with their teams — mapping user needs, generating big ideas, then using job stories and storyboards to communicate what the new product could look like.
Marriott International
UX Strategy & Design Home page redesign for a company operating 8,000+ properties worldwide, serving tens of millions of annual visitors.
UX Strategy & Design
Marriott International
Marriott International is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. Worked on the Marriott.com home page redesign and supporting brand surfaces.
Mindful Schools
UX Strategy Prototype shipped as a live product; platform graduates have reached 1.5M+ children across 100+ countries.
UX Strategy
Mindful Schools
Mindful Schools trains educators, parents, and mental-health professionals in mindfulness for K-12 — graduates have reached 1.5M+ children across 100+ countries.
I partnered with Mindful Schools on a series of product strategy projects, including a community prototype that has since shipped as a full product.
NY State Department of Financial Services
UX Strategy & Design Modernized the public web presence for the agency regulating one of the world's most complex financial markets, serving thousands of supervised institutions.
UX Strategy & Design
NY State Department of Financial Services
The New York State Department of Financial Services regulates one of the world’s most complex financial markets. I partnered with DFS to rethink how the agency communicates with the institutions it oversees — reducing friction for regulated entities while making enforcement and compliance information clearer and more actionable.
Working closely with the DFS digital team, I led UX strategy and interface design for a modernized web presence: establishing information architecture, developing accessible design patterns, and aligning the visual language with state standards while maintaining the authority the department requires.
Capital One
Creative Direction Creative direction at Capital One — a top-10 U.S. bank with 100M+ customers across its digital products.
Creative Direction
Capital One
As Senior Creative Director at Capital One, I worked on several initiatives in the bank division focused on helping people build more secure financial futures.
Online Account Opening
Took over creative direction during the sensitive development phase. The strategy and design were defined; the work was making them survive contact with the dev environment while the brand identity kept moving.
Youth Bank App
Capital One wanted to give teenagers real tools to understand and control their spending. Defined the strategy and built a working prototype.
Mind the Gap
Many Capital One customers had a recurring shortfall between running out of money and the next paycheck. I directed the production of an explainer video to align corporate leadership on the concept.
AOL RED
Creative Direction Built the first panel-to-panel online comic reader — a medium-defining interaction pattern on a platform reaching millions of daily AOL users.
Creative Direction
AOL RED
AOL RED was a teen portal — viral videos, anime, news, music, blogging, and social tools.
Redesign
Produced mood boards exploring visual directions for a full product redesign.
Balance & Grace — Interactive Comic
Partnered with Top Cow Comics on the first online comic book reader that let readers move panel-to-panel — replacing the standard flip-page metaphor of the time.
Sargento
Creative Direction Design thinking workshops produced a phased Digital Workplace roadmap for a company with 2,000+ employees across multiple facilities.
Creative Direction
Sargento
Sargento Foods wanted to realign its Digital Workplace strategy around the cultural values driving the company — engagement, productivity, innovation, retention.
I ran a series of design thinking workshops with key stakeholders and employees to map current pain points, define target outcomes, and build a roadmap. The output was a strategic program with an improved employee experience and a phased plan for ongoing development.
RoomRefs
Concept & Animation Investor pitch video produced from concept through final edit — designed to communicate the case for unbiased rental reviews to early-stage backers.
Concept & Animation
RoomRefs
RoomRefs aimed to bring unbiased property reviews to the short-term rental market — solving the gap between listing photos and reality.
Produced a short pitch video for investors and prospective customers: designed characters and backdrops, animated in Keynote, edited in iMovie, scored in GarageBand.
Hippo Roller
Motion Design 2:30 animated explainer produced end-to-end, supporting a product that delivers clean water access to families for under two cents a day.
Motion Design
Hippo Roller
Hippo Roller brings global awareness to water insecurity and helps families access portable clean water for less than two cents a day.
I produced a 2:30 animated video explaining the problem of getting fresh water and how Hippo Roller changes that — designed, animated, and edited end-to-end.
PGA Tour
UX Strategy & Design Redesigned the live-scoring system used across ~130 annual PGA Tour tournaments — delivered within one active tournament season.
UX Strategy & Design
PGA Tour
The PGA TOUR runs ~130 official-money tournaments across six tours.
PGA Tour engaged Rivet Logic to rethink and redesign Shotlink — the internal scorekeeping system that streams shot, score, and GPS data for every player during live scoring. The tournament season was starting, so I worked alongside the dev team to land the right interface decisions fast.
- Movable, resizable, collapsible panels — savable configurations.
- Responsive typography keyed to viewport width — no horizontal scroll.
- Fast-action buttons to push critical data live.
- Interactive SVG course map for shot tracking.
- Iconography to reduce distractions.
- Light and dark modes for varying lighting conditions.
EPA
UX Strategy & Design Tool shipped as part of the EPA's federal GHG reporting program, making emissions data publicly accessible for thousands of large facilities nationwide.
UX Strategy & Design
EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency partnered with me as creative director on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities data visualization tool — part of the EPA’s GHG reporting initiative.
ZOOM International
Product Design Refocused marketing surfaces for a platform with 1,700+ customers across 90+ countries, with measurable improvement in demo-conversion paths.
Product Design
ZOOM International
ZOOM International is a market leader in workforce optimization software with 1,700+ customers and 350+ partners across 90+ countries.
I acted as their “UX team of one” inside marketing — refocusing surfaces around demo conversion.
Home page
Rebuilt around “The Art and Science of the Contact Center™” with two clear next steps: learn more, or register for a demo.
Omnichannel demo
Built a sample customer page that demonstrates how ZOOM tracks email, SMS, voice, and video interactions in one place.
Blog and careers
Redesigned the company blog to match brand and grew a careers site (on HubSpot Blog) that hiring managers could maintain without breaking the brand.
CPAC.ca
UX Strategy Fully responsive redesign delivered alongside a backend migration — fixing navigation, accessibility, and video UX for Canada's only bilingual public-affairs network.
UX Strategy
CPAC.ca
CPAC is Canada’s only privately-owned, commercial-free, bilingual public-affairs television service — a window on Parliament since 1992.
CPAC engaged Rivet Logic to migrate their backend and, simultaneously, fix multiple usability issues without changing the site’s overall structure. Through usability testing, user interviews, and client input, I corrected navigation hierarchy, confusing video controls, unengaging typography, and accessibility gaps — all while moving to a fully responsive design.
Consumer Technology Association
UX Strategy & Design Streamlined registration for CES — one of the world's largest annual trade shows — handling tens of thousands of attendees each year.
UX Strategy & Design
Consumer Technology Association
CTA represents the U.S. consumer technology industry and produces CES®, the world’s gathering place for consumer tech.
CES Registration
Rethought and redesigned the flagship CES registration system — streamlined the flow, clarified pass tiers, and aligned the design with CTA’s refreshed brand.
CES Evergreen
Reorganized CES’s off-season website around “CES Learn” — a year-round resource for video, articles, podcasts, and the big ideas at CES. Built bookmarking and personal lists for sharing.
Yuri's Night
Experience Design 15 years of ongoing strategy contributed to growing the event from dozens of parties to hundreds worldwide — including one on the International Space Station.
Experience Design
Yuri's Night
Yuri’s Night is a global celebration of humanity’s past, present, and future in space — held every April to commemorate Yuri Gagarin’s flight (1961) and the first Space Shuttle launch (1981).
I’ve worked with Yuri’s Night on and off for ~15 years as their internet strategist. The event has grown from a few dozen parties in a handful of countries to hundreds worldwide — and on the ISS.
Writer
Nineteen books on web design, CSS, typography, and interface technology — plus articles, columns, and long-form writing on the craft of building for the web.
Selected Books
CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide
Author Six editions across two decades — part of a 19-book body of work used to train designers and developers across the industry.Author
CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide
CSS3: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press, 6 editions) has been used to train web designers and developers for over two decades. Writing it forced a practical, clear-headed framework for teaching visual design systems to technical audiences — the same framework I bring to team workshops and UX training engagements today.
The guide walks beginning and intermediate developers through today’s CSS — task-based, step-by-step, with extensive coverage of CSS3 and 2.1. Designed to work both as a learning path front-to-back and as a quick lookup reference.
Speaking In Styles
Author First book on modern web typography written for designers — in print for over a decade, used in industry education worldwide.
Author
Speaking In Styles
Speaking in Styles (Peachpit Press) was the first book on modern web typography written for designers — requiring a framework for translating visual design intuition into systematic CSS thinking. That cross-discipline translation — between how designers see and how developers build — is the same skill I bring to team workshops and UX coaching engagements today.
The book reframes CSS around common design tasks, walks through the grammar of the language, and shows how to translate visual specs into code that works on screen, in print, and on devices.
Photoshop at Your Fingertips
Author Task-based O'Reilly guide that introduced a user-centered approach to Photoshop instruction — the same lens applied to every UX strategy engagement today.Author
Photoshop at Your Fingertips
Photoshop at Your Fingertips (O’Reilly) introduced a task-based approach to one of the most complex tools in the designer’s arsenal. The discipline behind it — start with what someone needs to accomplish, not what the software can do — is the same user-centered lens I apply to every UX strategy engagement today.
Every page is built around giving you immediate access to the information you need to finish the work in front of you.
Final Cut Pro and the Art of Filmmaking
Author Co-authored with Academy and Emmy award-winning filmmaker David Teague — bridging deep technical mastery with creative filmmaking practice.Author
Final Cut Pro and the Art of Filmmaking
Final Cut Pro and the Art of Filmmaking (Peachpit Press), co-authored with Academy and Emmy award-winning filmmaker David Teague, required synthesizing deep technical mastery with creative vision. Making complex tools genuinely understandable — without dumbing them down — is the same discipline I bring when designing for enterprise and technical audiences today.
A hands-on guide to Final Cut Pro 4 covering every stage of editing digital video: workstation setup, core concepts, shooting tips, logging footage, transitions, effects, and multi-format delivery — with pro tricks and shortcuts woven through.
Yuri Was Very Brave
Author Children's book on Yuri Gagarin — creative direction, writing, and co-production from concept through print publication.Author
Yuri Was Very Brave
Yuri Was Very Brave is the story of Yuri Gagarin — the first person to leave Earth. We follow him from the launch pad, into orbit, and back down. Created with illustrator Pradyuman Kodavatiganti.
The book includes background material on Yuri’s flight, a few secrets about what really happened, and discussion questions for grownups reading with the kids in their lives.
DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web
Author An early practical guide to CSS and dynamic HTML — part of a 19-book body of work on web design and interface technology.Author
DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web
DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web (Peachpit Press, 2001, 2nd edition) was one of the first books to treat CSS and dynamic HTML as a unified design discipline rather than separate technical concerns. Writing it required building a vocabulary for explaining interactive layout at a moment when the field was still inventing itself.
The book covers CSS positioning, the box model, JavaScript-driven interactivity, cross-browser compatibility, and the underlying principles that would shape web design for the following two decades.
Fluid Web Typography
Author The first book on fluid, screen-adaptive typography — written as the web was beginning to demand type that could move.Author
Fluid Web Typography
Fluid Web Typography (New Riders, 2009) addressed a problem the industry was only beginning to name: how to make web typography respond to different screens, resolutions, and contexts without losing its essential character. Writing it required synthesizing typographic tradition with emerging CSS capabilities and anticipating where both were headed.
The book covers type scales, proportional sizing, system font stacks, rendering across operating systems, and the design principles behind decisions that would later become standard responsive practice.
The New Web Typography
Co-Author A comprehensive framework for responsive web typography — co-authored with Stephen Boss, published by CRC Press/Routledge.
Co-Author
The New Web Typography
The New Web Typography (CRC Press/Routledge, 2016), co-authored with Stephen Boss, was written as web fonts, variable fonts, and responsive layout were converging into a genuinely new typographic discipline. The book builds a complete framework for making type decisions that work across screens, devices, and reading contexts.
Coverage spans the full typographic stack: choosing and pairing typefaces, setting type for screen, using CSS to control rhythm and proportion, and applying typographic hierarchy to navigation, data, and long-form reading.
Selected Articles
- A List Apart CSS Sprites: Image Slicing's Kiss of Death 2004
- Smashing Magazine The Mystery Of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools and Tutorials 2009
- Edutopia Design 101 for Educators: 5 Simple Typography Tips 2013
- Edutopia 8 Tips to Power-Up Your Classroom Presentations 2013
- Edutopia Design 101: An Icon Is Worth a Thousand Words 2013
Coach
Building design capability in teams and individuals through university teaching, one-on-one mentorship, and corporate programs.
Drexel University
Adjunct Professor Taught UX Design, Storytelling for UX, and Creative Concept Design at a top-100 U.S. research university with 24,000+ enrolled students.
Adjunct Professor
Drexel University
Drexel is a top-100 U.S. research university with 24,000+ students.
Taught for over two years as an adjunct professor — User Experience Design, Storytelling for User Experience, and Creative Concept Design.
User Experience
Students learn to identify and implement the elements of an engaging digital experience: brand personality, content strategy, information architecture, and usability.
Storytelling for UX
Using stories to understand users, communicate research, and describe design concepts.
Creative Concepts
Creativity is the ability to pull from disparate sources and synthesize new ways of thinking. Computers are not yet doing that — at least not the way humans do.
University of Richmond — CX Program
Program Advisor Advising curriculum design for a growing CX program, helping define skills the field consistently underweights.
Program Advisor
University of Richmond — CX Program
New Customer Experience departments are popping up everywhere — pulling functions and roles traditionally owned by marketing, sales, and operations into interdisciplinary CX divisions. Growing as a leader in the field needs both practical skills and strategic vision.
As an advisor to the University of Richmond Customer Experience Program, I help inform and guide the future of CX training — including skills the field tends to underweight, like how to work with clients to surface their real needs and pain points.
Speaker
Keynotes, talks, and workshops on UX strategy, design systems, typography, and the craft of building for the web — delivered at conferences from SXSW to UX New Zealand.
"Jason has been a top rated speaker at many Modev conferences and events. His ability to take concepts and ideas and relate them to a specific audience is a special gift."
P.E. — Founder & CEO, Conference Organizer
Recent Talks
Venues
- SXSW
- WebVisions
- Voices That Matter
- edUI
- HOW Design Live
- Chicago Camps
- World IA Day
Firsts & Milestones
A few things that didn't exist until we built them.
1994
Designed Computer-Mediated Communications Magazine — the first web-based magazine.
1996
Wrote the first book for designers on Cascading Style Sheets.
1997
Wrote a weekly column about the Web for The Independent (UK) — one of the first recurring web columns in a major national newspaper.
1998
Lead designer for WebMD at launch.
1999
Published DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web (Peachpit Press) — the first practical CSS guide at scale; a bestseller that ran to four editions over 15 years.
2001
Voices That Matter (Web Design)
2002
Co-authored Final Cut Pro 4 and the Art of Filmmaking with Academy Award and Emmy-winning filmmaker David Teague.
2003
Published Photoshop at Your Fingertips (O'Reilly) — introduced a task-based model for teaching complex creative software.
2004
Appeared on TechTV's The Screen Savers — one of the first web design experts to be a recurring presence on mainstream tech television.
SXSW
2005
Built the first online interactive comic book reader (AOL RED + Top Cow).
2006
Joined the W3C CSS Working Group — helping define the future of web typography and CSS3 standards.
SXSW, Voices That Matter
2007
WebVisions Portland
2008
HOW Design Live
2009
Wrote Speaking in Styles — the first book on modern web typography.
2010
Regular contributor to Wired Magazine on parenting and digital culture.
SXSW
2011
HOW Design Live
2012
Published Fluid Web Typography (Peachpit/New Riders).
2013
CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide became a bestseller in its category.
edUI
2015
edUI, World IA Day
2016
Co-authored The New Web Typography — the first book to treat web typography through a responsive-design lens.
Published in Smashing Magazine on design critique methodology.
2017
Chicago Camps
2018
UX New Zealand
2019
Modev, Chicago Camps
2020
Published Yuri Was Very Brave (Mascot Books) — a children's book about Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space; Jason's first book in a new genre, with a perfect 5-star rating.
2021
Chicago Camps — "How to Talk to Your Developers About Accessibility"
2022
UXPA International Conference
2023
Chicago Camps — "To Be Rather Than to Seem: The Case for High-fidelity Prototypes in Experience Design"
Web3 Conference, London
2024
Chicago Camps — "Age & Tech: Experience Need Not Apply"
Maven Workshop — "Uplevel Your Design Reviews"
Named to ADPList Top 100 Mentors — global recognition for impact in design mentorship.
2025
Chicago Camps — "A Brief and Incomplete History of UX Design on the World Wide Web: 1989–2019"
World IA Day
Pro2Pro Webinars
MoDev AI Conference
Recommendations
What clients, colleagues, and students say.
Jason has been a top rated speaker at many Modev conferences and events. His ability to take concepts and ideas and relate them to a specific audience is a special gift.P.E., Founder & CEO, Conference Organizer
Jason is an experienced design leader. He is passionate about catalyzing the creative growth of his colleagues and the broader community. I've benefited tremendously from his creative judgment.M.M., Innovation Lead
Jason is an amazingly knowledgeable designer who takes great pleasure in teaching what he knows. He's always eager to teach and offer advice, but knows when to step back and let a designer trust their own instincts.T.E., UX Designer
Jason has the ability to conceive and execute killer online user experiences. What is most impressive is his clear role as a thought leader in the realm of web standards.P.R., Chief Experience Officer
Jason develops strong, trusting relationships with different teams and takes personal accountability to ensure high levels of project delivery. He has a balance of business and IT knowledge and translates them into UI/UX. I would highly recommend Jason — he is a great asset to any organization.N.G., Portfolio Manager
Jason is an incredibly creative teacher who uses engaging and effective storytelling methods to convey important UX principles. His course helped me improve my presentation skills, which has been invaluable in my career.C.S., UX Designer
I would highly recommend Jason as a professor. The lessons he taught have stayed with me as I've gone through my professional career, and I can't thank him enough for the opportunities he's provided.C.S., UX Practitioner
Jason is a superb mentor — experienced and professional, offering valuable insights, actionable advice, and incredibly helpful tips. His guidance has made a lasting, meaningful impact on my career path.A.P.R., Product Designer
I am truly excited to have had the opportunity to speak with such a seasoned professional. He answered my questions keenly, gave examples from his own experience, and provided valuable insights. Absolutely recommend him.Y.H., Design Student
As a mentor Jason has provided invaluable insight for my career journey. His knack for asking effective questions and analytical approach to problem solving has helped me clearly identify the most important factors in the work I want to pursue.A.G., Visual Designer
Jason and I had a great session. He listened to where I am and provided two approaches for me to choose from. We did an exercise using design thinking to resolve my career challenges — incredibly useful.L.L., Sr. UX Designer
Speaking with Jason and doing a mock interview has truly helped me feel more calm and confident. He provides a safe space to practice and gives honest, constructive feedback.A.B., Product Designer
Work with Me
Four ways to engage — for organizations and individuals who want sharper digital products, stronger design practice, and ideas worth hearing.
Experience Design
Hire me to lead design and strategy — from untangling complex systems and defining information architecture to setting visual direction, building design languages, and shipping great products.
Best for Product organizations facing complexity: unclear IA, inconsistent patterns, misaligned product vision, or a launch that needs experienced hands at the helm.
Writer
Hire me to write — books, articles, documentation, or editorial content on design and technology. Nineteen books published, with bylines in A List Apart, Smashing Magazine, Creative Bloq, and Macworld.
Best for Publishers, content teams, and organizations that need authoritative, well-crafted writing on web design, UX, and digital craft.
Coach
Hire me to grow your design practice — through one-on-one mentorship, team workshops, or a custom curriculum. I've taught these skills at university level and on conference stages from SXSW to UX New Zealand.
Best for Designers navigating a career pivot, teams building internal capability, and organizations that want design thinking embedded — not just delivered.
Speaker
Book Jason to keynote your conference, lead a hands-on workshop, or join a panel. He's spoken at SXSW, WebVisions, edUI, HOW Design Live, and dozens more.
Best for Conference organizers, L&D leads, and event planners who want a speaker with deep expertise, a strong point of view, and a proven stage presence.
CranfordTeague Digital Strategy
Jason's consulting practice — strategy, direction, and coaching for digital teams.