I notice friction
If something feels harder than it needs to be, I want to know why.
About me / the person behind the work
I’ve always needed to make things feel like me.
Long before I knew words like brand strategy, creative direction or user experience, I was teaching myself HTML so I could redesign my MySpace profile. Apparently, this has been going on for a while.
yes, really. MySpace.
Before I knew it was design.
I got started designing by coding my MySpace profile. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about design systems or user journeys. I wanted the colors to feel right. I wanted the music to fit. I wanted the page to say something about me before anyone read a word. So I figured out how to change it. That pattern has followed me pretty much everywhere. I see something that feels generic, disconnected, confusing or unfinished and immediately start imagining what it could become.
Years later, that instinct became websites, campaigns, brands, systems, customer journeys, teams, events and more spreadsheets than I would like to admit. The tools changed. The impulse really didn’t.
I usually see the possibility before I know exactly how I’m going to build it.
How my brain tends to work.
I care how it feels
Clarity matters. So does beauty. People experience both.
I ask too many questions
“Because we’ve always done it this way” has never been a satisfying answer.
I build the system too
I love the creative idea, but I also want to know how it actually gets made, maintained and measured.
I get attached to the work
I care. A lot. That usually means I’m thinking about it long after the meeting ends.
I like making things better
Sometimes that means clearer. Sometimes easier. Sometimes prettier. Usually all three.
Caring is part of the job.
I used to think being professional meant learning how to separate myself from the work. I don’t believe that anymore.
I care deeply about what I make, the people I work with, the people we’re making it for, and whether the thing we’re putting into the world is actually good. That does not make me less strategic. It does not make me less capable of making hard decisions. It does not make me less of a leader. If anything, it is the reason I notice what other people miss.
Empathy helps me understand customers. Curiosity helps me find better answers. Care makes me stay with a problem longer. Emotion helps me understand when something feels wrong before the data explains why. I still believe in goals, accountability, measurement, systems and results. I just don’t believe we have to remove the human being to get them.
Caring about the work is not the opposite of being professional.
What you actually get when you work with me.
- A lot of curiosity.
- A strong point of view.
- A willingness to change my mind when the evidence changes.
- Someone who cares about both the idea and what it takes to execute it.
- Someone who will notice the weird little thing everyone else stopped noticing.
- Someone who believes good work should make sense to actual humans.
- Someone who gets genuinely excited when the font finally feels right.
And probably a very organized document explaining all of it.
The thread through all of it.
My career has moved through strategy, digital marketing, brand development, creative direction, content, websites, campaigns, systems and leadership. Those can look like very different jobs on paper. To me, they’ve always been the same kind of work: take something complicated or unfinished, understand what is getting in the way, imagine what better could look like, and build the bridge between the two.
- Clearer.
- Kinder.
- Easier.
- More useful.
- More beautiful.
- More human.
My Top 8.
like MySpace, obviously.
Books The Midnight Library
Why it stuck with me:
It reminded me about the beauty of life just the way it is, in such a simple way.
Music Spotless
Why I love it:
“A man in New York City told me humans ain’t as pretty as a perfect they will long for all their days.” Speaks directly to my soul.
Creative inspiration Good vibes
What I steal from it, in the good way:
I want the work I create to feel like the good energy I feel from life. I want to capture it and expand on it.
Websites / digital experiences cursor.com
Why I keep coming back:
Minimal, bold, cute, fun, to the point, strong messaging. Need I say more?
Movies / shows The Way Home
Why it lives in my brain:
No words, really. Just incredibly, sobbingly beautiful.
Tools I actually love HTML
Why:
It’s got limitless potential. It’s basic and incredibly complex at the same time. And it’s free.
Current obsession Waking up early and sitting in silence, mixed with a healthy balance of playing video games until 2 am.
Forever favorite Being a mother. Experiencing life through the eyes of children I have helped mold and shape. The constant evolution of myself through the growth of my children.
For the record.
- Creative fuel
- Ungodly amounts of caffeine and a color-coded to-do list
- Read recently and loved
- Theo of Golden
- Currently listening to
- Broke My Heart by Gracie Abrams, on repeat
- Always ordering
- Açaí bowls: pb, bananas, strawberries, and granola!!
- Design pet peeve
- Boring, generic typography
- Unnecessarily strong opinion about
- Every television remote should have an LED backlight. The technology is there. It’s cheap. I don’t understand why it isn’t standard, and it feels like a purposeful slap in the face.
- Favorite kind of problem
- One that requires a lot of journaling and reflection
- Most likely to say
- I’m sorry about something I most definitely shouldn’t be sorry about.
I think better when I write.
I miss the version of the internet where people made little corners of it that actually felt like them. That is part of why this site exists. I want a place for polished work, yes. But I also want room for ideas before they’re polished. Things I’m learning. Things I’m questioning. Creative rabbit holes. Half-formed thoughts that eventually turn into something useful. The work is better when I don’t pretend the person making it disappeared.
Along the way.
-
MySpace era
Learned enough HTML to make the internet look the way I wanted.
-
Early creative work
Realized making something look better usually meant understanding it better.
-
Marketing
Learned that creativity works best when it is connected to an actual goal.
-
Digital
Websites became one of my favorite places to combine story, design, systems and data.
-
Leadership
Started building not just the work, but the conditions that make good work possible.
-
Jordan Alexis Creative
Made myself a little corner of the internet again.
So, that’s me.
I’m a marketer, creative thinker, builder and lifelong internet person who still gets genuinely excited about a good idea. I care about the work. I care about the people around it. And I still believe the best things usually start with someone looking at what already exists and asking: “What if we made this better?”
Elsewhere
A few more corners of the internet where I live.