Show don’t tell.
Early in his career, Joe Johnston embraced the motto "Show Don’t Tell" as a guiding principle. Starting as a solo UX designer, he eventually scaled his small digital design company to an elite team of 35 specialists in user experience design. His unique background, combining both UX and business acumen, enabled him to delve deeper into service design and effectively execute services and products within organizations. Through his leadership, Joe built a team recognized as one of the most successful and innovative in the industry.
Before joining Code and Theory/YML, Joe brought his expertise in service design to North Highland, a prominent management consulting firm, where he seamlessly blended business and design to establish new capabilities for the company. This included customer experience, experiential change, and a streamlined approach to digital transformation through service design. At North Highland, he also demonstrated his product design skills by successfully launching several new products, always embodying the "Show Don’t Tell" philosophy by delivering tangible, impactful results.
Joe boasts an impressive portfolio of industry experience, having served as the Group Experience Design Director at Code and Theory. There, he led a team in creating top-brand experiences and exploring cutting-edge technologies, consistently showcasing his work to drive innovation and client satisfaction.
With over 20 years of experience in experience design, service design, customer insight, and innovation, Joe has worked with notable brands such as MLB, Chopt, PwC, Mayo Clinic, Lowe's, Coca-Cola, UPS, Capital One, State Farm, Arby's, Bosch, Herman Miller, AT&T, TIAA, Freddie Mac, Meijer, Principal Financial, and Sony Music. His expertise spans experience and service design, product design, future visioning, and ideation across brand experience and strategy. Additionally, he is a highly accomplished author, speaker, and expert on user experience/customer experience and experience innovation.
Joe's commitment to "Show Don’t Tell" ensures that his work speaks volumes, creating memorable and effective designs that truly resonate with users and clients alike.
What I’m watching: Dark Matter
What I’m learning: Testing Synthetic Personas / Building GPTs, AI UX, Voice Modeling (Eleven Labs), ChatGPT, Advanced Design systems (Tokens, Adoption, Scale)
What I’m drinking: Nespresso coffee