Makayla Braden — a.k.a. "Makbrad" (Spelling is hard)

DESIGN CONSULTANT & UX RESEARCHER

User Experience • New Feature Design • Creative Consult • Freelance

Whimstay is the leading vacation rental marketplace for travelers looking to book last-minute stays at a great value. Whimstay offers a best-in-class user experience via our app and website, and provides hosts with top-notch support & an intuitive platform which makes filling unsold nights easy.

• Providing ongoing UX creative consultation to develop industry disrupting product features and functionalities

• Driving design direction & product innovation that prioritizes next-gen user experience and accessibility with user-focused solutions

OWNER / CREATIVE DIRECTOR & UX DESIGNER

Designer • Owner • Design Strategy • Innovation • International Teams

• Offering creative direction and design for startups, agencies, design studios, in-house teams and large organizations

• Delivering freelance and contract UI/UX services, web design and development, traditional graphic design, SEO and various digital services

DESIGN MANAGER | HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL PHILANTHROPY PARTNERSHIPS

Creative Direction • Strategist • Product Expert • International Teams • Operational Management

Stack Sports is a global leader in youth sports management providing an innovative technology platform for national governing bodies, youth sports leagues, clubs and associations with over 45 million users in 32 countries.

• Appointed to establish creative process and development for 7 platforms with over 40 products, build teams, structure workflows that prioritize best practices & efficiency during an acquisition transition and rebrand to a single cohesive product suite, Stack Sites, for a SaaS youth sports technology scale-up while growing creative services & revenue in 2 years

• Assembled and developed a team of 30 international creative specialists to build 200-500 new websites while simultaneously supporting 1200-2500 maintenance requests annually for our global client base managing creative staff across the US, Canada, India and Australia

• Cultivated a diverse high performing international team responsible for building and supporting a portfolio of over 100k eCommerce websites with over 40 web product design offerings serving a global book of clients averaging $1.5-$2M in revenue annually

• Directed the creation of engaging user experiences for over 10k websites for multiple global accounts (eCommerce and branding sites) while concurrently consulting 5-10 tier 1 client accounts requiring white glove service during day-to-day operations

UI/UX CREATIVE DIRECTOR, DESIGN OPERATIONS

Leadership • Marketing • Product Design • UI/UX • Operations • Biz & Product Development

SDI Camps is a SaaS camp website and online registration company built to achieve revenue growth through customer acquisition & credit card registration fees. SDI Camps was acquired by Stack Sports in August of 2016 at which point the portfolio of technology & client books expanded to include a full suite of innovative technology platforms.

• Led a team of 3 UI/UX designers, 2 developers and 3-5 interns annually while collaborating with customer service, sales and business owners to deliver all website product design, design operations & services while driving marketing for both SDI Camps and Races (B2B and B2C)

• Scaled product design and service delivery from 20 new website builds to over 100 annually, in my 3 years, while simultaneously decreasing support turnaround time of day-to-day creative operations of 20+ existing clients

• Contributed to company growth from $1.2M to $5M annual revenue by increasing online payments through streamlining mobile-first registration enhancing user experience and increasing adoption. Subsequently this also decreased the number of support calls and manual payment entries

• Lead creative during transition of new acquisition with Stack Sports, formerly Blue Star Sports, an integrated youth sports SaaS tech company (B2B and B2C) featuring a suite of platforms & features supporting eCommerce branding websites, event registration & payment processing

UI/UX ART DIRECTOR, DESIGN OPERATIONS

Leadership • Marketing • Business + Product Development • UI/UX • Operations • Development

• Acted as primary Art Director & Lead Designer on a variety of projects from marketing campaigns, sales support, managing UI/UX design & development and creative service operations

CREATIVE LEAD & MARKETING COORDINATOR

Leadership • Marketing • Business + Product Development • UI/UX • Operations • Development

• Developed a modular component library & website framework that prioritized streamlined prototyping & builds while providing customized service experience to our customers and their users

UI/UX DESIGNER, PRODUCT & OPERATIONS

Leadership • Marketing • Business + Product Development • UI/UX • Operations • Development

• Created UX flows from wireframes, storyboards and prototyping to develop a seamless mobile registration process increasing registration fee revenue and decreasing support time

SENIOR MARKETING & UI/UX DESIGNER

Development • Marketing • Canadian Product Expertise • Social Media Management

School Datebooks, now SDI Innovations, is a leading publishing company with educational products in more than 30,000 schools in North America and the engine behind multiple companies & brands.

• Lead creative and product subject matter expert, when School Datebooks acquired The Student Planner, for Canadian product line during the merge and rebrand marketing campaign

• Co-collaborated in orchestrating the 60+ product line merger for North America while consecutively art directing UI/UX for the rebrand design for the company website including offline printed marketing materials

• Oversaw rollout of new School Datebooks brand ID system across all digital touch points, nationally, after they acquired The Student Planner while aiding in facilitating the marketing team to cohesively tie in catalogs, product design & corporate communications (complete in 6 months)

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Educational Publishing • Production • Web Dev • Product Expertise • Social Media Strategy

The Student Planner was an educational publishing company founded in Denver, Colorado in 1997. This is where our founders met in college while competing in NCAA alpine and Nordic skiing, as well as bicycle racing. Athletics was a core component of their identity and tied into the business values. The Student Planner LLC of Denver has been acquired by a rival company from Indiana.

• Executed a large variety of projects from digital to print leveraging print, UI/UX and leadership skills; Solely responsible for the design of Canadian product line and subsidiary business vertical (SPS)

• Collaborated as a team of two in production & client management of both national and international publications and vendors

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Motion Design • Advertising • Marketing • Chinese Vendor Relations

Creative Instinct is a graphic design agency in Denver founded in 1998 and is one of the leading design/production/manufacturers in the trading card industry. They focus on niche sports & entertainment & hospitality businesses serving local & international clients across many industries.

• Handled diverse projects from print to digital working with overseas production vendors with organization & efficiency

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Graphic Designer • Websites • Web Graphics • Content Curator

Custom Trading Cards is a design firm that has specialized in sports and entertainment design for over 10 years. Custom Trading Cards has been designing and producing collectible officially licensed trading cards products for NASCAR, NFL, NCAA, NHRA, WTA/ATP, Mattel Hot Wheels, Orange County Choppers and Elvis Presley Enterprises and more.

• Executed creative solutions for custom designs on client-by-client basis

EDITOR IN CHIEF & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, COLLEGE AVENUE MAGAZINE

Designer • Editor • Copy Editor • Sales • Distribution • Partnerships • Production • Vendor Relations

College Avenue is a monthly lifestyle magazine publication produced and operated by CSU students under Rocky Mountain Student Media Corp.

• Grew internal staff, increased readership while concurrently improving operational processes. Administered interviews, hired and built teams while managing operations & annual production.

• Formulated key local business partnerships solidifying long lasting relations, building ad revenue, aiding fundraising initiatives, fostering growth & expansion of the magazine in & around campus

ADVERTISING DESIGNER, CREATIVE SERVICES

Editorial • Sales • Publications • Media • Internship

Creative Services was an editorial advertising department within the student media department, now Rocky Mountain Student Media. They sell advertising space to brands and businesses who want to market within the student opinion sectors (magazine, tv, radio, newspaper).

• Developed local business partnerships to gain advertising buy-in, meet fundraising objectives and solidify distribution location centers for College Avenue Magazine in and around campus

DESIGNER & NIGHT PRODUCTION EDITOR, THE COLLEGIAN

Advertising • Copyedit • Publications • Newspaper • Editorial • Production + Vendor Relations

The Rocky Mountain Collegian is an independent print and online newspaper where students have the authority to make content decisions. Since 1891, The Rocky Mountain Collegian has been the student voice of Colorado State University.

• Managed vendor communications for overnight print production and distribution of The Rocky Mountain Collegian; Coordinated file transfer

DESIGN EDITOR & ART DIRECTOR, COLLEGE AVENUE MAGAZINE

Designer • Editor • Art Direction • Management • Production • Vendor Relations

• Collaborated with a team creating quarterly issues for College Avenue, a CSU student produced magazine. Managed operations, supervised journalists, photographers, editors, design contractors, and vendor relationships

GRAPHIC DESIGNER, COLLEGE AVENUE MAGAZINE

Designer • Publications

• Initiated the construction and development of the magazine’s first website paving the road for the digital evolution of the publication.