Hi, I'm James

I am a designer, collaborator, mentor and creative leader who loves getting my hands dirty making things.

Let's Talk

Creative Work

A brief look at what I have been up to over the past few years.

“GOOD DESIGN IS OBVIOUS. GREAT DESIGN IS TRANSPARENT.”
― JOE SPARANO

Work Life

Floqast
I lead the user experience as well as the visual design for one of the fastest growing and best in class financial work flow applications. I am responsible for user research, writing requirements, creating user flows, wireframes and pixel perfect designs as well as user testing and analytical analysis. I work daily with our users, product team, developers and stakeholders. In addition, I also designed our Los Angeles headquarters.

Walt Disney Studios
As the design lead for Disney Studios my primary responsibility is the creative vision and execution of a design language that will cover over 140 enterprise and consumer products. As a team leader as well as an individual contributor, I worked to create a better breed of Disney Studio products. Additionally, I have worked on other projects such as an app for Star Wars as well as other company initiatives.

Los Angeles Time/Tribune Publishing
I was responsible for the UX/UI for several product lines including responsive websites, iOS apps, video as well as special projects for several major markets including the Los Angeles Times & Chicago Tribune. Working with product owners, publishers, stakeholders and developers to bring products to life that are responsible for close to 1 billion page views a year from over 100 countries.

Midnight Oil
As the digital art director, I was in charge of creating engaging and visually forward ways for consumers to connect with their favorite entertainment brands such as Sony, Disney, Marvel, FX and ABC. Responsibilities included: ideation, developing concepts, creating and annotating wireframes, mapping user flows, designing production comps, creating final art and design, facilitating tech hand off and overseeing design/functional QA

Technicolor
In my role as the art director, I was tasked with creating engaging and visually forward ways for people to connect socially and professionally across multiple platforms and situations. Responsibilities include: ideation, product development, wireframes, user flows, user experience patterns, production comps, creating final art and design, tech hand off, UAT and design/functional QA

NBC Universal
Design lead for all show, global and social media products. I have worked from concept to completion on several dozen high profile projects including global templates, mobile apps, social integrations, and show-based initiatives. My position had me doing everything from brainstorming, creating requirements, wire framing, UX/UI design, visual design, client reviews, managing contract and tech resources, QA and user testing in the field.

Recognition

2015 Webby Award Nominee - Los Angeles Times
2012 Webby Award Honoree - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Webby Award Nominee - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Ovation Award - Above and Beyond Effort - Interactive Experience
2010 Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media
2010 Ovation Award - Above and Beyond Effort - Social Media
2009 Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media

Skills

Creative Problem Solving
Design Systems
Research & Discovery
User Experience Design
Visual Design
Responsive Design Practices
User Testing
Prototyping
Design Leadership
Mentoring
Team Building
Sketch/Figma
Adobe Creative Cloud
Basic HTML & CSS
Wire Framing
Handy with a camera
Good old-fashion pen & paper

A Few of My Favorite Work Moments

Being the Founding Designer at a High Growth Start Up
I  had the chance to start from the ground up, defining process, growing a team and building a design system that can scale fast. Doing all of this against the backdrop of explosive growth, new product lines and the general chaos of a startup has been a lot fun, mixed with a heavy dose of hard work.

Creating One Design Language for 100 + Apps
I was approached by Disney Studios to help solve a huge internal problem. They had roughly 120 internal applications, built over 20 years with no cohesive design or user experience. Creating a design language that can scale across a portfolio like that was one of the hardest and most rewarding challenges of my career

Designing an App for a LA Legend, Jonathan Gold
Some of my earliest memories were my dad reading the LA Times. As I got older and was able to travel across the city, I was always in search of great places to eat and new cultures to experience through food. One of those who helped  journey was Jonathan Gold. I worked on the branding as well as an app for his 100 best LA Places to Eat.

Working With Some of My Favorite Shows, Characters and Properties
‍‍
Living in LA gave me access to a wide variety of entertainment projects. I have been fortunate enough to create digital work for The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, TMNT, Parks & Rec., along with countless others. Getting to play apart in those worlds is a childhood dream come true


Things I'm Good At

Creative Direction
Managing a Design Team
Brand & Product Strategy
Design Process
Working Across a Company
Creating a Culture of Design Thinking
Presenting Ideas & Creative Work
Building Design Systems
Making the Complex Simple
Uncovering User Needs
Bringing People Together
Being a Mentor
User Research
Information Architecture
Visual Design

Things My Mom Brags About

2015 Webby Award Nominee - Los Angeles Times
2012 Webby Award Honoree - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Webby Award Nominee - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2011 Ovation Award - Above and Beyond Effort - Interactive Experience
2010 Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media
2010 Ovation Award - Above and Beyond Effort - Social Media
2009 Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media

“PERFECTION IS ACHIEVED, NOT WHEN THERE IS NOTHING MORE TO ADD, BUT WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO TAKE AWAY.”
― ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Contact

You can email me directly at jrichman138@gmail.com or fill out this lovely form below.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.
Thanks! I'll get back to you soon
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

This site was built using Webflow.
They didn't pay me to say this. I just generally love the app and wanted to tell you.