Charles Klein, Design Strategy & Leadership • About

Craft beautiful experiences

I have worked for companies big and small and spanning industries, such as Capital One, Tact.ai (acquired by Aktana), Kosmix (acquired by Walmart), YesVideo, and Humboldt State University where some of my designs have won awards; and have consulted for companies like ONI, Techstyle, Clique Media, Milliways Ventures, Rocketship.vc, and Target (DermStore), among others.

I have built apps that were featured by The New York Times, and Editorial Picks on the Apple App Store. One of them, Memorable Wines, was featured by the App Store editors in "Pocket Sommelier" in the US, UK, France, Germany & more.

Once, back in 2006, I was interviewed by AdBusters Magazine to explain the hot, new social network … Twitter (RIP ) — a testament to my love of technology to the core. I built my first computer at the age of 12 in 1994, I couldn't do anything with it but run The Norton Commander from the DOS prompt to launch some rudimentary games and writing programs (I don't know how many times I edited the autoexec.bat and config.sys just because), but I loved it...

In 1996, I learned HTML and some rudimentary VisualBasic for Windows 95 and consequently started my first "company" with my best friend — CARTER/KLEIN ENTERPRISES... LOL it obviously wasn't a real company, but we had fun. I finally discovered graphic design and web design in 2003, and have been a practitioner of the ever evolving craft since.

Outside of work you'll most likely find me at a park with my husband, our 4-year old son, and our Labradoodle Susan; over-ordering at some new (to me) restaurant; taking in the sounds of the city with a glass of wine on the rooftop; or, my favorite, exploring the greatest immersive user experience in the world: Walt Disney's Original Magic Kingdom, Disneyland.

CliftonStrengths®

Strengths and behaviorial themes (more info). Presented in order.

1. Maximizer
People exceptionally talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.
2. Relator
People exceptionally talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
3. Arranger
People exceptionally talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to determine how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.
4. Adaptability
People exceptionally talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to go with the flow. They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.
5. Consistency
People exceptionally talented in the Consistency theme are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same. They crave stable routines and clear rules and procedures that everyone can follow.

Skills & Tools

Design Strategy
Product Design (UI, UX, Interaction)
Leadership & Creative Direction
Mobile-First Design
Interactive Prototyping
User-Testing
Video Editing & UI animation
Branding & Design Systems
Project Management

Diverse experience designing for: Commercial Banking, Commercial Real Estate, Data Infrastructure, Enterprise SaaS (B2B, B2B2C), Pharmaceutical Sales, eCommerce, Client Services

Tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Apple Keynote, AfterEffects, Final Cut Pro, Principal, Zeplin, Pixate, InVision, Asana, Trello, Pivotal, Xcode, Git

Personal Interests

Doing pretty much anything with my 4-year old son, Ezra
Cooking & Baking, I'm all about the process, so give me a recipe and let me go
LEGO — I recently rekindled my love for these blocks, my collection has over 50,000 pieces and I fear I'm just starting
Traveling, I've been to Tuscany (Florence, Lucca, Milan), Berlin, Paris, Bangkok, Bangalore, Phuket, Kauai, and all across the contiguous US
I'm a huge fan of Disneyland, there's nothing quite like it for nostalgia and just immersive perfection
The Arts — Broadway, theatre, symphony, museums, opera... I love it all

Awards & Recognition

Apple App Store Editor's Pick for Memorable Wines app across US, UK, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark & more
Apple App Store Pocket Sommelier feature for Memorable Wines app
Apple App Store Editor's Pick for Memorable Meals app
The New York Times feature of Memorable Wines app for GadgetWise
CASE Division VII Circle of Excellence Award for Web Sites, Silver for the Meet Humboldt website
eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Award for Best Research Site, Sustainability in Mind website
eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Award for Best Use of Photography, Sustainability in Mind website

What his colleagues have said...

Charles is a needle in a haystack — that rare design leader who truly understands both UX and visual design, and is an absolute inspiration to work with. He has a deep, intuitive understanding and respect for users that he translates into products that are both elegantly usable and beautiful... Charles is an inspiring leader, who leads both by example and mentorship, directly with his design team and indirectly across engineers, product managers and the executive team...