Specializing in communication planning, regulatory information architecture, decision design, and high-precision visual systems.
Applied user research, regulatory information restructuring, interactive interfaces, and multi-stakeholder ecosystem mapping.
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A comprehensive phylogenetic visualization mapping biological lineage and taxonomy. Designed with multi-tier typographic hierarchy and precise color coding to make dense scientific relationships immediately legible.
A systemic information architecture and service design overhaul of the United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual. Dense federal regulations, pricing matrices, and mail classification standards were restructured into modular, user-centered reference tools for high-volume mailers and postal staff.
The Domestic Mail Manual ran to more than a thousand pages, organized around the agency's regulatory structure rather than the way people actually looked things up. Commercial mailers and counter staff struggled to find and trust answers.
User research and cognitive task analysis surfaced how mailers and staff really navigate the rules. Affinity synthesis reorganized the content from regulation-ordered to task-ordered, supported by a new grid system, typographic hierarchy, and iconography for scanning dense reference material.
The redesign was adopted nationwide across the USPS, with staff directed to reference and cite it with customers. It is now studied in design literature as a model of public-sector transformation, alongside the IRS and Australian Tax Office reforms.
A Carnegie Mellon School of Design project (DMM Transformation Project, directed by Prof. Richard Buchanan) carried out by 15 graduate students and three faculty. I contributed as an individual graduate designer on research and synthesis; the manual was published by the USPS. Company and agency names are referenced to describe this experience, not to imply a client relationship.
An end-to-end service strategy and organizational transition framework guiding a community cooperative preschool through facility relocation and capacity expansion. It turned a building crisis into a decade of stability.
A storm-damaged co-op preschool faced the loss of its building and, with it, its operating continuity. Relocating a volunteer-run school without interrupting classes meant aligning parents, staff, and the board around a single plan.
I mapped the multi-stakeholder ecosystem and the crisis-to-continuity journey, then evaluated candidate sites against operational, financial, and community criteria. Enrollment touchpoints and volunteer blueprints were synthesized into a sustainable service model.
The school moved over one summer break with no missed school days, onto a lot with more than 2.5× the acreage. Enrollment grew from four partly-filled classes to six full classes, three now carrying waitlists, and the property nearly tripled in value.
An observational user research and service design analysis examining how students navigate a university's digital course directory to build a workable schedule.
Building a schedule forces students to juggle course discovery, prerequisites, and time-conflict resolution across disconnected screens. It is a high-stakes decision made under friction.
Cognitive task analysis and journey mapping traced how students actually move between catalog, requirements, and calendar, isolating the moments where the interface fought the decision instead of supporting it.
A decision-architecture prototype that surfaces conflicts and prerequisites at the point of choice, reframing course selection as a guided path rather than a lookup task.
Interface and navigation architecture for major console releases at Treyarch, a subsidiary of Activision. Structured high-density tournament ladders, player rosters, and real-time statistics into clean, responsive head-up displays and menu trees.
A typographic motion study exploring speech pacing, dynamic scale, and structural emphasis to reinforce narrative meaning through movement.
Interactive editorial translation of traditional illustration into dynamic digital exploration, preserving delicate watercolor textures while designing intuitive navigation.
Disciplined explorations in botanical color theory, measured architectural perspective, and precision vector geometry.
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An exploration of organic symmetry, tonal gradation, and botanical anatomy. Demonstrates controlled color transitions and edge definition for scientific and technical illustration.
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A measured perspective study analyzing interior volume, and structural rhythm, translating complex three-dimensional relationships into clean two-dimensional linework.
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A high-fidelity vector study exploring biological surface patterns, muscular contours, and anchor-point efficiency to achieve crisp visual clarity at any display resolution.
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An architectural vector exploration balancing sharp geometric structures against soft atmospheric winter gradients, maintaining strict visual hierarchy and depth.
I'm Jennifer Anderson, and I specialize in making complex ideas clear. My communication and information design work spans over two decades of interfaces, posters, brand systems, editorial and book design, illustration, and kinetic typography.
I designed game interfaces for Treyarch, a subsidiary of Activision, before going on to earn a Master of Design in Communication Planning and Information Design from Carnegie Mellon University. This built on a foundation in ethics and aesthetics from UCLA, along with my experience as a project manager in cutting-edge interactive media for major studios such as HBO and Warner Brothers. For over two decades, I have focused on using design to clearly convey ideas to its intended audience.
Alongside communication and service design, I utilize emerging technologies such as LLMs to accelerate ideation and research synthesis while maintaining an uncompromising foundation in ethics and human judgment. Projects centered on education, learning systems, and community development hold a particularly meaningful place in my work. I partner with organizations and product teams on senior contract engagements spanning information architecture, communication planning, complex systems design, data visualization, branding, and specialized creative direction. If you have a project that requires both clarity and craft, I'd love to hear from you.
A consistent method for turning complexity into something people can actually use, whether the deliverable is a federal manual, a service model, or a brand system.
I start with research: user interviews, cognitive task analysis, stakeholder mapping, and other methods depending on the context. Before proposing a solution, I make sure the root problem, and everyone it touches, is clearly understood.
I look for patterns and synthesize findings into architecture: information hierarchies, service blueprints, and decision logic. This is where dense, disordered material becomes a system with a clear organizing principle.
I design the finished artifact with craft and precision: typography, grid, iconography, and visual systems built to be understood at a glance and to hold up in real use over time.
Organizations I've contributed to across two decades of practice. This work was done through my roles at Treyarch (Activision), EMA Multimedia, and Carnegie Mellon University, not as a direct client of the studios named. As a project manager at EMA, I served as the liaison to major film studios on interactive media.
From the leaders and researchers I've worked alongside on complex, high-stakes projects.
Jennifer and I collaborated on the information design of a complex, 1,500-page federal manual, a well-documented influential project that demanded attention from high-level content organization informed by user research to the grid system, typography, and iconography. What sets Jennifer apart is her ability to hold complexity without losing sight of the user, navigating large, multi-layered projects with rigor and ease while bringing strategic thinking to every decision. She is a deeply collaborative partner who listens carefully, asks the right questions, and translates the needs of diverse perspectives into brilliant design solutions.Nassim Parvin Professor, University of Washington
Jennifer helped us find and prepare an improved space for our school. She saw the whole picture, kept everyone aligned, and set us up for the long term. We were so happy with the results.Kathy Foster Former Director, Bothell Family Cooperative Preschool
Available for remote contract engagements in communication planning, information architecture, service design, and complex data visualization. Based in Seattle, working with teams across the U.S.
jna@jennifer-anderson.com