John Tindel

Creative director and technologist · Creative AI · Brand and UX

Atlanta, GAinfo@thecreativelife.comlinkedin.com/in/tindel

Creative director and technologist, in one seat. In 23 years I've been the designer, art director, UX strategist and creative director, and I ran my own studio for eighteen. I lead web creative and UX at Corpay, where I rebuilt the work around AI so what took weeks ships in a day.

Selected impact

• Rebuilt Corpay's web creative function around AI, so a two-person studio ships in a day what used to take weeks. Case study →
• Built the AI systems behind it: an always-on website sales assistant taken from proposal to proof of concept to working demo, a studio operating system, and a Story Engine where a crew of agents turns one story into an article, posts, a two-week campaign and briefs.
• Took Thryv's website conversion from under 1% to over 10% through two product shifts, doubled web sales in 2023 and lifted booked sales appointments 35% with a guided demo path. Case study →
• Designed and art directed for YP Can Do That, the national campaign that included YP's first national commercial and station dominations in Grand Central, and redesigned email to lift click-through 400%. Case study →
• Founded and ran Imagination Bureau for eighteen years, making work for IBM, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Equifax, Universal Studios, Jack Daniel's, The CW and the City of Atlanta.

Experience

Lead UX/UI for Corpay's corporate web properties and the AI-native creative studio behind them. Case studies are shared with interviewers.

• Designed and built the studio's AI operating system, covering the full path from request to developer-ready handoff, now used across the creative and brand teams.
• Built an AI creative lab that pressure-tests work against target buyers before launch, with human approval gates before anything ships.
• Leading the corpay.com redesign: navigation and information architecture, homepage hierarchy, forms and lead quality, from research to decision record to build. Case study →
• Prototype-first leadership: new concepts go from spec to clickable prototype in a day, so executives decide on real experiences instead of slides.
• Set one web standard and design system across design, development and brand, connected directly to Figma.

• Led in-house creative across brand, campaign and digital experience.
• Rolled out Corpay's new brand system across paid, social, out of home, trade shows and landing pages. Case study →
• Delivered integrated campaigns across digital ads, email, events and sales enablement, tied to revenue goals, including an AI payment fraud campaign for CFOs. Case study →
• Began moving the team to an AI-first way of working, laying the groundwork for today's studio.

• Led the digital design team for the website and full-funnel demand generation: ads, landing pages, email and sales enablement.
• Took website conversion from under 1% to over 10% and doubled web sales in 2023. Case study →
• Led a design team with zero turnover, growing it through outside hires and internal promotions.

• Creative lead for Thryv's move into SaaS: redesigned the website, pricing and demo flows around the new all-in-one software product. A guided demo path with live sales scheduling increased booked appointments 35%. Case study →
• Built the living style guide, icon libraries and landing page system for the new brand.

• Helped rebrand North America's largest local search, media and advertising company across web and print.
• Redesigned YP's main sales website around its three core product lines, designed the Make Every Day Local campaign site and worked on brand campaigns including a full takeover of Grand Central Terminal during Advertising Week. Case study →

• Small-batch creative studio for branding, fashion and large-scale activations. Clients included IBM, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Equifax, Universal Studios, Jack Daniel's, The CW Network and the City of Atlanta.

Earlier career

• Creative Director and Brand Strategy, Prissy Tomboy Athletics · 2010 to 2015. Brand, e-commerce and a web platform built for national franchise expansion.
• UX Designer and Specialist, Cox Media Group · 2013 to 2014. UX research, strategy and a living style guide for 100+ digital properties.
• UX Design and Strategy Consultant, User Insights · 2012 to 2013. Research, prototypes and a secure checkout redesign for Fortune 500 clients including Equifax.

AI and tools

• LLMs and agents: Claude, Claude Code (agent workflows, custom skills, subagents), ChatGPT, Gemini, MCP integrations (Figma)
• Generative image and video: Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Higgsfield
• Design and build: Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, Gamma, HTML/CSS, React and Next.js prototyping, Cloudflare Workers, Shopify Hydrogen, WordPress

Education

• BFA, Graphic Design · Minor in Marketing and Advertising · University of South Alabama

Recognition and art

• Named one of Atlanta's 50 Most Creative People (CommonCreative).
• Featured in the AJC, Creative Loafing, BURNAWAY, Atlantan Magazine, ArtsATL and Jezebel.
• Working artist: gallery shows (Kai Lin Art), public art for the City of Atlanta, Living Walls mural artist. Mentor, The Creative Project.