Jonathan Carson Email & Phone Number

Pittsburgh, Pa, Us

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Working with a couple of lovely early-stage companies. I'd could tell you, but then I'd have to [redacted].

Berlin, Germany

Lateral is a record label and music event promotion project I run with two of my best buds, my sweet boys, Tom (sound artist) and Ian (events promoter). We’re obsessed with music and sound. Given our shared obsessions, plus a need to create and contribute, we Voltroned our complementary skills and set up shop in the back alleys of the dance music metropolis to solicit our artistic fancies and give back to the community.The label's Eye of Sauron is fixed solely on techno, but the artists… Show more Lateral is a record label and music event promotion project I run with two of my best buds, my sweet boys, Tom (sound artist) and Ian (events promoter). We’re obsessed with music and sound. Given our shared obsessions, plus a need to create and contribute, we Voltroned our complementary skills and set up shop in the back alleys of the dance music metropolis to solicit our artistic fancies and give back to the community.The label's Eye of Sauron is fixed solely on techno, but the artists we book for our events have their tentacles in a variety of realms—techno, bass music, dubstep, breakbeat, drum & bass, acid, electro, IDM, experimental, and a schtickle of house, to name a few. We're honored to have hosted a number of incredible artists at Pittsburgh's hallowed dance music institution, Hot Mass. We're also immensely grateful to have our music played by some of our favorite techno artists at some of the best parties in the world, including @ithqdetroit’s legendary No Way Back—an eternal sonic ritual that materializes in late May annually.I help with creative direction and design work (album artwork, event flyers, Bandcamp layout updates, merch, branding, etc.). Lateral is our playground. No parents, no rules, minimal constraints, snacks for days, and we get to stay up wayyy past our bedtime. It’s just me and the boys blappin' 🫠.🔗 lateralsys.bandcamp.com Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Exert is a one-man show. I build custom electronic press kits (EPKs) for DJs and music producers. Exert emerged as a byproduct of my graphic design work for Obvious (more info on this project is down the page). Obvious had a large following in Pittsburgh, so the flyer designs I did for them had a decent amount of eyes on them. Along the way, several local artists asked me for help designing various pieces (album artwork, social media promotional images, merch, websites, etc.), including one… Show more Exert is a one-man show. I build custom electronic press kits (EPKs) for DJs and music producers. Exert emerged as a byproduct of my graphic design work for Obvious (more info on this project is down the page). Obvious had a large following in Pittsburgh, so the flyer designs I did for them had a decent amount of eyes on them. Along the way, several local artists asked me for help designing various pieces (album artwork, social media promotional images, merch, websites, etc.), including one artist who made quite a name in bass music, Buku. Fast forward in time a bit: Buku asked me to design an EPK. I had nary a notion of EPKs, so I did some digging. An EPK is essentially an artist’s resume, giving music industry professionals a way to access and review the artist’s work. Much to my surprise, the industry standard EPK format used by many DJs and producers was nothing more than a ZIP file with a few folders in it, which generally contained press photos, rider docs, and a doc with contact and social media information.I saw an opportunity for massive improvement, so I took it. The result was a responsive landing page prototype that looked good, had a logical flow to the content, had embedded media, was accessible, was templated but customizable, and housed all necessary information. Buku’s managers loved his EPK, and they passed me on to others in their agency. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many other artists, managers, and agencies—some just starting and some at the top of their game. All by word of mouth.Exert is an exercise in focus and restraint. The company landing page design stinks and I haven’t done proper branding work, but these things don’t matter yet. I don’t have a ton of time to work on Exert, so I need to be judicious. My current focus is building a system that allows me to create kits much faster. Circling back on the niceties will come when the time is right 🔮.🔗 exert.io Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Apollo combines a mobile app with a wearable to translate waveforms into gentle vibrations. These vibrations, called Vibes, can help balance the human nervous system. While Apollo isn’t for everyone, people who respond positively to it (myself included) report beneficial effects like reduced stress, improved sleep, and better focus.Some projects I worked on:• Helped take Apollo from a PhD research project prototype to a shipped, complete product in 10 months• Shepherded Apollo’s… Show more Apollo combines a mobile app with a wearable to translate waveforms into gentle vibrations. These vibrations, called Vibes, can help balance the human nervous system. While Apollo isn’t for everyone, people who respond positively to it (myself included) report beneficial effects like reduced stress, improved sleep, and better focus.Some projects I worked on:• Helped take Apollo from a PhD research project prototype to a shipped, complete product in 10 months• Shepherded Apollo’s early branding, identity, and packaging work• Handled all product design and marketing design work until those teams could be assembled. After they were built, I managed both teams for a couple of years until I decided to step away from my leadership role to focus more on product design.• Lead a project to migrate Apollo's website from WordPress to Shopify, which helped the marketing team be more efficient, self-serving, and impactful• Created and maintained design systems and component libraries for the brand, website, and iOS app• Developed a library of custom blocks in Klayvio, which enabled the email marketing team to build emails quickly and without developer assistance• Helped guide and provide feedback to industrial design contractors working on v2 of the hardware• Implemented a brand refresh• Lead a project to create high-end 3D animations that significantly improved Apollo’s onboarding experience• Helped design and launch v3.0 of the mobile app, which started to move the business model from a one-time purchase to recurring revenue. A number of features in the 3.0 release also helped drive the average daily usage time within MAU to over four hours/day 🤯.• Helped design watchOS and iPad versions of the iOS app• Helped develop a prototype that connected Apollo’s and Oura Ring’s back-ends to create a closed-loop system. The prototype was successfully pitched to Oura’s leadership, which prompted a partnership between the companies. Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

This project was originally Zoobean, a curated children's book-of-the-month subscription service. Unfortunately, we were having issues finding product-market fit with this idea. While doing user research and pondering what to do with our failing product, we discovered that the free version of Zoobean was incredibly useful to librarians, giving them access to Zoobean's expertly curated collection. They found Zoobean's unorthodox categories (like "Not So Pink Girls," "Daring To Be Different," and… Show more This project was originally Zoobean, a curated children's book-of-the-month subscription service. Unfortunately, we were having issues finding product-market fit with this idea. While doing user research and pondering what to do with our failing product, we discovered that the free version of Zoobean was incredibly useful to librarians, giving them access to Zoobean's expertly curated collection. They found Zoobean's unorthodox categories (like "Not So Pink Girls," "Daring To Be Different," and "Incidental Ethnicity") and search filters invaluable tools in helping parents of diverse families find books that spoke to their children. We also learned that many librarians sought a well-crafted digital solution to help them run their summer reading programs more effectively. That was our sign to move forward in a different direction, so we quickly pivoted and created a library-focused product called Beanstack. The pivot was risky, but it paid off. Beanstack is a notable success, evolving to expand into schools and becoming the leading solution for motivating people to read. Beanstack helps over 10,000 libraries and schools worldwide run their reading programs silky smooth—like Billy Dee Williams smooth 😏.As a foundational member of the Zoobean team, I had the privilege of helping take Beanstack from a concept to a profitable product. Beanstack has become the leader in its space and supports a team of 35+ people and their families. I'm very proud of the work I did with the Zoobean team and their continued success. Fun side note: Zoobean/Beanstack is a Shark Tank success story.🔗 beanstack.com/about-us/shark-tank🔗 finance.yahoo.com/news/felix-brandon-lloyd-beanstack-went-203806343.html Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Obvious was a music event production company that specialized in throwing low-end frequency sound parties—mostly dubstep and bass music. I got involved with Obvious through a friend who introduced me to my future Lateral co-founder, Ian, who ran Obvious’ operations. They needed help designing event flyers. I had never designed flyers before and was up for a new challenge, so I jumped on board. My involvement in Obvious was short-lived, but it was a fun project. More importantly, it was the… Show more Obvious was a music event production company that specialized in throwing low-end frequency sound parties—mostly dubstep and bass music. I got involved with Obvious through a friend who introduced me to my future Lateral co-founder, Ian, who ran Obvious’ operations. They needed help designing event flyers. I had never designed flyers before and was up for a new challenge, so I jumped on board. My involvement in Obvious was short-lived, but it was a fun project. More importantly, it was the avenue to meeting Ian and Tom, thus seeding the birth of Lateral. Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

JazzHR provides tools for small to medium-sized companies that help them streamline their hiring process, including applicant sourcing and tracking, collaboration, interviewing, and candidate assessment.When I worked there, it was a growing, but early-stage startup, so I had a sizable, fun, and sassy hat collection. Different hats I wore: sketched, wrote lots of UX and marketing copy, coded, prototyped, built internal tools, helped with product and marketing design, co-managed the… Show more JazzHR provides tools for small to medium-sized companies that help them streamline their hiring process, including applicant sourcing and tracking, collaboration, interviewing, and candidate assessment.When I worked there, it was a growing, but early-stage startup, so I had a sizable, fun, and sassy hat collection. Different hats I wore: sketched, wrote lots of UX and marketing copy, coded, prototyped, built internal tools, helped with product and marketing design, co-managed the design and marketing teams, pondered and discussed the product's future with stakeholders, helped improve processes, learned a ton about running a business at that stage, was humbled on a couple of occasions, shared knowledge, and covertly caused playful friction to seed new ideas.🔗 jazzhr.com Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

GameHuddle was a crowdsourced rental marketplace driven by gamers passionate about playing and sharing video games. It provided a unique way to rent video games online for little or no cost by giving gamers a platform to earn money via their game collection.Some projects I worked on + highlights of the experience:• Collaborated on the conception, incorporation, and business development of GameHuddle• GameHuddle was accepted into the inaugural class of AlphaLab, a… Show more GameHuddle was a crowdsourced rental marketplace driven by gamers passionate about playing and sharing video games. It provided a unique way to rent video games online for little or no cost by giving gamers a platform to earn money via their game collection.Some projects I worked on + highlights of the experience:• Collaborated on the conception, incorporation, and business development of GameHuddle• GameHuddle was accepted into the inaugural class of AlphaLab, a Pittsburgh-based early-stage software companies accelerator program.• Worked alongside the AlphaLab staff and other AlphaLab companies to create a prototype for GameHuddle and develop an investor pitch• Post-AlphaLab, I presented to local and national investment firms, resulting in $400K+ of Series A funding.• Hosted and administered many user interviews and usability tests to help streamline the product's UX, drive user acquisition, and gather feedback on ideas for future developments• Concepted, designed, prototyped, and co-developed multiple iterations of GameHuddle's Ruby on Rails web app• Designed an iOS app that helped gamers quickly and easily schedule online gaming sessions with others• Acted as a representative for GameHuddle when sponsoring the 2008 X Gaming Bash and a number of PittCo LAN parties• GameHuddle was acquired by Primerock Captial in April 2013. Show less

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Super Fly Interactive was a small design studio that I created with my friend and business partner for many years (shoutout Tyler Ewing). Super Fly was our place to house and incubate product ideas (GameHuddle being the most notable) while using our skills to do client work to pay the bills.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

MARC USA was an ad agency with offices in Chicago, Illinois, Boston, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh. At its peak, it handled over $350 million in billings and had 250 employees. Their clients included All-Clad, Rite Aid, True Value Hardware, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Pennsylvania Lottery, the Andy Warhol Museum, and Pittsburgh Opera. I was brought on as a junior-level web developer, but I also did a lot of design work for them.Some projects I worked on + highlights of the… Show more MARC USA was an ad agency with offices in Chicago, Illinois, Boston, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh. At its peak, it handled over $350 million in billings and had 250 employees. Their clients included All-Clad, Rite Aid, True Value Hardware, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, Pennsylvania Lottery, the Andy Warhol Museum, and Pittsburgh Opera. I was brought on as a junior-level web developer, but I also did a lot of design work for them.Some projects I worked on + highlights of the experience:• Developed numerous interactive projects including web applications, websites, microsites, Flash-based games, Flash-based banner ads, and emails for client accounts valued up to $6 million• Worked closely with design leadership to brainstorm and execute design work for new business pitches. Client verticals included retail, resorts, restaurants, and finance.• Soley tasked with storyboarding, prototyping, designing, and developing several projects from concept to delivery• Led a small team of designers and developers tasked with helping educate traditional creatives at the agency about modern web technologies, capabilities, and design methodologies• Winner of a 2011 Silver Addy in the category of "Interactive Media, Websites, Consumer HTML/Other, Products" for the Knievel Cycles website and accompanying ad campaigns Show less