My life's work orbits one question: how can we communicate better, so we can connect better?

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Everything I do is one of three forms of communication.

Visual

Visual storytelling is one of the oldest languages we have. When words fail, image bridges the gap by acting as a tool to reach each other. Consider the wonders of cave paintings, or the sand art a pufferfish carves over a week to court a mate. I turn that instinct into intentional and strategic visual direction that aligns with an organization's mission.

Brand · Art direction · Visual systems · Interfaces · Illustrative imagery

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Experiential

Good experience design is intuitive. It tells someone how to engage and what to trust before they have thought it through. I map the journey so a process runs efficient and effortless, shaping what they hit first, what comes next, and the impression they leave with. Beyond aesthetics means fixing real friction points to serve output, and the output serves people.

Experience design · Product development · Service design · Journeys

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Operational

A system is how an organization talks to itself. Shared and clear, everyone moves together; locked in one person's head, it breaks the moment they look away. I find what works, what doesn't, and what was never written down, rebuild it at the source, and keep it documented and current. Keeping teams aligned protects people, money, and everything the business touches.

Systems building · Operations · Playbooks · Vendor coordination · Change management

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The causes I care about most involve land, animals, food, and the people caught in the middle of all three. I want to build technology that is actually for good, and that keeps its human touch. I believe in using our own imagination to create products that serve the living, in all of its forms.

Let's work together to build something that matters.

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My name is Gwendolyn Jill Schwartzkopf. I'm from St. Louis, Missouri, and now live in San Diego, California.

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Before digital tools, there was a sketchbook. I carried it everywhere, drawing what I had no language for yet, dreaming without constraint. Twelve years into working in technology, I still aim to honor that origin.

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My foundation is a Bachelor of Science in 3D Computer Animation and an Associate's in Graphic Design and Advertising. After I graduated in 2014, an employer paid me to learn UI/UX, and my knack for seeing how broken systems feed into one another pulled me quickly into operations. Since 2020 I have worked as an independent strategic partner, building a practice that bridges imagination and execution.