Matthew Johnson

Art Director · Brand · AI

Strategy you can see.
Design that sells.

Fifteen years turning brand strategy into work that ships, sells, and wins — from packaging on shelves nationwide to Fortune 500 campaigns to AI-built apps.

4×Silver ADDY
15+Years
Fortune 500Brand work
NationwideOn shelves
View the WorkGet in Touch
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Heaven Hill✦
Brand Strategy✦
Berry Global✦
Art Direction✦
Ameriqual✦
Packaging Design✦
J.E. Shekell✦
Environmental Design✦
Flanders✦
AI Development✦
Atlas✦
Campaign Systems✦
Liberty FCU✦
Identity Design✦
Ellis Park✦
iOS · Swift✦
Nkosi Records✦
Creative Direction✦
Motion✦
Heaven Hill✦
Brand Strategy✦
Berry Global✦
Art Direction✦
Ameriqual✦
Packaging Design✦
J.E. Shekell✦
Environmental Design✦
Flanders✦
AI Development✦
Atlas✦
Campaign Systems✦
Liberty FCU✦
Identity Design✦
Ellis Park✦
iOS · Swift✦
Nkosi Records✦
Creative Direction✦
Motion✦

What I do

Three disciplines, one operator.

01

Art Direction & Design

National campaigns, packaging on shelves nationwide, and an ADDY-winning Pack Expo booth — from first concept to final file.

02

Brand Strategy

Identity systems and campaign frameworks that stay coherent across every channel of a Fortune 500 portfolio.

03

AI Development

I ship real products — Bible Warden on iOS (Swift) and News Warden on the web — built and designed from the ground up.

Selected Work

A decade and a half, edited down.

Beyond the handoff

Designed. Branded. Built.

Most creatives stop where the developers begin. These two products are live right now — every pixel, every interaction, and every line of code by one person, working with AI.

Designed · Branded · Built by me

Bible Warden

Scripture, turned into a quest.

A gamified Bible-reading app for iOS — streak tracking, XP progression, reading quests, and Bible Battles. Every screen, every icon, and every line of Swift: one person, zero handoffs.

SwiftSwiftUIXcodeClaude
Download on the App Storebiblewarden.com →
Bible Warden running on iPhone
🔥 12-day streak
+25 XP · Quest complete
newswarden.com
News Warden — AI-curated news reader, live front page

Coverage lean

all sides shown

Story tracking

Follows developing stories so you don't re-read the news.

Designed · Branded · Built by me

News Warden

The news, without the noise.

A snapshot of everything happening right now — the day's headlines gathered, organized, and set in one quick, readable place. Ongoing stories are tracked as they develop, with every side of the coverage shown, so you see the whole picture at a glance.

Under the hood, a local model and a frontier model work around the clock — curating the feed, grouping coverage, and writing synopses. Designed and built from scratch for the web.

Next.jsTypeScriptClaude APIVercel
Read on newswarden.com

Case Studies

The thinking behind the work.

Brand Campaign · Berry Global

EPIC Brand Campaign

Problem
A Fortune 500 packaging leader needed one voice across trade publications and internal communications — not four disconnected messages.
Approach
A four-part system built on the brand pillars — Engaging, Protective, Innovative, Committed — each ad distinct in imagery but locked to a single layout framework.
Impact
A unified brand identity that scaled across every trade channel.

Environmental · Berry Global

Pack Expo Trade Show Booths

Problem
Pack Expo is a sea of competitors. Berry needed presence that pulled buyers across a crowded show floor.
Approach
Large-scale environmental design — booth architecture, signage, and brand storytelling engineered to read from across the hall and reward a closer look.
Impact
The 2022 booth won a Silver ADDY.

Packaging · Heaven Hill

Rittenhouse Rye

Problem
A heritage rye dating to 1934 had the history but a label that no longer earned its place on a premium shelf.
Approach
A complete packaging overhaul drawn from the original 1934 label language — modernized for authority without erasing the heritage that made the brand worth buying.
Impact
On shelves nationwide.
Matthew Johnson

About

The art director's eye, the brand leader's strategy, the builder's hands.

Award-winning creative leader with 15+ years bridging brand strategy, digital innovation, and multimedia production. From agency life — art directing national campaigns for Heaven Hill, PAMA, and Rittenhouse Rye — to nearly a decade as Senior Graphic Designer at Berry Global, driving the visual identity of a Fortune 500 portfolio.

Now I teach computer science and media production while building AI-powered apps — Bible Warden (iOS, Swift) and News Warden (web) — from the ground up. A rare combination: I can think the strategy, design the work, and build the product.

2018 Silver ADDY · Premium Jars Sales Kit2019 Silver ADDY · Airport Business Lounge2022 Silver ADDY · Pack Expo Booth2024 Silver ADDY · Dose Better Campaign

BS Interdisciplinary Studies, Liberty University  ·  AA Visual Communications, Ivy Tech

Let's make something
that ships.

Open to freelance, collaboration,
and creative leadership.

mjay2k@gmail.comLinkedInResume