Meet Kirsten Winkle Bangs
I graduated from the University of Montevallo with a Bachelors of Arts degree specializing in Drawing and Sculpture. My first role out of college was with the Birmingham Museum of Art as a Gallery Attendant, teaching children about current exhibitions and teaching art activities around them. Soon after I was hired at Daxko as a UX/UI Designer where I spent the next four and a half years diving into the psychology of user experiences with our various softwares. During my tenure at Daxko, I was able to work on 5 of the 6 main products and across multiple teams at once. From there, my appetite for understanding user experience with technology grew beyond interactions with software. A person’s experience is what’s truly important, from the moment they first see our company to that first click on the website, and even through the sales, training and customer account maintenance processes. I believe knowing who you are as a company is one thing, but being able to show that to the world is where I would love to help.
I searched for other opportunities to be involved in the user experience from start to finish, starting with freelancing with start-ups in the Birmingham tech community and ultimately finding my place as the UX/Visual Designer at KEYSYS. At KEYSYS I was on the Creative team, focusing on print and digital marketing collateral, branding, social media, UX/UI, web design, graphic design, and concept art. My focus was on both the client’s visual experience with KEYSYS and our client’s users’ experiences with their software and products. I love being involved in the company's culture and customer experience- both with clients and prospective employees. From there, I became the Creative Director at a Birmingham start-up called GoodJob. At GoodJob I’m one of two on our marketing team, which means I wear lots of hats and focus on all things visual! I write content/copy, design graphics, illustrate graphics, design web pages, manage our company website, create and manage swag, create short animations, and pretty much whatever else our company needs from sales to product! My favorite project to date has been creating and executing our PATH Finders Intern Program during 2020 and the creation of our PATH Animals and the accompanying web pages. Getting a group of college kids to be creative and deliver projects while also figuring out how to work together remotely was an exciting challenge! And who doesn’t love personifying animals?!
When I’m not working, you’ll likely find me managing my shop Fernweh Haus, on a trail, driving cross country, near a body of water, cooking food, writing, and hanging out with my husband, son, and our two dogs. I’m a 2w3 on the Enneagram, my MBTI is ENFJ-A, and I will be Sophia Petrillo when I grow up. People call me K or KWink :)