With over 25 years of experience in UX strategy & design, and as a reemerging fine artist, I am driven by data in all that I do. Collected and observed information informs all of my design decisions. It may be user research findings, the weather, or just bits and pieces of my life.
I live in the Detroit Metro Area with my artist-husband Dave Zilla, our two daughters (and our adult son lives nearby), a foxy chiweenier rescue dog, 2 rescue kitties, some fish, and a bunch of houseplants. I am fueled by copious amounts of black coffee – and bacon. I love (and miss) international travel.
Fine Art: Artist Statement
In my abstract art, I examine our constant relationship to data and use little bits of information as a storytelling element. There are clues about people, ideas, words, dates, and locations in every piece. I invite my audience to find their own stories in the data elements — it may be a mystery to solve or instant recognition. Hand-drawn lines act as conversation. Shapes act as snapshots of moments in time. The use of black represents an infinite, hopeful depth. Themes common in my work center around change, distance, mental health (and illness), identity, and relationships.
Using layered textures, I intuitively juxtapose hard-edged geometric shapes and naive mark-making with a more ethereal, organic foundation. This contrast communicates both tension and harmony simultaneously. My artworks are primarily mixed-media pieces with a base of acrylic on canvas but I occasionally create digital art that features my photography – both film and digital.
Fine Art: Artist Bio
As a largely self-taught artist, creating fine art was largely dormant in Jes Zilla’s life for over 20 years. Early in the lockdown during the global Covid pandemic, something awoke in her and she has been producing art regularly since. During that time, Jes made the bold move to the Detroit area from Texas where she had lived the first 46 years of her life. In Detroit she found a resurgence and energy in art that parallels her own in many ways.
The layered textures in Jes’s art are influenced by different facets of her life and travels. Throughout her extensive travels in Latin America, she’s been inspired by modern works steeped in history and a sense of identity. Jes loves the expressive raw hand of street artists as well as the new modern masters like Basquiat and Cy Twombly. She is also heavily influenced by a 25+ year career in UX where she specializes in the design of large-scale, complex software. But mostly she is influenced by information and data…
We’re surrounded by massive amounts of data every day. Behind all data, behind the numbers, there are people and pieces of their lives. There are stories in the data, in the little bits of information. She uses this information to add a storytelling element using data to all of her work.
Since reemerging in the art scene in September of 2021, Jes has been accepted to numerous juried group exhibitions and has shown her work in galleries across southeast Michigan. Her artwork has been well received, won awards, and found its way into the hands of many collectors.
Jes Zilla Artworks
Instagram @jeszilla.art
Facebook jeszilla.art
Buy originals and limited edition archival prints in the online shop
Artist Member
Detroit Artists Market
Detroit Society of Women Painters and Sculptors
International Society of Experimental Artists
The Michigan Guild of Artists & Artisans
Northville Art House
See the Exhibitions page for past, current, and upcoming exhibitions & events.
Data Visualization Art
Over the course of my career, I found a love for data visualization. I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of taking big data and making it easy to quickly understand and use. As a side project, I began creating data visualizations as art. Yes, they still communicate data, but the result is more of a graphic art piece than a communication piece. I create all of my data visualization art manually – it is not programmatically generated. I enjoy the process and daily ritual.
I am in my 5th year of collecting and visualizing the weather data from my home city. I’ve added more data tracking projects over time.
The graphic nature of this dataviz art lends itself well to more commercial applications. In my threadless artist shop you can buy prints, t-shirts, shoes, pillows, and more.
Instagram @jes.zilla
Buy online jeszilla.threadless.com
UX Research, Strategy, and Design
With over 25 years of consulting experience, I specialize in leading teams in the design of complex web applications and software for large, multi-product, enterprise-level clients. I also help clients build out their own internal UX teams and refine design-to-dev processes.
I always have the big picture in mind as a strategist (my #1 strength in the Gallup Strengths Assessment is “Strategic”), but I also get my hands dirty and actively conduct research and design UX/UI on every project.
While I have worked in a number of verticals my sweet spots are healthcare, big data and AI, data science, data visualization, security, and FinTech.
Additionally, I have a passion for building comprehensive, accessible User Experience Design Language Systems (UXDLS) that act as the single source of truth for product design and development. I strongly believe that a UXDLS should do far more than inform UI design. It should enable a consistent user experience with detailed interaction specifications, interaction content strategy, UI patterns, as well as a corresponding code library.
My combined sense of empathy, insatiable curiosity, extreme attention to detail and craftsmanship, and over two decades of experience in UX and Product research, strategy, and design make me a valuable powerhouse.
LinkedIn reynoldsjes