Jon Howell is a designer, professional skimboarder, seasoned waterman, and a lifelong Jimmy Buffett fan. He was born and raised in Naples, Florida. Since then, his education and professional career have taken him to places like Savannah, Seattle, and San Francisco. He now works remotely in Laguna Beach, California as a Design Director at Dropbox, leading the Brand Experience Design team.

He holds a Master’s in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art & Design and a Bachelor’s in Business Marketing with a minor in Advertising from Florida Gulf Coast University.

Throughout his career, Jon has had the opportunity to work on and lead both brand and product design teams at Microsoft, Twitch, SurveyMonkey, Lyft, Robinhood, and now Dropbox. He has dedicated his career to the intersection of brand and product design, also known as Brand Experience Design. In doing so, Jon has helped some of the world's most iconic brands build trust, drive preference, and create affinity through thoughtful and emotive brand and product experiences.

Jon also runs an independent design practice called Freelance Studio, where he's been hired to create brand identity systems, custom iconography, and product experiences for some of the world's most iconic brands and artists including DJ Snake, Postmates, Reddit, First Round, Adobe, Meta, NewLimit, Slice, Lyft, Tchami, Malaa, and many others. His work has been featured on USA Today, CNBC, The Verge, Fast Company, HYPEBEAST, Wired, Brand New, Best of Behance, and even on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He was also named one of ADPList’s Top 100 Most Impactful Mentors, a recognition that reflects his dedication to advancing the global design community.