Gus Nicklos

Multidisciplinary | Creative Director | Designer @Victory City

United StatesGraphic Designer🐦 DesignCommunication DesignerBrand Designer🧨 ConsultingIllustratorAdvisor

Gus Nicklos seamlessly merges analog Graphic Design techniques with contemporary design challenges, blurring the lines between mediums and pushing the boundaries of production norms. In his early 20s, he designed the iconic Nike Victory Font Family, kicking off a diverse, multidisciplinary art and design career crisscrossing agencies and global brands. With an unwavering passion for storytelling, Gus crafted connective and compelling brand environments in Nike's Workspace Design group and envisioned the future of footwear personalization with engineers and material designers in Nike’s innovation lab, NXT. Gus epitomizes dedication to the best solution for the problem. Whether on-trend and unorthodox creativity, he designs to address the human’s experience at the heart of the clients need.

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Work Background

Victory CityCreative Director, Designer and Creative Spark

Jan. 2007Portland, Oregon AreaCreative Director, Designer, and Art Director Deliver elegant, elite solutions to most challenging design problems of today and tomorrow. Services include brand identity, iconography, logo marks, typography, digital design, UX, catalog design, advertising, typography, font design, vision decks, branded environments, and environmental design - Giving talks, presentations and holding workshops. Corporate clients include Adobe, adidas, Bridgetech, Burgerville, Danner Boots, Fort George Brewery, Jantzen, Jive Software, Keen Footwear, Newsweek, Nike, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Select Oils, Starbucks, and Quicksilver. Agency clients include AKQA, Big Giant, Kamp Grizzly, Liquid Agency, Plazm Media, Roundhouse, and Wieden+Kennedy. • Established reputation as clutch creative problem solver by applying transferable creative knowledge to solve abstract, nuanced, deep, and specialized challenges, often in areas of zero-expertise. • Delivered penetrating results by leveraging critical thinking and commitment to curiosity with desire for deep understanding to drive thousands of hours of creative exploration. • Redesigned iconic Danner Boots Logo and created versatile design system that centered around product innovation, which increased production efficiency. • Designed 100+ identity marks currently in use. • Conceptualized and produced 20+ proprietary corporate font families for some of the world’s most prominent brands.

DAT Freight & AnalyticsSenior Designer

Jan. 2021 - Jan. 2023United StatesProduced consistent and compelling content to differentiate DAT from industry competitors and increase brand awareness. Developed rapport and respect through mutual appreciation for each team member’s role and abilities to foster climate of achievable excellence. Focused attention with intention and used every tool available in creative team’s collective skill set to maximize instant impact. • Implemented captivating illustrations and easily understandable data visualizations, crafting earnest and authentic campaigns that set customer's expectations on steady upward trajectory. • Increased social media engagement LinkedIn (77%+) and Instagram (89%+). • Elevated brand prestige through strategic visual language, bolstering DAT's reputation as thought leader in post-covid supply chain. • Enhanced creative team efficiency by creating streamlined, reusable templates that cut revision rounds by up to 80% through long-form layout (reports, white papers, guides) design time reduction. • Designed and implemented refined creative assets into user-friendly systems and templates that yielded brand consistent products—no matter the designer. • Redirected negative and stagnating coworker energy into actionable opportunities for growth.

MagnateSubject Matter Expert (SME) and Co-Founder

Jan. 2018 - Jan. 2021Portland, Oregon, USA, WorldLed SMEs from design, technology, and academia in workgroups. Developed framework for collaboration on challenges and disruptive experiences for entrepreneurs and innovative business concepts. Built design iteration process based on biomimicry that drove intentional form, process, and ecosystem augmentations.

Hellenic-American Cultural Center and Museum (HACCM)Board Member

Jan. 2016 - Jan. 2020Portland, Oregon Area

Thesis agencyDesign Director

Jan. 2018 - Jan. 2019Portland, Oregon AreaManaged teams to deliver creative across diverse media. Provided hands-on guidance throughout creative process to ensure consistent design vision execution. Reviewed and approved final work. Presented and championed work to clients. Supported new business development. Pursued personal and professional growth beyond core competencies. • Serviced $1M in client spending in 6 months by building highly productive creative department from 2 to 20 designers. • Set design them and directed the implementation of Bay Equity Mortgage’s rebrand and interactive mortgage experience. This included topography, photo style guide, the novel usage of animated cinemagraphs to engage and draw in potential customers and agents, illustration/iconography visual language and art directed key photo shoots. • Scouted talent and mentored team members, inspiring rigorous diligence and setting many promising careers in motion.

NikeSenior Experience Designer, Brand - WD+C , Brand, Geographies

Jan. 2015 - Jan. 2018Beaverton, Oregon, United States• Channeled 50+ years of Nike’s storied history to engage employees. Designed and art directed agency partners to infuse brand character through workspaces and employee environments. Wrapped individual employees with purpose, gravity, and significance, as 1 of 11K that graced Nike’s 75 building World Headquarters (WHQ) daily, through captivating interactions and immersive installations. • Identified and interviewed world’s top artists for 40 permanent art installations inside and out of 5 new buildings at Nike WHQ, supporting VP / CEO decision makers. • Planned, designed, and directed employee environment graphic application and physical build outs at Nike WHQ, Canada HQ, Melbourne, Australia, and Shanghai, cultivating positive workplace that motivated employees across organization.

NikeSenior Designer - NXT Footwear Innovation, Customization North Star

Jan. 2015 - Jan. 2017Portland, Oregon AreaHandpicked to mold prototype technology into captivating objects and consumer journeys for CFO and CMO eyes only to represent company’s highest strategic priorities. Collaborated with cross-disciplinary teams (engineers, footwear innovators, material designers) to guide product creation through pivotal phase. Drew from deep traditional graphic prepress and lithographic printing technique understanding to showcase state of project capabilities, discover new effects and opportunities, and reveal bugs and limitations. • Created 39 physical footwear prototypes across concept categories to demonstrate project progress and technology's viability at scale through rigorous battery of tests (performance, usability, automation, scalability, regression), providing inflection point for decision makers to determine course of program's ongoing development. • Conceived elaborate persona “test narratives” as proof of concept within highly secure, black-ops-like environment. • Built roll-out framework, using existing and hypothetical category creative, branding, customer journey points, email comps, UX comps, and banner ads to illustrate expansive brand journey for C-suite deciders and to sell through category-level implementation buy-in.