Hey, I’m Jake Zien.

I'm a living thing who's curious about why things are the way they are.
That's why I live in New York, and why I work in design.

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What I do / What I’ve done

Design is a way of thinking. I've used it to develop products, software, brands, and my worldview.

Culdesac

Leading product design for the builder of America's first car-free neighborhood.

CBRE Build

A new brand to position an eccentric startup within the Fortune 150 company that acquired it.

Pivot Power

"Inventing" the flexible power strip, a Red Dot Design award-winner that sold millions of units, with Quirky.

Trump Censor

A browser extension that spares you seeing the most offensive thing on the Internet.

Site IQ

Defining and designing a broker-friendly tool for creating printed documents, and leading a team to build it.

Psychedelic Graphic Design

Volunteer design work for MAPS, and other organizations that support psychedelic research and sensible policy.

Willka Yachay

Volunteer web design & dev, branding, and art direction for a nonprofit that supports indigenous Incans in the mountains of Peru.

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All work

→All work

Faves

Things I can recommend generally, publicly, indefinitely.

Tailwind

Holy shit, they solved CSS.

The Culture Clash

Jean Donaldson

Required reading for dog owners. Fascinating, funny, practical guide to behaviorism.

Bob's Red Mill Muesli

Old Country Style

Or as we call it in our house, Bob’s Moulin Rouge. Probably 60% of my diet.

Aphex Twin

The best kind of artist. A unique master craftsman, a mysterious mythical figure, a genius composer. Possibly an alien.

Lip Trip

Mountain Ocean

Low key the world’s greatest lip balm.

Wede Harer Guzo

Hailu Mergia and the Dahlak Band

Strange, beautiful music that captures a wistful happiness.

HEY

Email from Basecamp

Masterful design rescues email from decades of ossified ideas. A true solution to email hell.

Buddy's Burrito Bar

Brooklyn

Perfect neighborhood taqueria & grill in Carroll Gardens.

Zhenjiang Vinegar

Gold Plum

Shanghainese black rice vinegar.

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All faves

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